Archaeologist Discovered Grauballe man, a preserved bog body from the 3rd century B.C

Two years after the discovery of the Tollund man, another bog body was found on the 26 of April 1952, by local peat cutters in the nearby bog, Nebelgard Fen, situated near the town of Grauballe, Denmark.

Around the time of Grauballe man’s discovery, it was argued that the body belonged to that of Red Christian, a local peat cutter that mysteriously vanished in the area around 1887.

It was trusted that Red fell into the bog after drinking to much alcohol, as it was said that two drunk Englishmen from Cheshire suffered the same fate by falling into Lindow moss in 1853. It was not long before the body was sent to the Prehistory museum at Aarhus for examination and preservation.

Visual examination:

Once the body of Grauballe man was fully revealed, many wondered at how well the body was preserved. A brisk examination of the Body at the site revealed that Grauballe man was naked and had no items or belongings with him.

When Grauballe man was analyzed with more detail at the museum, it was revealed that he was around 30 years of old at the time of his death. It was also revealed that the body of Grauballe man was 1.75 m Height, and still had hair of about 5 cm long as well as a stubble on his chin. Grauballe man’s hands and fingers, when closely inspected, showed no signs of manual labor.

Scientific investigation:

So, we know, based on a VISUAL examination, that Grauballe man was 30 years of age, was 1.75 m Height, still had hair and his hands showed no sign of no physical work.

But how could we know his age? How did we know that his hands showed no sign of labor? The basic answer is that ‘we’ use Science.

When Grauballe man was scientifically inspected, through a wide array of techniques, numerous features where revealed, such as what Grauballe man ate and what wounds he sustained. The scientific examination of Grauballe man has been listed below.

Radiocarbon dating. Used to date the age of the body, which was around 310 B.C – 55 B.C. Placing the Grauballe man in the late Iron age. Scanning Electron microscope. Utilized for a closer examination of the body. Scientists, and Archaeologists worked out that Grauballe man was not a very hard worker by using the microscope to Determine his fingerprints, which were relatively smooth.

It was also used to show what Grauballe man had eaten. Results from an examination inside the stomach uncovered that Grauballe mans last meal consisted of porridge made from corn, seeds from more then 60 different herbs, and grasses which was uncovered to contain traces of a poisonous fungi, known as fungi ergot.

Grauballe man is believed to have died in winter or early spring as there is a lack of FRESH herbs and berries in his stomach.

Forensic analysis. Used to determine the wounds that the body sustained, which consisted of a cut to the throat that extended from ear to ear, cracks to the skull and right tibia, which was believed to be caused by a weapon, however when the body was re-examined again it was in fact caused by the pressure in the bog.

It has also been noted that there were 4 missing lumbar vertebrae. Forensics have also been able to reconstruct the face of Grauballe man, as well as numerous other faces from various bodies.

Templates from the x-rays of the skull were utilized and the skull was sculpted from clay over these templates. CT scanning and Computer Generated imagery was also used to help modify the facial reconstruction.

Cause of death:

There are many speculations associated with Grauballe’s man’s death. The cut on the throat is said to be the cause of Grauballe’s man’s death.

It is believed that Grauballe man was a criminal who paid the cost of death. But how would we know this? Based on the written sources of Tacitus, the Roman historian, the clans of northern Europe had a very strict society. So if one broke the law or committed an offence, they would be put to death.

A criminal or a prisoner of war would fit this description. But, what about his hands? As said before, Grauballe man’s hands showed no sign of manual labor, recommending that he was used for sacrificial purposes. Tacitus mentions that the clans of northern Europe have a connection to mother earth.

He says that during spring she visits these clans and upon departing, a selection of people are sacrificed . Based on the wounds, and the hands of Grauballe man, as well as sources to back it up, this seems to be Grauballe man’s likely cause of death.

But what about the poisonous fungi found in his stomach? New data suggests that if this fungi was to make Grauballe man sick, then it would of more then likely make him incapable to work.

