Buried during the Stone Age, this woman once roamed the forests of northern Sweden. Now archaeologists have reconstructed her face
When he thought about the woman’s eyes, he considered the boy she’d been buried with. The boy’s skeleton had been too damaged to inform a recreation, but Nilsson wanted to include him. He imagined the boy was her son, and she was watching him as he ran ahead of her. They were likely hunter gatherers, traveling behind the animal migrations. Perhaps, he thought, they were on the way to winter camp.
“She’s not threatened, she feels at home, and she looks at this boy,” Nilsson says. “It’s a safe feeling, but also almost a bit cocky. Even though she’s small, you wouldn’t want to mess with her.” Nillson studied historic migration patterns to determine that the woman likely had light skin and dark hair. She is clothed in tanned animal skins made with Stone Age techniques.In past reconstructions, he’s known his job was done well when a museum visitor leans toward the face to examine its details and then jumps back, uncomfortable with the closeness. It often happens when the two pairs of eyes—living and reconstructed—are around two feet apart.
Nilsson knows those forests well. When he was growing up in Stockholm, his family would spend vacations at a cottage a few miles away from where the grave had been found. He’d walk among the trees, collecting mushrooms and looking for moose, or even a bear—perhaps along the same trails as the woman from Lagmansören.
“DNA and 3D printing are cool,” Nilsson says. “But it’s always [about] this emotional bond I—and many people—experience when we look upon a reconstructed face. It’s that connection that comes first.”
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