Koelbjerg Woman

The wife of Koelbjerg is the oldest known bog body and at the same time the oldest human bones found in Denmark. It dates to the time of Maglemosian culture around 8000 BC Their remains are in Funen Oldtid archaeological museum holds the manor Hollufgard in Odense.

Find circumstances

In the small boiler Moor Grøftebjergmosen at Koelbjerg in Assen municipality to the Danish island of Funen peat cutters found in May 1941 a human skull and some bones. On May 21, the teacher A. Nielsen Koelbjerg reported the find call the Funen Stiftsmuseum. The museum staff were able to reconstruct the original position of the bone only on the testimony of the peat-cutters. Thus, the skull and two bones, the majority of the bones were 2.5 meters in depth, but at a depth of 3 to 3.5 meters and a distance of seven to eight meters southeasterly direction. A further two meters to the east-southeast had been found a thigh bone. Location: 55 ° 24 ' 13 " N, 10 ° 7' 59" O55.40361111111110.133055555556Koordinaten: 55 ° 24 ' 13 " N, 10 ° 7' 59" O

Examination results

The skeleton of the woman was not completely found. The anthropological examination of the bones revealed that the woman was about 155 cm tall and 20 to 25 years old. At the bones are no signs of disease or malnutrition recognizable, and the resulting teeth of the original full set of teeth also have no pathological changes such as caries. A δ13C isotopic analysis showed that the woman mainly fed on terrestrial plants and animals and marine animals such as fish or shellfish in their diets hardly played a role. A DNA analysis revealed no usable results. The few found DNA evidence probably from contamination by previous editors. The distribution of bone over a larger area is explained by the fact that the woman may have drowned in the lake, and - while their soft parts decayed - for a while adrift in open water. Only after a lot of their soft parts had passed, the remaining bones were enclosed by the silted lake.

In July 1941, a pollen analysis on a peat sample from the skull interior was carried out. The bog body could be dated to the time of Maglemosian culture around 8000 BC. In October 1943, a core sample was taken for further investigation at the site yet. A 14C - investigation confirmed 1983 dating to the time of Maglemosian culture.

Approximately 2.5 km south-west, near the Nerverkær Moor, settlement remains have been found from the time of Maglemosian culture. Possibly the wife of Koelbjerg lived in this settlement.