It would have also caused agonizing symptoms which are historically known as St. Anthony’s Fire. Symptoms of this disease include convulsions, hallucinations and burning of the mouth, feet and hands. It is more than likely that Grauballe mans ingested the fungus by natural means.

If there was any bad luck in the village then the Grauballe man would be at the forefront of the allegations, which would regard him as being the cause of these woes and mishaps.

He would be seen as someone corrupted by an evil spirit, and therefore put to death and deposited in a bog far from town. The exact cause of death is however a mystery and therefore there is no single explanations of how Grauballe man died.

A 13 Year old just Discovered 1,000-year-old silver treasure hoard in Denmark

When someone asked what the coolest thing you accomplished as a newly minted teenager, most people would probably have to confess something like “successfully pulled off a kickflip” or “puberty.” But not Luca Malaschnitschenko, who at age 13, recently found a cache of buried coins and treasure that once belonged a 10th Century Danish king. 

During a trip to the German island of Rugen in the Baltic Sea back in January, Malaschnitschenko — a budding archaeology student — was scouring a field with a metal detector searching for treasure, as any kid with a metal detector is wont to do.

He was accompanied by his teacher and amateur archaeologist, René Schön, and when they heard the device blip they dug down and uncovered what they at first thought was just a worthless piece of aluminium.

But, they later realize it was actually a piece of silver, and appeared to be an old coin. That’s when they called up the state archaeology office, which cordoned off a nearly 5,000 square feet in order to conduct a proper dig.

Both Schön and Malaschnitschenko were invited to participate in the final excavation and uncover the hoard in its entirety, which turned out to be quite a doozy. A trove of crazy old coins, jewellery, and other fancy items that once belonged to a Danish king who ruled over a millennium ago.

Much of what was found is likely linked to King Harald Bluetooth, who reigned from the year 958AD to 986AD, and is credited with having brought Christianity to Denmark.

Specifically, it includes things like braided necklaces, pearls, brooches, Thor’s hammer, rings, and roughly 600 coins, according to a report by The Guardians. 

“This trove is the greatest single discovery of Bluetooth coins in the southern Baltic Sea region and is therefore of great significance,” lead archaeologist, Michael Schirren, told a local news service, per the daily newspaper.

If you are wondering why “Bluetooth” shares the same name as the tech you use to pair your headphones and computer mice, it’s because it’s actually named after him. 

The story goes that it was named in his honour since he was known for uniting Scandinavia, in the same sense that the Swedish inventors of Bluetooth technology intended to unite PC and wireless devices.

Further, the official Bluetooth logo is actually a melding of the King’s initials in an ancient Scandinavian alphabet. 

As of now, it’s unclear where the uncovered treasure will go on display or end up, but it’s certainly safe to assume this 13-year-old should have no trouble padding his college applications with some uniquely impressive accomplishments.

Missing for 400 years: Archaeologists discover missing 17th-century warship

The Copenhagen Post reports that the wreckage of the Delmenhorst, one of the first ships constructed from drawings, was found some 500 feet off the coast of Denmark during offshore construction work.

The warship, konow almost completely buried in the seabed, was grounded in 1644 during the Battle of Fehmarn, fought between the Danes and a Swedish and Dutch fleet as part of a brief conflict called the Torstenson War.

It is the last Danish sunken ship missing from the fateful battle, which turned out to be the final battle of the King Christian IV era – he lost his right eye in battle four months earlier.

Realising that the battle had been lost, the ‘Delmenhorst’ was intentionally grounded near Rødbyhavn in the final hours of the battle to a joint Swedish/Dutch fleet because the Danes hoped to defend it using a massive cannon in the harbour town.

However, the crafty Swedes sacrificed one of their own ships by setting it ablaze and sailing it into the ‘Delmenhorst’, which consequently caught fire and sank.

