Denmark’s The Local looks at the mummified remains of a woman who was anything but local, new research has found. One of the iconic ancestors of Denmark came there from somewhere far away:
A groundbreaking new study has shown that the Skrydstrup Girl, who was discovered in a burial mound in 1935, was neither born nor raised in Denmark.
The new information about the famous Bronze Age remains was revealed on national broadcaster DR’s big-budget documentary series Historien om Danmark (The History of Denmark).
“This is going to change a whole lot about our understanding of the entire Bronze Age,” Professor Karin Margarita Frei of the National Museum of Denmark says in the programme.
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Researchers found that the Skrydstrup girl arrived in Denmark at the age of 13 or 14, before which she lived in a region “several hundred kilometres” away – possibly the Czech Republic, France or central Germany.
The young woman lived in the area around Skydstrup for four years before dying as a 17-year-old in around 1300 BCE, according to the DR report.
Remnants of tooth, bone and hair enabled researchers to map out the life of the woman in a way not possible with previous finds such as the Egtved girl.
“Her burial place in Denmark suggests that she was a member of society’s elite, probably from prior to her arrival. For example, her teeth tell us that she had a nutritious diet from a young age, which can be a mark of high status,” Frei said.
The sudden long-distance migration may be the sign of an alliance between tribes or an arranged marriage, Frei told DR.
[via Archaeological News]