Unearthed Mystery: The Stunning Face of a 10,500-Year-Old Stone Age Woman from Belgium Revealed
According to the university’s Regional Outlook on Ancient Migration (ROAM) project, which oversaw the reconstruction, the woman’s skin tone suggests “that variation in skin color existed before farming began” and that such variations “may have been influenced by factors like diet, migration, and climate.”
But skin tone was ultimately just a small part of this woman’s life.
The Stone Age Woman’s Life 10,500 Years Ago
Vakgroep Archeologie/illustratie Ulco GlimmerveenResearchers also produced a reconstruction of how the Stone Age woman likely once lived.
Based on artifacts that have been discovered in the surrounding Meuse Valley, researchers believe that the Stone Age woman was part of a group of Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) hunter-gatherers who lived some 10,500 years ago. These artifacts, which include animal and fish remains and stone tools, suggest that her people were nomadic, because they would have moved around to find these resources.
But while researchers have a rough idea of how the woman lived, her death is somewhat more unusual. The woman was found buried with eight other women, unlike other Mesolithic burials, which generally include a mix of men, women, and children. Speaking to CNN, archaeologist Isabelle De Groote of Ghent University also stated that some of the skeletons were sprinkled with ochre, which is “associated with ritual or symbolic behavior,” and that the bodies were covered with stone fragments. One of the bodies had cut marks on her skull that were made after she had died.
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