Luttra Woman: Difference between revisions

[[File:Hallonflickan – Maginnehåll – Falbygdens museum.jpg|thumb|right|The Luttra Woman’s stomach contents consisting of raspberry seeds]]

[[File:Hallonflickan – Maginnehåll – Falbygdens museum.jpg|thumb|right|The Luttra Woman’s stomach contents consisting of raspberry seeds]]

Dahr assessed the skeleton as that of a young female.<ref name=”Sjögren_pp102″>{{cite journal |title=Early Neolithic human bog finds from Falbygden, western Sweden: New isotopic, osteological and histological investigations |first1=Karl-Göran |last1=Sjögren |first2=Torbjörn |last2=Ahlström |first3=Malou |last3=Blank |first4=T. Douglas |last4=Price |first5=Karin Margarita |last5=Frei |journal=Journal of Neolithic Archaeology |issue=19 |date=2017 |pages=102 |doi=10.12766/jna.2017.4 |doi-access=free |issn=2197-649X |publisher=Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology at [[Kiel University]] |location=Germany}}</ref> Gejvall initially estimated the individual to be a woman aged 20–25 years; however, Sjögren et al. later proposed in 2017 that an age range of 15–20 years was more appropriate.<ref name=”Sjögren_pp103″>{{cite journal |title=Early Neolithic human bog finds from Falbygden, western Sweden: New isotopic, osteological and histological investigations |first1=Karl-Göran |last1=Sjögren |first2=Torbjörn |last2=Ahlström |first3=Malou |last3=Blank |first4=T. Douglas |last4=Price |first5=Karin Margarita |last5=Frei |journal=Journal of Neolithic Archaeology |issue=19 |date=2017 |pages=103 |doi=10.12766/jna.2017.4 |doi-access=free |issn=2197-649X |publisher=Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology at [[Kiel University]] |location=Germany}}</ref> At the location of the former stomach, only a cluster of small yellow-brown seeds remained, subsequently identified as those of [[Rubus idaeus|European red raspberries]] (”Rubus idaeus”).<ref name=”Jensen”/> The substantial quantity of raspberries consumed shortly before death suggested a late summer death, likely in July or August.<ref name=”Bagge”>{{cite journal |last=Bagge |first=Axel |author-link=Axel Bagge |title=Ett märkligt skelettfynd från gånggriftstiden |trans-title=A remarkable skeletal find from the Middle Neolithic |pages=248–249 |journal=[[Fornvännen|Fornvännen. Journal of Swedish Antiquarian Research]] |date=1947 |publisher=[[Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities]] |lang=sv |issn=0015-7813 |url=http://raa.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1224365/FULLTEXT01.pdf |access-date=2023-09-28 |via=[[DiVA (open archive)]] |archive-date=23 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123134229/http://raa.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1224365/FULLTEXT01.pdf}}</ref> This final meal and her estimated age led to the nickname {{lang|sv|Hallonflickan}}, Swedish for ‘Raspberry Girl’.<ref name=”Jensen”/>{{efn|{{ill|Nils-Gustaf Gejvall|sv}} stated in his 1960 English-language monograph ”Westerhus: Medieval Population and Church in the Light of Skeletal Remains” that the Luttra Woman was “nowadays usually known under the name of “The Raspberry Girl” (Hallonflickan) […]”.<ref name=”Gejvall 1960″/>}}

