Latest news with #Mesolithic
NDTV
a day ago
- Science
- NDTV
Scientists Recreate Face Of 10,500-Year-Old Woman Using DNA
Researchers at Ghent University have reconstructed the visage of a pale, dark-haired, blue-eyed prehistoric woman who lived 10,500 years ago in what is now Belgium. They produced an amazing image, depicting the face of a woman who lived and died in the Meuse River valley, using ancient DNA. In 1988, the remains of the Mesolithic woman were found in the Margaux cave, which is close to Dinant. She was a hunter-gatherer from Western Europe, the same group as the popular Cheddar Man from Great Britain. DNA studies showed the Margaux woman's eyes were blue, just like Cheddar Man's. She did, however, have a somewhat lighter complexion than the majority of other Mesolithic individuals in Western Europe examined so far. It is a minor but crucial detail, according to the project's lead geneticist, Dr. Maite Rivollat. The reconstruction of her face and living conditions was made possible by a mix of anatomical, genetic, and archaeological data. Ghent University archaeologist Isabelle De Groote told CNN that the 'Meuse Woman' was from the same ethnicity as the Cheddar Man, who lived in what is now the United Kingdom at the time, but had a lighter complexion. "We could also infer from the skull that she was between 35 and 60 years old," De Groote told CNN. The prehistoric Belgian woman also resembled Cheddar Man with a prominent nasal bridge. "She also has noticeable brow ridges, even though she's a woman," De Groote added. University archaeologist Philippe Crombe said that "quite good quality" DNA was extracted from the woman's skull so that "a very detailed reconstruction" could be made. While some of her features, like her jewellery and tattoos, are based on archaeological data gathered from previous digs in the River Meuse basin, helping researchers create a picture of the woman's daily life — her complexion, hair, and eyes are all based on ancient DNA. The creative team also used archaeological evidence, such as tools, shells, paints, and camp remnants. This made her world come to life, along with her face. Every detail was meticulously recreated, from hunting methods to transportation, from plants to animals. The remains of the 'Meuse Woman' were discovered in the Margaux cave in Dinant in 1988-1989, along with the remains of eight other women. This was "an unusual finding" because the majority of Mesolithic burial sites include a mix of men, women, and children. The reconstruction was carried out in cooperation with Dutch artists Kennis and Kennis and researchers from the ROAM project (a Regional Outlook on Ancient Migration), an interdisciplinary effort comprising archaeologists, bioanthropologists, geneticists, and artists.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists reconstruct 10,500-year-old woman's face using DNA
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Researchers studying the remains of a prehistoric woman who lived around 10,500 years ago in what is now Belgium have produced a reconstruction of her face using ancient DNA. A team led by scientists from Ghent University found that the woman would have had blue eyes and slightly lighter skin than most other people from the Mesolithic period in Western Europe who have been analyzed to date, according to a statement from the university on Tuesday. Isabelle De Groote, an archaeologist at Ghent University who leads the research project on Mesolithic Belgium, told CNN 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 demonstrates that there was already considerable variation in skin color among different populations, said De Groote. 'From the skull we could also tell that she was somewhere between 35 and 60 years old,' De Groote told CNN on Wednesday. '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, said De Groote. 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,' said De Groote. 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, she added. '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,' said De Groote. '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. Philippe Crombé, an archaeologist at the university who is part of the project team, said that the ancient woman's skin color was 'a bit of a surprise,' but there's a limited pool of Mesolithic people with whom to compare. 'All individuals so far analyzed on ancient DNA in Western Europe have belonged to the same genetic group,' he said. '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, said Crombé. '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.' Her skin color, hair color and eye color is all based on ancient DNA, while other elements such as her jewelry and tattoos are based on archaeological data obtained from other excavations in the River Meuse basin, which also allowed them to build a picture of her daily life. At one excavation – a former campsite on the banks of the river – scientists found stone tools, bones from wild game and fish remains, said Crombé, providing evidence that these people would have been nomadic. 'They're still moving around because they are entirely dependent on natural resources: wild game, wild plants, fish,' he said. 'So that forced them to move through the landscape and to move their settlements.' Many questions remain about these Mesolithic communities, which were the last hunter-gatherers in Western Europe, said Crombé. Now the team are analyzing the remains to piece together the relationships between people who were buried together, and also plan to study the extent to which they would have eaten fish, he added.
