Illuminati-R-Us

I'm amazed at the quality of this:


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I don't know the guy who did the reconstruction, but the archaeologist referred to in the article who's been working with the remains of the Bronze Age woman is a good friend.

Outstanding.

Wow. That looks TOO real.

Given that she died young, the image is probably a bit flattering as it shows a woman in good health and nourishment. Although acute disease can rip you out of a healthy life unimpeded by handicap and disease on short notice, I wonder if she really did look that gorgeous shortly before her death.

Arneb wrote:Given that she died young, the image is probably a bit flattering as it shows a woman in good health and nourishment. Although acute disease can rip you out of a healthy life unimpeded by handicap and disease on short notice, I wonder if she really did look that gorgeous shortly before her death.

There's no evidence of disease or injury in the bones, not even in the teeth, although she must have died somehow and we don't have the complete skeleton. Details about the remains here if you're interested. There should be DNA results coming, which will be interesting.

Obviously there's a question of interpretation and artistic license on the details, but I find the image to be quite hypnotic. As an archaeologist, I'm of course really interested in all of this sort of thing, but that picture really seems to give a connection to a young woman, and a society, who lived almost 4,000 years ago, for me.

I Totally agree. This 4,000 yo x-times granny of ours looks as if she could just turn the corner and have some interested looks thrown her way. Or she could open her mouth and ask us, in puzzled voice, why everything looked so different all of a sudden. It's a great work

So where was she from? Is it me, or does she look Germanic?

Lance wrote:So where was she from? Is it me, or does she look Germanic?

The north of Scotland, quite near where I used to live actually.

Venture a guess: Could you understand her speaking?

Arneb wrote:Venture a guess: Could you understand her speaking?

Her language? No.

Edited for further details: the earliest evidence for the languages of that part of the world are from the names of places, mainly coastal features like promonteries, and river names. Those were first recorded, in Greek, about 300 BC by Pytheas but reached us in Latin. They're well understood though. They indicate a proto-Celtic root, but even then the woman would have been buried for over a thousand years by that point, and we don't know how old those place names were.

Pretty face. What about the rest of her?

Here you go.



Only the bits in purple, mind.

Any evidence of parturition scarring on the pelvic remnant? Or could she have been a virgin?

I don't recall that ever being mentioned, one way or another. What I've been wondering is whether any isotope analysis of her teeth has been done, to see where she originally came from. People were pretty mobile in the Bronze Age.

Lianachan wrote:I don't recall that ever being mentioned, one way or another.

Is not fecundity by age cohort an important indicator of palaeo lifestyle? or something like that? (from my recollections of studying physical anthropology in the '80s)

Lianachan wrote: What I've been wondering is whether any isotope analysis of her teeth has been done, to see where she originally came from. People were pretty mobile in the Bronze Age.

Did she have a nice full set of even upper chompers?, or did she have a toothy grin?

Next someone's going to ask if they reconstructed her boobs... (Did they?)

Okay, here's a very quick attempt.

Lance, you found your niche!

I've done FAR better than that. That one is garbage.

Ok then. Prove it.

Here's one I always liked.

Quit horsing around. You see the problem there is you have to walk ALL the way around front to kiss her when you are done.

I wonder about the eyes. Is blue eyes a reasonable guess for the time and place?

I used to see the standard image of Jesus Christ, the thin long-haired fellow would have blue eyes. Not very likely considering where he came from. Have we any way of knowing when blue eyes entered the main stream? I know little beyond them being recessive. But they do seem centered in certain areas. Not many blue eyed Chinese or Native Americans or sub-Saharan Africans. Would she reasonable be expected to have them?

Here's a slightly better one. I gave her a haircut too.

You know some of us check IrU at work, don't you? Fortunately I'm the boss.

I don't think the second image is centaured correctly. I'll get me coat.

Edited to add {spoiler}