Dahr assessed the skeleton as that of a young female.<ref name=”Sjögren_pp102″>{{cite journal |title=Early Neolithic human bog finds from Falbygden, western Sweden: New isotopic, osteological and histological investigations |first1=Karl-Göran |last1=Sjögren |first2=Torbjörn |last2=Ahlström |first3=Malou |last3=Blank |first4=T. Douglas |last4=Price |first5=Karin Margarita |last5=Frei |journal=Journal of Neolithic Archaeology |issue=19 |date=2017 |pages=102 |doi=10.12766/jna.2017.4 |doi-access=free |issn=2197-649X |publisher=Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology at [[Kiel University]] |location=Germany}}</ref> Gejvall initially estimated the individual to be a woman aged 20–25 years; however, Sjögren et al. later proposed in 2017 that an age range of 15–20 years was more appropriate.<ref name=”Sjögren_pp103″>{{cite journal |title=Early Neolithic human bog finds from Falbygden, western Sweden: New isotopic, osteological and histological investigations |first1=Karl-Göran |last1=Sjögren |first2=Torbjörn |last2=Ahlström |first3=Malou |last3=Blank |first4=T. Douglas |last4=Price |first5=Karin Margarita |last5=Frei |journal=Journal of Neolithic Archaeology |issue=19 |date=2017 |pages=103 |doi=10.12766/jna.2017.4 |doi-access=free |issn=2197-649X |publisher=Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology at [[Kiel University]] |location=Germany}}</ref> At the location of the former stomach, a cluster of small yellow-brown seeds remained, subsequently identified as those of [[Rubus idaeus|European red raspberries]] (”Rubus idaeus”).<ref name=”Jensen”/> The substantial quantity of raspberries consumed shortly before death suggested late summer, in July or August.<ref name=”Bagge”>{{cite journal |last=Bagge |first=Axel |author-link=Axel Bagge |title=Ett märkligt skelettfynd från gånggriftstiden |trans-title=A remarkable skeletal find from the Middle Neolithic |pages=248–249 |journal=[[Fornvännen|Fornvännen. Journal of Swedish Antiquarian Research]] |date=1947 |publisher=[[Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities]] |lang=sv |issn=0015-7813 |url=http://raa.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1224365/FULLTEXT01.pdf |access-date=2023-09-28 |via=[[DiVA (open archive)]] |archive-date=23 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123134229/http://raa.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1224365/FULLTEXT01.pdf}}</ref> This final meal and her estimated age led to the nickname {{lang|sv|Hallonflickan}}, Swedish for ‘Raspberry Girl’.<ref name=”Jensen”/>{{efn|{{ill|Nils-Gustaf Gejvall|sv}} stated in his 1960 English-language monograph ”Westerhus: Medieval Population and Church in the Light of Skeletal Remains” that the Luttra Woman was “nowadays usually known under the name of “The Raspberry Girl” (Hallonflickan) […]”.<ref name=”Gejvall 1960″/>}}

Gejvall described her facial features as elegant and proportionally balanced, noting the consistency between her slender frame and the refined contours of her skull and jaw.<ref name=”Jensen”/> The individual was characterised by short stature, with an estimated height of {{cvt|145|cm|ftin}}. In a 1960 monograph, Gejvall remarked that this was the shortest stature he had encountered in Swedish archaeological material. He referenced Dahr’s study of remains from a Stone Age settlement on [[Gotland]], Sweden’s largest island, where the average female height was estimated at {{cvt|153|cm|ftin}}—a figure Gejvall considered distinctly short—as a point of comparison.<ref name=”Gejvall 1960″>{{cite book|title=Westerhus: Medieval Population and Church in the Light of Skeletal Remains |first=Nils-Gustaf |last=Gejvall |author-link=:sv:Nils-Gustaf Gejvall |pages=47–48 |oclc=1012246268 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.50145 |via=[[Internet Archive]] |year=1960 |publisher={{ill|Håkan Ohlssons Book Printing|sv|Håkan Ohlssons boktryckeri}} |location=[[Lund]] |series=Monografier utgivna av Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien [Monographs published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities] |volume=43 |access-date=2024-10-03 }}</ref> Analysis of [[Isotopes of strontium|strontium]] and [[Isotopes of oxygen|oxygen isotope]] ratios in the [[tooth enamel]] from one of the Luttra Woman’s [[molar (tooth)|molars]] indicated that she likely originated from present-day [[Scania]], the southernmost region of Sweden, before relocating to the Falbygden area later in life.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Early Neolithic human bog finds from Falbygden, western Sweden: New isotopic, osteological and histological investigations |first1=Karl-Göran |last1=Sjögren |first2=Torbjörn |last2=Ahlström |first3=Malou |last3=Blank |first4=T. Douglas |last4=Price |first5=Karin Margarita |last5=Frei |journal=Journal of Neolithic Archaeology |issue=19 |date=2017 |pages=109–111 |doi=10.12766/jna.2017.4 |doi-access=free |issn=2197-649X |publisher=Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology at [[Kiel University]] |location=Germany}}</ref>{{efn|[[Strontium]] is incorporated into bones and teeth due to its similarity to [[calcium]], and the distribution of [[isotopes of strontium|strontium isotopes]] tends to vary significantly from one geographical location to another. This is why the strontium signature in an individual’s calcified structures can help determine the region they came from.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Steadman |first1=Luville T. |last2=Brudevold |first2=Finn |last3=Smith |first3=Frank A. |title=Distribution of strontium in teeth from different geographic areas |journal=[[The Journal of the American Dental Association]] |volume=57 |issue=3 |year=1958 |pages=340–344 |doi=10.14219/jada.archive.1958.0161 |pmid=13575071 |issn=0002-8177}}</ref> Strontium incorporated in a developing tooth, in particular, does not change, partly because there is no blood supply to [[dentine]] or [[tooth enamel]].<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[The British Medical Journal]] |volume=2 |issue=5422 |date=5 December 1964 |page=1411 |title=Strontium-90 In Teeth |doi=10.1136/bmj.2.5422.1411 |s2cid=20157450}}</ref>}} Attempts to extract DNA from her remains have been unsuccessful {{as of|January 2023|alt=as of January 2023}}, due to the degradation of the bones by the bog environment.<ref name=”Jensen”/>