End of Danish power

The battle was waged as part of the Torstenson War, which signalled the end of Denmark’s time as a European power. After the loss, Sweden replaced Denmark as the leading power in the Nordic region. 

The Delmenhorst, located about 150 metres off the Danish shore, is unique because it is one of the first ships constructed from drawings. 

The wreck was discovered as part of the work on the Fehmarn Bridge connecting Denmark and Germany.

Because the wreck is almost completely buried in the seabed, archaeologists will leave it in the hope that experts will have the technology to glean information from it in the future.

A well-preserved 400-year old ship has been found in the Baltic Sea

Although the company reported wrecks of some so-called 1st or 2nd World War wrecks at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland, Badewanne divers descended on one of the biggest surprises during their long career of diving the wrecks of this eastern extension of the Baltic Sea.

The Baltic Sea has been an exceedingly important trading itinerary since the Middle Ages, as the navies of Holland and England needed endless supplies of wood, tar, and hemp, all of which were available around the Baltic.

The Hanseatic League dominated the trade from the 13th century but the highly powerful merchant fleet of the Dutch Republic acquired dominance of the trade during the 17th century.

This trade received a significant boost in importance and profitability after Czar Peter the Great founded his new capital St. Petersburg at the estuary of Neva river, in the easternmost part of GoF.

One ship type rises above others and becomes the mainstay of this trade: the Dutch “Fluit” ship, a three-masted ship with very capacious hull design, carrying no guns, and allowing a very large cargo capacity.

In addition, the Fluit ships utilized a very novel and advanced rigging using cleverly designed pulley and tackle systems for hoisting the yards and sails and controlling them.

These advanced technical features facilitated a much smaller crew than earlier ship types, making the trade more profitable. Another totally novel feature onboard the Fluit ships were that the entire crew lived “abaft of the mainmast” – Master, mates, bosun, cook, and all ratings, all occupied the same space ‘tween decks and ate at the same table.

This was very unusual in contemporary society, let alone in the highly hierarchic maritime world. Fluit ships were dominant in the Baltic trade between the late 16th to the mid-18th centuries. However, very few of these once common ships have survived, even as wrecks.

Therefore, it was to our great surprise when descending on a wreck at 85 meters depth, expecting to see an early WW1 minesweeper or a schooner sunk during WW2, we realized that we are looking at an almost completely preserved Dutch Fluit ship! She rests on even keel on the seabed, with most of her rigging scattered around her.

There is only slight damage from a pelagic trawl. The trawl seems to have swept her from a bow towards the aft, dislocating the stem, damaging the poop deck, and the topmost part of the typical Fluit transom somewhat.

Apart from these damages, the wreck is intact, holds are full, and all side planking is firmly in place. Even the damaged parts and components of the transom decorations, such as the “Hoekmen”, or the “Strongmen” may be found on the bottom behind the stern. Luckily, only very small bits of the trawl netting remain on the wreck.

It is only in rare places around the world, including the Baltic Sea, where wooden wrecks can survive for centuries without being destroyed by chemical, biochemical and biological decaying processes.

Due to low salinity, absolute darkness, and very low temperatures all year round these processes are very slow in the Baltic. Perhaps most importantly, wood-boring organisms such as shipworm cannot live in such an environment. Even in temperate seas, all wooden wrecks vanish in decades, unless buried in sediments.

This find, a practically intact and complete Dutch Fluit ship, the Queen of the Baltic trade from almost 400 years back, is a good example of the importance of the Baltic Sea, and especially the Gulf of Finland as a special cellar of the sea.

Only here the environment preserves the wrecks, which are plentiful due to the sea being a very important trade route and battleground for many wars during centuries.

