A recent isotope analysis of the Bronze Age Egtved Girl, a mummy from 1370 B.C. that was uncovered in Denmark, revealed she was not actually born in the region.
A strontium isotope analyses of the ancient teenager's teeth suggest she was born and raised outside of Denmark, and isotopes from her hair and thumb nail show she traveled a great distance over the last two years of her life, the University of Copenhagen reported.
Even isotopes in the wool from the ancient girl's clothing, the blanket that was used to cover her after death, and the oak coffin she was laid to rest in, revelal the material originated outside of Denmark. The findings suggest the Egtved Girl and her belongings came from the "Black Forest" in South West Germany. A cremated six-year-old child who was buried along with the Egtved Girl is believed to have come from the same region.
Strontium is an element that exists in the Earth's crust, and concentrations of it vary by geological location. Living creatures and plants absorb this element through food and water, allowing researchers to measure its prevalence and create a "map" of where the subject has been.
"I have [analyzed] the strontium isotopic signatures of the enamel from one of the Egtved Girl's first molars, which was fully formed/crystallized when she was three or four years old, and the analysis tells us that she was born and lived her first years in a region that is geologically older than and different from the peninsula of Jutland in Denmark," said Karin Margarita Frei, from the National Museum of Denmark and Centre for Textile Research at the University of Copenhagen.
The isotope signatures in the girl's hair also suggest she went on a long journey shortly before death.
"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 [nine to 10] months there, she went back to the region she originally came from and stayed there for four to six months before she travelled to her final resting place, Egtved," Frei said.
The findings back up the idea that there was a close relationship between Denmark and Southern Germany during the Bronze age. These two regions were centers of power in the ancient world. The researchers hypothesized the Egtved Girl was from Southern Germany, and was given in marriage to a man from Jutland to create an alliance between two powerful families.
During the time when the Egtved Girl was alive, Denmark commonly traded amber for bronze, and large quantities of the precious material was transported to the Mediterranean using Southern Germany as a "middle man." Since bronze was as valuable back then as oil is today, Denmark became exceptionally wealthy from the trade.
"Amber was the engine of Bronze Age economy, and in order to keep the trade routes going, powerful families would forge alliances by giving their daughters in marriage to each other and letting their sons be raised by each other as a kind of security," said professor Kristian Kristiansen from the University of Gothenburg.
There are many Danish Bronze Age graves containing exceptionally well-preserved human remains, such as what is seen in the Egtved Girl, in the future the researchers plan to examine more of these ancient remains to determine their strontium isotope signatures.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Scientific Reports.
