Yde Girl
Iron Age bog body
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yde Girl (English: /ˈɪdə/ ⓘ) is a bog body found in the Stijfveen peat bog near the village of Yde, Netherlands. She was found on 12 May 1897 and was reputedly uncannily well-preserved when discovered (especially her hair), but by the time the body was given to the authorities two weeks later, it had been severely damaged and deteriorated.[1] Most of her teeth and hair had been pulled from the skull.[2] The peat-cutting tools had also been reported to have severely damaged the body.[1]
Stijfveen peat bog near Yde, Drenthe, Netherlands
53°05′49″N 6°35′06″E
Yde Girl | |
|---|---|
1992 facial reconstruction by Richard Neave | |
| Born | c. 54 BC – 128 AD |
| Died | c. 54 BC – 128 AD near Yde, Drenthe, present-day Netherlands |
| Cause of death | Strangulation (suggested); possible execution or sacrifice |
| Body discovered | 12 May 1897 Stijfveen peat bog near Yde, Drenthe, Netherlands 53°05′49″N 6°35′06″E |
| Known for | Well-preserved bog body and forensic facial reconstruction |
Discovery
Finding
The body was discovered on 12 May 1897 in the Stijfveen bog between the villages of Yde and Vries in the province of Drenthe. While cutting peat, Hendrik Barkhof and Willem Emmens came across what looked like a piece of leather buried in the peat. When they looked closer, they realized it was preserved human skin and hair.[3] Horrified, they covered the remains with peat sods and left the site. Three days later, a newspaper learned of the bog body and published the news.[4]
On 21 May, just over a week later, the mayor of Vries contacted the Drents Museum in Assen and passed along a detailed description.[5] He noted long hair, bluish peat stained skin, an open mouth with teeth visible, and an injury on the right cheek. The upper torso and shoulders lay tightly together, along with parts of both arms and one hand with all fingers. The feet were present, some with nails still attached. A femur and other bones lay loose beside them. A textile fragment lay nearby along with a long wool band wrapped several times around the neck.[6]
Before museum staff arrived, the remains were exposed to air and handled by workers, which caused initial damage.[7] Some parts had also been plundered, worsening the condition of the body. When museum director J. H. W. Joosting returned with officials, the thigh bone was missing, all but one of the teeth were gone, and much of the hair had either been pulled out or lost due to drying.[8]
The remaining material was gathered into a crate and taken to the museum in Assen. An oak log found at the discovery site was left behind. When the remains arrived at the museum, the body and textiles were laid out to dry, which was a common practice in smaller institutions of the time.[9]
Joosting proposed transferring the remains to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden for study, but the board of the Drents Museum blocked the request, as they wanted to display the body themselves.[10] The Yde Girl was initially exhibited without further investigation.[10]
Condition and preservation
The remains show the kind of preservation often found in northern European peat bogs. Humic acids in the peat bonded with collagen in the skin, giving it a dark, toughened appearance, and the low-oxygen environment slowed normal decay.[10] Once the body was exposed to air, the skin dried and tightened.[11]
The upper torso and shoulders survived better than the lower body, pelvis, and abdomen. The hair measured about 21 centimetres (8.3 in).[11] It had originally been blonde, but long contact with the peat changed it to a red-gold color. Most of the surviving hair lay on the left side of the scalp, while the right side was bare. Later examinations suggested that this pattern may have resulted from one side being exposed to air longer than the other, either before recovery or during drying after removal from the bog.[12]
Most of the bones had softened or dissolved, as acidic peat water removes calcium. The bones that did survive showed a sideways curvature of the spine, an asymmetric pelvis, and a right leg that may have turned inward, features later confirmed by CT scan studies.[13] A small stab wound was found below the left collarbone, but it was later determined that this injury was not the cause of death.[14] The wool band found around the neck remained in place; it had been wrapped three times around the throat, with a knot positioned below the left ear.[14]
Small traces of moss, sedge, and peat were found on both the body and the textiles, which is typical for raised bog settings.[15] A pollen sample taken from beneath the feet in the mid-twentieth century suggested that the death took place during the growing season.[16] Later radiocarbon analysis provided a more precise date range.[17]
Associated objects and clothing
Only a few items were found with the body, but the surviving textiles provide important information about clothing in the Iron Age Netherlands. The body had been wrapped in a wool cloak. When it was new, the cloak had been light in color and woven with several narrow stripes, likely created with plant-based dyes. The cloth showed many spinning and weaving faults, and it had been worn, torn, and repaired in several places, which suggests it had been used for a long time before it was placed in the bog.[18] Today, the cloak survives in two main fragments.
A long wool band was found wrapped several times around the neck. It had originally been about 215 centimetres (85 in) to 220 centimetres (87 in) long and was made using the sprang technique, which produces an elastic fabric by interlinking warp threads. The band was woven with 37 warp threads, and about 125 centimetres (49 in) survive today.[19] The loops and the position of the knot show how it had been tightened around the neck.
No jewelry, metalwork, or personal items were recovered with the body. [15]An oak log lay nearby, although its purpose is not known. Plant remains found at the discovery site, including sphagnum moss, heather, and other bog species, are typical of raised bog environments and help confirm that the body was placed on the bog surface rather than lost accidentally. [15]
Examination
Carbon-14 tests have indicated that Yde Girl died between 54 BC and 128 AD at an approximate age of 16 years.[1] She had long reddish-blonde hair, but one side of her head was initially thought to have been shaved before she died. Recent studies of Windeby I, however, have suggested that the shaved hair phenomenon in some bog bodies may simply attest to one side of the head being exposed to oxygen slightly longer than the other. Scans have shown that she suffered from scoliosis. She stood at 137 centimetres (4 ft 6 in), which is comparatively small for a sixteen-year-old.[1]
The body was found clad in a wool cape and with a woolen band, made in a braiding technique known as sprang, wrapped around the neck, suggesting she was executed or sacrificed.[20][21]
There was also a stab wound in the area of her collarbone, but this was determined not to be the cause of death. It is thought that she may have died while unconscious, as defensive wounds were absent on the hand that was recovered from the body, unlike a similar case in Germany, the Kayhausen Boy, who had a cut on his left hand from an apparent defense attempt.[1]
As with most bog bodies, the skin and features are still preserved because of the tannic acid in the marsh water. When Yde Girl was excavated, the diggers accidentally caused a wound to the skull. Only the torso, head, right hand, and feet of the Yde girl remain intact today. The rest of her body was not preserved or had been damaged by peat-cutting tools.
Exhibit
The Yde Girl was put on display and further study was not carried out on the remains until 1992. Richard Neave, of the University of Manchester, took a CT scan of the skull of Yde Girl and determined her age, both anatomically and historically.[2][20][22]
The Yde Girl became internationally known when Neave made a reconstruction of her head, using techniques from plastic surgery and criminal pathology.[23] Due to the state of the body, the work on the reconstruction included some guesswork, for example, the nose and some other facial features.[1] Yde Girl and her modern reconstruction are displayed at the Drents Museum in Assen.
Yde Girl, along with Roter Franz and the Weerdinge Men, were transported across the world for a museum tour in both the early and mid-2000s.[2][20][21] The exhibition provoked protest in Canada, where ethics standards prohibit the showing of bodies of Indigenous people, and experts and public alike often consider display of the dead to be distasteful.[24]