And all of these wrecks are within the range of modern technical diving methods! Badewanne team will continue documenting and investigating this significant wreck in co-operation with the Finnish Heritage Agency of Antiquities and other partners, Including Associate Professor Dr. Niklas Eriksson, Maritime Archaeologist, Univ. of Stockholm, Sweden:

“The wreck reveals many of the characteristics of the fluit but also some unique features, not least the construction of the stern. It might be that this is an early example of the design.  The wreck thus offers a unique opportunity to investigate the development of a ship type that sailed all over the world and became the tool that laid the foundation for early modern globalization,” says Dr. Eriksson.

Archaeologists discover giant defensive minefield from the roman iron age

Archaeologists have unearthed a massive structure in Lolland that is believed to have been used to ward off an attacking army back in the Roman Iron Age.  So far, 770 meters of the structure have been detected.

In 2013 a team of archaeologists from the Museum Lolland-Falster in Denmark discovered a vast ancient “hole belt”: a defense land work featuring over 1000 long lines and rows of small holes dug into the ground.

According to archaeologist and Museum Inspector, Bjørnar Mage, talking to TV2 EAST , this hole belt was designed to slow down hostile advancing armies from the south coast of Lolland and it was built during the reign of the Roman Empire in Europe, and while 770 meters of the belt have been measured, museum staff estimate it may be up to twice as big.

The hole belt is thought to have been located about a kilometer from the coast between two impassable wetlands meaning attacking enemies advancing into Lolland, would have been seriously hampered, says Bjørnar Måge.

Since 2013, two smaller excavations have studied the hole belt but this recent excavation was the first to illustrate how large this ancient military feature actually was, and revealed that it had built at one time in a major constriction project.

Tomb of the Pagan Prince

The hole belt might have been built in the days leading up to a major battle , but maybe it was a reaction to a concrete threat where you “wanted to make sure you had time to defend yourself against an advancing enemy,” says Bjørnar Mage in a Nyheder article. And this apparent immediacy in the building of the structure is supported in the fact no evidence has been discovered that the belt was ever maintained after its construction and it appears that it had been left to lapse.

So far, three-hole belts have been found to the east of the main belt, but a number have been found in Jutland. However, this belt is much wider than any of the Jutland examples.

Bjørnar Måge believes the building of the hole belt required “considerable strength and hinterland” and that it was beyond the abilities of the average local farmer, leading him to suspect that “a local warlord or prince” was behind the construction.” He said it takes “time and a lot of manpower” to build such a large defense force and this is only something that would make sense if there was a “major man behind it.”

Perhaps lending weight to this line of thinking, not far from the hole belt in the town of Hoby near Dannemare, archaeologists discovered a stone built tomb dating from the Roman Iron Age but the researchers have not yet been able to associate the two sites yet.

Imagine For A Second, The Horror Of Being Trapped In A Hole Belt

The coasts of Denmark during the late Iron Age were invaded by armies from Norway and Eastern Europe but no historical records exist pertaining to military activities in the north of the country, but the belt indicates a major battle was prepared for.

Putting ancient hole belts in context, Bjørnar Måge compares them with “modern minefields” designed specifically to delay advancing enemy forces. According to writers J.E. and H.W. Kaufmann’s 2018 Classical to Medieval Fortifications in the Lands of the Western Roman Empire, “Caesar’s Lilies”, were Roman-built ditches about 1 meter (3.3ft) deep containing sharpened wooden spikes and Bjørnar Måge, said Viet Cong soldiers used “ Caesar’s lilies” against American soldiers as recently as the Vietnam War.

The archaeologists in Denmark believe the hole belt was designed to delay advancing armies so that the native army could get into the most tactically suitable positions, from where they could “shoot the attackers with arrows from towers” arranged behind the hollow belt.

But at this time no archaeological remains of such towers have been found, says Bjørnar Mage, however, towers were not needed to seriously hamper an advancing Roman army, for example:

Imagine you are on the front line of a Roman army. You’ve just spent eight months advancing into Denmark, sleepless and weary having defended your camp from native guerrilla attacks every night. Your sword is blunted chopping the skeletons of Denmark’s indigenous peoples and you are standing amidst your 6000 brothers in arms when you are deafened with the war cry “We Are Legion” as your field commander signals you to advance into the hole belt.