Gejvall described her facial features as elegant and proportionally balanced, noting the consistency between her slender frame and the refined contours of her skull and jaw.<ref name=”Jensen”/> The individual was characterised by short stature, with an estimated height of {{cvt|145|cm|ftin}}. In a 1960 monograph, Gejvall remarked that this was the shortest stature he had encountered in Swedish archaeological material. He referenced Dahr’s study of remains from a Stone Age settlement on [[Gotland]], Sweden’s largest island, where the average female height was estimated at {{cvt|153|cm|ftin}}—a figure Gejvall considered distinctly short—as a point of comparison.<ref name=”Gejvall 1960″>{{cite book|title=Westerhus: Medieval Population and Church in the Light of Skeletal Remains |first=Nils-Gustaf |last=Gejvall |author-link=:sv:Nils-Gustaf Gejvall |pages=47–48 |oclc=1012246268 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.50145 |via=[[Internet Archive]] |year=1960 |publisher={{ill|Håkan Ohlssons Book Printing|sv|Håkan Ohlssons boktryckeri}} |location=[[Lund]] |series=Monografier utgivna av Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien [Monographs published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities] |volume=43 |access-date=2024-10-03 }}</ref> Analysis of [[Isotopes of strontium|strontium]] and [[Isotopes of oxygen|oxygen isotope]] ratios in the [[tooth enamel]] from one of the Luttra Woman’s [[molar (tooth)|molars]] indicated that she likely originated from present-day [[Scania]], the southernmost region of Sweden, before relocating to the Falbygden area later in life.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Early Neolithic human bog finds from Falbygden, western Sweden: New isotopic, osteological and histological investigations |first1=Karl-Göran |last1=Sjögren |first2=Torbjörn |last2=Ahlström |first3=Malou |last3=Blank |first4=T. Douglas |last4=Price |first5=Karin Margarita |last5=Frei |journal=Journal of Neolithic Archaeology |issue=19 |date=2017 |pages=109–111 |doi=10.12766/jna.2017.4 |doi-access=free |issn=2197-649X |publisher=Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology at [[Kiel University]] |location=Germany}}</ref>{{efn|[[Strontium]] is incorporated into bones and teeth due to its similarity to [[calcium]], and the distribution of [[isotopes of strontium|strontium isotopes]] tends to vary significantly from one geographical location to another. This is why the strontium signature in an individual’s calcified structures can help determine the region they came from.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Steadman |first1=Luville T. |last2=Brudevold |first2=Finn |last3=Smith |first3=Frank A. |title=Distribution of strontium in teeth from different geographic areas |journal=[[The Journal of the American Dental Association]] |volume=57 |issue=3 |year=1958 |pages=340–344 |doi=10.14219/jada.archive.1958.0161 |pmid=13575071 |issn=0002-8177}}</ref> Strontium incorporated in a developing tooth, in particular, does not change, partly because there is no blood supply to [[dentine]] or [[tooth enamel]].<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[The British Medical Journal]] |volume=2 |issue=5422 |date=5 December 1964 |page=1411 |title=Strontium-90 In Teeth |doi=10.1136/bmj.2.5422.1411 |s2cid=20157450}}</ref>}} Attempts to extract DNA from her remains have been unsuccessful {{as of|January 2023|alt=as of January 2023}}, due to the degradation of the bones by the bog environment.<ref name=”Jensen”/>

Neolithic bog body from Sweden

The Luttra Woman is a skeletonised bog body^[a] from the Early Neolithic period (radiocarbon-dated 3928–3651 BC) that was discovered near Luttra, Sweden, on 20 May 1943. The skull was well-preserved, but some bones of the skeleton, particularly many between the skull and the pelvis, were absent. Osteological assessment identified the remains as those of a young female. Her estimated height of 145 cm (4 ft 9 in) was deemed notably short for a Stone Age woman of the region. The presence of raspberry seeds in her stomach contents, coupled with an estimated age of early to mid-twenties at death, led to her being nicknamed Hallonflickan (Swedish: [ˈhalɔnflɪkːˌan] ^ⓘ; lit. ‘Raspberry Girl‘). As of 2015^[update], she represented the earliest known Neolithic individual from Western Sweden.

