Brno experts returned the face to a woman from the Bronze Age, she belonged to the elite
Experts managed to reconstruct the appearance of a woman who lived in the Early Bronze Age, and her grave, discovered in Mikulovice near Pardubice, stood out with its extremely rich equipment. A unique example is the amber necklace with hundreds of beads.
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Experts returned the face of a woman from the Bronze Age, according to the rich equipment she belonged to the elite.
| Photo: ČTK
A woman with light skin and brown eyes was one of the elite in her time. “We may have chosen a slightly elevated term, mainly because of the wealth we found in the grave,” anthropologist Eva Vaníčková from the Laboratory of Anthropological Reconstruction of the Moravian Museum told reporters. She collaborated with sculptor Ondřej Bílek.
Archaeologists near Mikulovice discovered several groups of skeletal graves between 2007 and 2009. It soon became clear that the burial ground was extremely rich in funeral equipment. The research provided a wealth of information about the period around 2000 BC, when bronze metallurgy and long-distance trade developed in Central Europe.
“At this crucial time, the territory of today’s Bohemia, associated with the so-called Unetic archaeological culture, together with the regions of southern England and southeastern Spain belonged to the most advanced European continent and its inhabitants lived for several centuries. said museum director Jiří Mitáček.
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The amber from the Baltic on the woman’s necklace is proof of wealth and long-distance trade. “This is a completely unique piece of jewelry that has no period among the finds from this period,” said archaeologist Michal Ernée from the Archaeological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. “Radiocarbon dating made in a laboratory in Mannheim places the grave between 1880 and 1750 BC,” the archaeologist added.
The woman died at the age of about 35, she was probably born and lived all her life in the vicinity of Mikulovice, which at the time, according to the archaeologist, was probably a focal point on a long-distance trade route. She was a smaller woman with some masculine features – a distinctive chin and wide-set eyes. In addition to the necklace, she also had five bronze bracelets, three bronze pins and two gold earrings.
The reconstruction of the appearance of the woman, including replicas of all jewelry, will be used by the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic for popularization purposes at various events and short-term exhibitions.