Tip-toeing around thousands of wooden spikes and deep pits your advance is slow, but you are almost at the other side and stop to take a breath, and to prepare your psychology for another mass-slaughter.

But then, your accumulated worst fears arrive in one nightmarish moment as the Danish infantry begin to thin, making way for their special forces who ride forward through the morning mist: 200 mounted cavalries armed with bows who fringe the hole belt.

Realizing their destiny, panic spreads among your men and most are reduced to whimpering as the sky quickly darkens with thousands of heavy oak, iron-tipped arrows, and for the last time your thoughts turn to your family and the swaying wheat fields from whence you came, and to where you will now return, courtesy of the hole belt.

Unfortunately, due to its environmental circumstances, the Lolland hole belt is rapidly disappearing and Bjørnar Mage said that if the site had been left for as little as five more years “there would probably be nothing left” and he says only the bottom five centimeters of the belt have been preserved in many areas of the structure.

Borgring: 1000-year-old Viking fortress uncovered in Denmark

In Borgring, Denmark, archaeologists have uncovered a nearly circular Danish ring fortress, dating from 975-980.

It is believed that the fortress was built during the reign of Harald Bluetooth – the Danish king, who also was credited with the country’s first unification.

In Denmark the Borgring Fortress was first discovered since 1953, and experts believe that there are many more to be identified around the country.

Researchers from Aarhus University discovered the fort using LiDAR technology, which revealed the tell-tale geometric outline of a ring fortress.

They then worked with experts from the University of York to use geophysics and radiocarbon dating of excavated timbers from a gateway to confirm the remarkable early medieval find.

Dr Helen Goodchild, who led the study, said: ‘After the LiDAR discovery, I was brought in to try and confirm that the site was indeed a ring fortress.

‘We’d had success at another Trelleborg site – Aggersborg – in the north of Jutland using fluxgate gradiometry, and so we hoped to get similar results here.

‘After trudging a distance of a marathon in grid formation collecting the data, I was delighted to see that the ramparts and even what looked to be some of the large structural timbers were showing in the results.’

The excavations confirmed the outline of the fortress, as mapped by the gradiometer survey.  The front of the rampart (mound) was marked by a continuous line of postholes from a vertical cladding of sturdy, approximately 0.4–0.45 meter-wide timbers, forming a perfect circle with an outer diameter of 144 meters. 

A few traces of timber constructions were also discovered by the researchers.  At the outer face of the rampart, the team discovered the remains of an 70mm-thick charred plank, set about 0.4 metres into the soil and leaning at a slight angle. 

At the opposite end of the section they found thin, horizontal traces of six planks, laid side by side along the inner face of the rampart, covering an area of around 0.9 metres. 

Trelleborg-type fortresses were constructed in AD 975–980 by the famed Viking king Harald Bluetooth.

The fortresses represent a huge investment of resources and manpower and are considered to demonstrate Harald’s immense powers of organization and control, as well as a strategic vision to defend his Danish kingdom.

Ring fortresses are circular, and can measure up to 250 metres in diameter. They are thought to have been made in an attempt to build a defensive network similar to that introduced by the Anglo Saxons, who created fortified centres at semi-regular (approximately 30km) intervals from the ninth century AD.

The researchers now hope to use LiDAR technology to analyze other areas around Denmark and believe that there are more of these ring fortresses awaiting discovery. 

In their paper, published in Antiquity, the researchers wrote: ‘The site offers the first chance in many years to investigate one of the most distinctive monument types of the Viking Age.

‘Such investigations may provide the most exciting new lines of evidence, and sustain a revised view of the Viking Age Trelleborg-type fortresses. 

‘Rather than static architectural and military monuments, we should instead see them as dynamic moments in the high-stakes power games of the early Middle Ages.’