Multiple anthropological studies revealed no evidence of injuries or fatal diseases on her remains. She appeared to have been bound and placed in shallow water at or shortly after her death. Axel Bagge, an archaeologist who collaborated on the initial examination of her remains, hypothesised that she had been deliberately drowned, either as a human sacrifice or as the victim of a witch execution. Since 1994, her skeleton has formed part of the permanent exhibition Forntid på Falbygden (‘Prehistory in Falbygden’) at the Falbygden Museum [sv] in Falköping, Sweden. In June 2011, a forensic reconstruction of her bust was incorporated to augment the display.

On 20 May 1943, whilst cutting peat in Rogestorp—a raised bog within the Mönarpa mossar [sv] bog complex in Falbygden near Luttra—Carl Wilhelmsson, a resident of the neighbouring Kinneved parish [sv],^[5] discovered one of the skeleton’s hands at a depth of 1.2 m (4 ft) below the surface.^[1][6] Wilhelmsson alerted the police, who, recognising the likely antiquity of the remains due to their depth in the bog, ruled out the possibility of a prosecutable crime.^[7] Falbygden, a rural area in southwestern Sweden with a predominantly agrarian economy,^[8] was a notable site for the discovery of prehistoric human and animal skeletal remains. Between the 1920s and 1950s, during a period of widespread peat cutting in the region, Swedish antiquarians documented numerous such findings. The skeletal remains in Falbygden were often relatively well-preserved, a phenomenon attributed to the natural preservation process facilitated by the region’s carbonate-rich bedrock.^[9]

Location of the discovery site in Sweden

Wilhelmsson informed the local representative of the Swedish National Heritage Board, teacher and archaeologist Hilding Svensson [sv].^[10] Svensson inspected the find the following day and forwarded a discovery report to the Board, requesting expert assistance.^[1][11] In response, the Board dispatched geologist and archaeologist Karl Esaias Sahlström [sv; no], along with palynologist Carl Larsson, both from the Geological Survey of Sweden.^[12] Upon arrival, they observed that the skeleton was in an upright position, with the detached skull rolled over such that the chin and foramen magnum pointed directly upwards.^[4] A segment of the skeleton had been inadvertently cut through during Wilhelmsson’s peat extraction; nevertheless, the skull remained in its discovery position.^[12] Sahlström, deeming a thorough in situ investigation impractical, arranged for the entire peat block containing the partially embedded skeleton to be excised. The block was placed on a Masonite board and, along with several loose bones found in the bog, was transported by train to the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm in a wooden box.^[1][2][7] Upon receipt, osteologist and anthropologist Elias Dahr [sv] excavated the skeleton from the peat block.^[2]

Three years prior to this discovery, a flint arrowhead had been unearthed in the same bog, approximately 6 m (20 ft) north of the skeleton’s location and at an equivalent depth. However, researchers were unable to determine whether the arrowhead and the skeleton had been deposited contemporaneously.^[1]

The skeleton underwent its initial examination by Dahr following excavation.^[15] Axel Bagge, an archaeologist who collaborated on Dahr’s examination, first reported the discovery in 1947 in the Swedish academic journal Fornvännen.^[12] A subsequent, more comprehensive physical anthropological investigation was conducted by Sahlström, osteologist Nils-Gustaf Gejvall [sv], and anatomist Carl-Herman Hjortsjö; their findings, including a detailed description of the remains, were published in 1952.^[15] In the intervening years, the skeleton has been subject to further scrutiny by additional researchers, notably archaeologist Sabine Sten [wikidata] and osteologist Torbjörn Ahlström [wikidata] during the 1990s, with Ahlström revisiting the study in the 2010s.^[1][15]

Only portions of the skeleton had been preserved; the soft tissues had completely disintegrated and some bones, particularly many between the skull and the pelvis, were absent.^[12] The skull was well-preserved, with only the inner nasal region partially degraded. The condition of the remaining bones was less favourable.^[15] Pollen analysis dating indicated that the bones were slightly older than 4,000 years. As of 2017^[update], radiocarbon dating had been employed on the skeleton three times: the first two analyses corroborated the pollen analysis result, whilst the third, conducted using accelerator mass spectrometry in 2015, yielded a range of 3928–3651 BC. This places the remains in the early or middle period of the Early Neolithic, establishing her as the earliest known Neolithic individual from Western Sweden at that time.^[2]

