Posted on 02/16/2010 5:21:19 PM PST by Little Bill
The Egtved Girl
In 1921 a burial mound at Egtved was excavated. In it was found a completely preserved coffin, and inside it lay a 16-18 year old girl about 160cm (5’4”) tall, slim, with long, loose blonde hair and carefully trimmed nails.
For burial she had been laid in the coffin, fully dressed, on top of a cow-skin. Her upper body was clad in a loose bodice with elbow length sleeves and around her hips she wore a knee length skirt of string.
On her braided woollen belt were a large, spiral-decorated bronze disk with a spike and a bronze comb. Small pieces of woollen cloth were wrapped about her feet.
She wore bronze bracelets on her wrists. A bundle of rags containing the burned bones of a 5-6 year old child (perhaps a sacrifice?) had been placed at the end of the coffin.
At the head end there was a small box made of birch-bark containing her hairnet, an awl and a few bronze pins among other things.
Before the coffin was closed the girl’s body had been covered by a woollen blanket and a cow-skin. On this a bark bucket had been placed, containing a fermented drink, a kind of beer or mead brewed from what, cranberries and honey.
Before the coffin was closed a sprig of flowering yarrow was dropped into the coffin, showing she was buried during the summer. Dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) has shown the burial took place in the year 1370BC.
The Egtved girl’s outfit was reconstructed for the National Museum of Denmark at the Lejre Archaeological Centre a few years ago, and shows that in many ways the outfit looked remarkably modern.
(Excerpt) Read more at gallica.co.uk ...
Get Looser trousers my FRiend, the neck thing can never be solved>
Yeah!
She could add me to her string.
A most interesting post. The more things change, the more they remain the same.
If you hit that bronze shield ye’d break summat!
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