Well-Preserved 3,000-Year-Old Pre-Viking Sword Unearthed in Denmark is Still Sharp

Two locals from Zealand, Denmark’s largest island, decided to walk around the field in the remote west city of Svebolle in the evening.

The decision was fortuitous to take their metal detector with them because it would allow them to uncover a major find

The two amateur archeologists began digging after the device alerted Ernst Christiansen and Lis Therkelsen to something beneath the ground.

Around 30 cm down, they spotted what looked like the tip of a spear. Christiansen and Therkelsen contacted Museum Vestsjælland — a group of 11 local museums that cover the archaeological excavation and conservation of regions in the area — who revealed that the discovery was a 3,000-year-old sword from the Nordic Bronze age. 

It was also a testament to the craftsmanship of the people in Scandinavia at the time.

“The sword is so well-preserved that you can clearly see the fine details. And it is even sharp,” the museum wrote in a press release.

Museum inspector Arne Hedegaard Andersen, who joined Christiansen and Therkelsen on the day following the discovery, reaffirmed how incredibly maintained the sword was.

The Nordic Bronze Age, circa 1700-500 BC, was sandwiched between the Nordic Stone Age and the pre-Roman Iron Age. During this time period, bronze imported from Central Europe replaced previously popular materials like flint and stone.

The impressively preserved bronze sword, which predates the Vikings by around 1,000 years, remained untouched since the Bronze Age. About 32 inches long and still fairly sharp, the museum believes that it dates to phase IV of the Bronze Age, or between 1100 and 900 BC.

Though the leather that made up the sword’s grip had long rotted, the pommel and hilt show intricate bronze work, clearly decorated by skilled workers.

The details suggest that it was an expensive piece of weaponry, likely used to indicate status rather than in actual battle. Additionally, warriors during this time tended to use clubs, spears, or axes for fighting purposes.

Though the Scandinavian people joined the Bronze age through trade relatively late compared to other European nations, the local workmanship was of a higher standard. So although the religion, ethnicity, and language characteristics of the people during this time period are largely unknown, they left behind a rich archaeological legacy.

One of the main ways we know about life in Scandinavia during the Bronze Age is through rock carvings called petroglyphs, which depict images of daily life, great events, and supernatural beliefs of the time.

There have been several exciting archaeological discoveries in Denmark in recent years.

In June 2016, team of three archaeologists who call themselves Team Rainbow Power uncovered the largest-ever find of Viking gold.

In October 2016, the discovery of a 5,000-year-old stone map shed light on ancient farming and topography. And in 2015, a trove of 2,000 mysterious-looking gold spirals also from the Bronze Age was discovered on Zealand

Bronze Age Fashion – The “Egtved Girl” Showed Remarkably Modern Taste

The well-preserved Egtved Girl was one of the most well-known burials of the Danish Bronze Age found in 1921. Her woolen clothing, hair, and nails were perfectly preserved, but all her bones were missing.

Scientists who studied the remains of the ancient teenager and discovered surprisingly that the girl of Egtved was not from Denmark and had traveled great distances before her death.

A study published in the journal Nature details the results of modern tests done by scientists. Strontium isotope analysis on Egtved Girl’s molar, hair, and fingernails, combined with examination of her distinctive woolen clothing, have revealed she was born and raised hundreds of miles from her burial site in Egtved, in modern Denmark. Findings show she likely came from The Black Forest of southwest Germany, and she traveled between the two locations via ship frequently in the last two years of her life.

According to LiveScience, the Egtved Girl’s oak coffin was uncovered in 1921 from a Bronze Age archaeological site near Egtved, Denmark. The grave was found within a burial mound of dense peat bog and has been dated to 1370 BC.  

Inside the coffin, the 16 to the 18-year-old girl was buried. She is believed to have been of high status. The teenager had been laid on an ox hide and covered by a rough woolen blanket.