Dahr assessed the skeleton as that of a young female.^[15] Gejvall initially estimated the individual to be a woman aged 20–25 years; however, Sjögren et al. later proposed in 2017 that an age range of 15–20 years was more appropriate.^[14] At the location of the former stomach, a cluster of small yellow-brown seeds remained, subsequently identified as those of European red raspberries (Rubus idaeus).^[1] The substantial quantity of raspberries consumed shortly before death suggested that the individual likely died in late summer, in July or August.^[12] This final meal and her estimated age led to the nickname Hallonflickan, Swedish for ‘Raspberry Girl’.^[1][b]

Gejvall described her facial features as elegant and proportionally balanced, noting the consistency between her slender frame and the refined contours of her skull and jaw.^[1] The individual was characterised by short stature, with an estimated height of 145 cm (4 ft 9 in). In a 1960 monograph, Gejvall remarked that this was the shortest stature he had encountered in Swedish archaeological material. He referenced Dahr’s study of remains from a Stone Age settlement on Gotland, Sweden’s largest island, where the average female height was estimated at 153 cm (5 ft 0 in)—a figure Gejvall considered distinctly short—as a point of comparison.^[17] Analysis of strontium and oxygen isotope ratios in the tooth enamel from one of the Luttra Woman’s molars indicated that she likely originated from present-day Scania, the southernmost region of Sweden, before relocating to the Falbygden area later in life.^[18][c] Attempts to extract DNA from her remains have been unsuccessful as of January 2023^[update], due to the degradation of the bones by the bog environment.^[1]

The skull exhibited a perforation below the left eye socket, likely resulting from a chronic bone infection; otherwise, her remains bore no traces of injuries or diseases. Her legs were positioned in a tight squatting posture, with the calves resting against the thighs.^[1] Bagge surmised that her legs had been bound, though the binding materials had not been preserved in the bog environment.^[12] Sahlström noted that the skull’s imprint on the peat block suggested a prone position; Dahr concurred, concluding she had been lying face down.^[21] She appeared to have been placed in shallow water at or shortly after her death, remaining undisturbed in this restrained position until the 1943 discovery.^[22][d] Bagge postulated that she had been deliberately drowned, proposing the hypothesis that she was the victim of either a human sacrifice ritual or a witch execution.^[12] Ahlström and Sten noted that some Early Neolithic remains in Denmark bore indications of similar sacrificial practices.^[21] An alternative explanation posited that the bindings were part of a water burial ritual for the Luttra Woman’s corpse, following her death from unrelated causes.^[22]

The 1945 text Tio tusen år i Sverige (‘Ten Thousand Years in Sweden’), which accompanied the Swedish History Museum’s exhibition of prehistoric and archaeological finds, did not mention the Luttra Woman, despite her remains being part of the exhibition at that time.^[1] In the early 1970s, the skeleton was removed from display and placed in the museum’s storage facility under the inventory number SHM 23163.^[1][24] In 1994, the skeleton was loaned to the Falbygden Museum [sv] in Falköping and made available for public viewing. Since then, it has been part of the museum’s permanent exhibition Forntid på Falbygden (‘Prehistory in Falbygden’).^[1][25] The exhibition was expanded in June 2011 with a reconstructed bust of her, created by Oscar Nilsson, an archaeologist and model-maker trained in sculpture.^[26] He had worked on commissions from museums to reconstruct Swedish remains from various historical periods—such as the Barum Woman (c. 7th millennium BC), the Granhammar Man [sv] (9th century BC), Estrid (11th century), and Birger Jarl (13th century)—using forensic methods originally developed to identify crime victims from their remains.^[1][7]

To create the bust of the Luttra Woman, Nilsson arranged for her skull to be CT scanned at the Karolinska Institute, a research-focused medical university in Stockholm. Utilising the scanned data, he commissioned a full-scale replica of the skull to be 3D printed in polyvinyl chloride. Nilsson then manually affixed dozens of markers to the replica to indicate the estimated facial soft tissue thickness. Subsequently, he moulded facial muscles and a thin layer of clay skin onto the replica, sculpting the finer details of her facial features.^[1] In an interview, Nilsson remarked that the skeleton appeared distinctly feminine to him. He shaped her face accordingly, incorporating a narrow nasal bridge, which resulted in what he described as “a fully modern appearance”, rather than the stereotypical visage of a Stone Age woman.^[27] In the absence of DNA analysis, Nilsson was compelled to make assumptions regarding her hair and eye colour.^[7]