DNA from 10,000-year-old skull gives woman of Meuse a face
The first hunter gatherers of the Meuse river valley moved with the rhythm of the seasons. The tribes, who predated the Neolithic and Bronze Age builders of Stonehenge by 5,000 years, left little trace they ever roamed northern Europe.
What little we did know about our ancient ancestors, who lived more than 10,000 years ago, was that they were likely to have had dark skin and, as evidenced by Cheddar Man, found in 1903 — the most complete prehistoric remains to be discovered in Britain — they probably had blue eyes.
Then along came the woman of Meuse. She was among the remains of 30 to 60 females from the Mesolithic period discovered in 1988 in the Margaux caves near Dinant, a picturesque town on the Meuse in Belgium. Now, after decades of study, scientists have been able to reconstruct her face.
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'We were able to extract very well-preserved DNA from the skull. That's how we learnt more,' said Professor Isabelle De Groote, who led the team of scientists from Ghent University, revealing for the first time that Meuse woman had lighter skin than prehistoric remains found at other sites, although they share blue eyes and dark hair.
'We know that she had blue eyes and an average skin colour. That's striking; until now, most finds from that time indicated a darker skin,' said De Groote. 'This indicates that there was a greater diversity in skin pigmentation than we previously thought.'
The difference in skin colour is thought to have been influenced by factors such as diet, migration and climate. 'They moved around,' said De Groote. 'They left fewer traces than the early farmers who came later.'
The woman, who had lighter skin than was expected, lived in the Meuse River valley during the Mesolithic period
The society of women seems to have had religious rituals. 'We noticed that the skulls were scalped and manipulated with ochre, possibly as a burial ritual. It is also striking that only women were buried there,' said De Groote. 'We know what the woman ate, based on animal remains. Remains of poles indicate camps. Remains of hazelnuts show that there were hazel forests.'
There is an online poll to give the face a name, with three options: Margo, Freya or Mos'anne. The first refers to the Margaux cave in which the skull was found. Freya is the name of the hills in which the caves are located and Mos'anne is the French name of the Meuse valley.
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