The contours of where her dead body had lain are still visible, pressed into the ox hide beneath her. She was of slim build, with mid-length blonde hair, and her clothing—a short string skirt and small, midriff-baring, sleeved top—caused a sensation when revealed in the 20s. Around her waist, she had worn a large, spiked bronze disc decorated with spirals. Even now people recreate the stylish Bronze Age fashion.

Other grave goods included bronze pins, a sewing awl, and a hair net. Local flowers decorated the top of the coffin (indicating a summertime burial), as did a small bucket of beer made of honey, wheat, and cowberries.

Another body was found with Egtved Girl in her coffin. Ashes and bones comprised the cremated remains of a small child recovered near Egtved Girl’s head. The identity of the child, who was about five or six years old when he or she died, is not known. No DNA could be recovered from either set of remains, so their relationship is a mystery.

Scientists found that the soil composition of the grave worked as a microclimate, preserving some items and destroying others. Rainwater seeped into the hollowed-out, oak-trunk coffin, but it was starved of oxygen. These conditions decayed the bones completely away but left behind excellently-preserved fingernails, hair, scalp, a small part of her brain, and clothing.

Senior researcher Karin Margarita Frei, from the National Museum of Denmark and Centre for Textile Research at the University of Copenhagen analyzed the Bronze Age girls’ remains, according to Science Daily.

Analysis of the high-status teenager’s remains, as well as the cremated bones of the young child, showed that the pair had spent much of their lives in a distant land, thought to be Schwarzwald (the Black Forest) in Germany.

“If we consider the last two years of the girl’s life, we can see that, 13 to 15 months before her death, she stayed in a place with a strontium isotope signature very similar to the one that characterizes the area where she was born. Then she moved to an area that may well have been Jutland.

After a period of c. 9 to 10 months there, she went back to the region she originally came from and stayed there for four to six months before she traveled to her final resting place, Egtved. Neither her hair nor her thumb nail contains strontium isotopic signatures which indicates that she returned to Scandinavia until very shortly before she died.

As an area’s strontium isotopic signature is only detectable in human hair and nails after a month, she must have come to ‘Denmark’ and ‘Egtved’ about a month before she passed away,” Karin Margarita Frei told Science Daily.

This movement makes sense to researchers. Kristian Kristiansen of the University of Gothenburg told Science Daily, “In Bronze Age Western Europe, Southern Germany and Denmark were the two dominant centers of power, very similar to kingdoms. We find many direct connections between the two in the archaeological evidence, and my guess is that the Egtved Girl was a Southern German girl who was given in marriage to a man in Jutland so as to forge an alliance between two powerful families.”

The bronze belt disc found on Egtved Girl may have come to the area via the busy trade routes of the day.  The spiral decorations are said to be related to a Nordic solar cult, and the bronze is thought to have originated somewhere in the Alps. Further, the wool that made up her clothing came from sheep outside of Denmark. The ‘fashionable’ Egtved Girl and her mysterious tiny companion have captivated people since their discovery in 1921. Modern research brings the life and death of the prehistoric girl to light in amazing detail and gives us a better understanding of early European people.

But she is not the only teenage girl found in Denmark that has created a stir in the last few years. In 2017, it was announced that another famous Bronze Age burial of a teenage girl, this time found in Jutland, Denmark was also a traveler from faraway lands. Strontium analysis of the 16- to 18-year-old Skrydstrup woman suggests she originally came from Germany, the Czech Republic, France, or Sweden.

As archaeologist Karin Frei of the National Museum of Denmark told ScienceNordic, “We can’t say with 100 percent certainty where she [the Skrydstrup woman] came from, and we may never be able to, but she definitely wasn’t Danish. It gives us so many new perspectives. Now we know that Egtved Girl was not an isolated case.” These studies show that early European mobility was more dynamic than previously believed; Bronze Age people were trading and traveling long distances, quickly.