Scientists have reconstructed the face of a woman who lived about 10,500 years ago in present-day Belgium, offering new insights into the diversity and cultural practices of prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies in Western Europe.
According to foreign news outlet CNN on Thursday, the reconstruction, led by researchers from Ghent University, was made possible using DNA extracted from the woman’s skull, which was discovered in the Margaux Cave in Dinant during an excavation carried out between 1988 and 1989.
According to a statement by the university, genetic analysis revealed that the woman had blue eyes and lighter skin than most Mesolithic individuals previously studied, challenging earlier notions that hunter-gatherers in Western Europe shared a homogenous genetic makeup.
An archaeologist at Ghent University, Isabelle De Groote, who is leading the research project on Mesolithic Belgium, disclosed that the woman came from the same population group as the Cheddar Man, who lived in what is now the United Kingdom at around the same time but had lighter skin.
“The findings challenge previous assumptions that European hunter gatherers shared the same genetic makeup and demonstrate that there was already considerable variation in skin color among different populations.
“From the skull, we could also tell that she was somewhere between 35 and 60 years old.
“She also had a nose with a high nasal bridge, which is similar to Cheddar Man,” De Groote added. “She also has strong brow ridges despite being a female.”
“The woman’s remains were found in the Margaux cave in Dinant during an archaeological dig in 1988-1989 alongside the bodies of eight other women.
This was “an unusual finding” as most Mesolithic burial sites contain a mixture of men, women, and children, she added.
“Many of the skeletons were sprinkled with ochre, a practice associated with ritual or symbolic behavior.
“Most of the bodies were carefully covered with stone fragments, while one individual had cut marks on her skull that were made after her death.
“Also interesting is that this burial cave was used over a period of several hundreds of years so that they were places of memory that people would go back to despite their mobile hunter-gatherer lifestyle,” De Groote revealed.
She explained that the site appears to have been used repeatedly over several centuries, implying that it served as a place of memory for a nomadic community.
“These findings point to complex burial customs and raise intriguing questions about the social structure and cultural practices of this early hunter-gatherer community,” she added.
Another member of the research team, Philippe Crombé, said the woman’s skin tone came as a bit of a surprise but was not entirely unexpected due to the limited data pool available.
“All individuals so far analyzed on ancient DNA in Western Europe have belonged to the same genetic group.
“So it’s a bit of a surprise, but on the other hand, it is to be expected that in the wide area of Western Europe, there’s some variability, as there is today.”
“When the remains were recovered there was no way to conduct research into ancient DNA,” Crombé added.
“Techniques have developed since the excavation,” he told CNN on Wednesday, adding that the interdisciplinary project is “a re-analysis of old excavations using state-of-the-art methods.”
Crombé detailed how “quite good quality” DNA was taken from the woman’s skull, allowing for the creation of “a very detailed reconstruction.”
While her skin, hair, and eye color were based on genetic findings, elements such as jewelry, tattoos, and lifestyle were inferred from archaeological discoveries in the River Meuse basin, where other Mesolithic sites have yielded stone tools, animal bones, and fish remains.