CNN
2 days ago
- Science
- CNN
Scientists reconstruct 10,500-year-old woman's face using DNA
Researchers studying the remains of a prehistoric woman who lived around 10,500 years ago in what is now Belgium have produced a reconstruction of her face using ancient DNA. A team led by scientists from Ghent University found that the woman would have had blue eyes and slightly lighter skin than most other people from the Mesolithic period in Western Europe who have been analyzed to date, according to a statement from the university on Tuesday. Isabelle De Groote, an archaeologist at Ghent University who leads the research project on Mesolithic Belgium, told CNN 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 demonstrates that there was already considerable variation in skin color among different populations, said De Groote. 'From the skull we could also tell that she was somewhere between 35 and 60 years old,' De Groote told CNN on Wednesday. '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, said De Groote. 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,' said De Groote. 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, she added. '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,' said De Groote. '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. Philippe Crombé, an archaeologist at the university who is part of the project team, said that the ancient woman's skin color was 'a bit of a surprise,' but there's a limited pool of Mesolithic people with whom to compare. 'All individuals so far analyzed on ancient DNA in Western Europe have belonged to the same genetic group,' he said. '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, said Crombé. '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.' Her skin color, hair color and eye color is all based on ancient DNA, while other elements such as her jewelry and tattoos are based on archaeological data obtained from other excavations in the River Meuse basin, which also allowed them to build a picture of her daily life. At one excavation – a former campsite on the banks of the river – scientists found stone tools, bones from wild game and fish remains, said Crombé, providing evidence that these people would have been nomadic. 'They're still moving around because they are entirely dependent on natural resources: wild game, wild plants, fish,' he said. 'So that forced them to move through the landscape and to move their settlements.' Many questions remain about these Mesolithic communities, which were the last hunter-gatherers in Western Europe, said Crombé. Now the team are analyzing the remains to piece together the relationships between people who were buried together, and also plan to study the extent to which they would have eaten fish, he added.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Science
- Daily Mail
Scientists give 10,000-year-old woman a face: Incredible reconstruction reveals lady with 'lighter skin than most' and BLUE eyes
At first glance, it looks like a photo of an modern-day tribesperson, wearing a decorative headdress and an earnest expression. But this is actually an eerily-realistic synthetic reconstruction of a woman from Belgium who lived and died 10,500 years ago. Scientists and artists have reconstructed the face of the Margaux woman, whose remains were found in a cave in Belgium's Meuse Valley. Part of an early civilization of hunter-gatherers, she had 'average skin colour', much lighter than expected, and light blueish-grey eyes. The eerily-realistic bust also sports a shaven head, a leather feathered hairband and decorative markings on her shoulders made with ochre and charcoal. A homo sapien just like us, she would have roamed the densely-forested lands and rivers in the search for food shortly after the last ice age. For now, she's known as the Margaux woman, but the public are invited to choose a proper name for her. Experts say she belonged to the same Western European hunter-gatherer population as the famous Cheddar Man from Gough's Cave, Somerset. Skeletal remains of the Mesolithic woman were originally discovered in 1988 in the Margaux cave near the Belgian city of Dinant. Around 35 years later, researchers were able to extract well-preserved DNA from the skull to learn more about her appearance, including eye and skin colour. Like the Cheddar Man, the Belgian woman had blue eyes, but her skin was slightly lighter than that of many other individuals from the same period. 'This indicates greater diversity in skin pigmentation than we previously thought,' said Maïté Rivollat, chief geneticist of the project. Two Dutch twin brothers – Adrie and Alfons Kennis, described as 'palaeo-anthropological artists' – then used the insights to create the reconstruction, mostly made of a combination of resin and silicone. The Kennis brothers have made many previous reconstructions of Neanderthals and other prehistoric hominids, including Ötzi the Iceman. Professor Isabelle De Groote, project leader and researcher in human origins at Ghent University, said this woman was about 35 to 60 at time of death. 'In anthropology, it is difficult to be more accurate than this with just a preserved skull and jaw,' she told MailOnline. Who was the Margaux woman? The Margaux woman was a hunter-gatherer who lived and roamed Europe 10,500 years ago. Skulls of her and an estimated eight other women were found in the back of Margaux Cave, Belgium in the 1980s. There were also other parts of their skeletons found but these were all commingled so experts could not assign them to the different individuals. But it is unclear what the ancient lady died of, as the skull does not reveal 'an obvious sign of death'. 'It is rare that we see this in a skeleton because most causes of death do not show on the skeleton but we do not see a blow to the head in her, for example,' Professor De Groote added. Naturally, around 10,000 years ago, Europe was a very different place to what it is today, the academic explained. 'The Mesolithic people of Belgium, around 10,000 years ago, lived as hunter-gatherers in forested landscapes,' she told MailOnline. 'They settled in campsites such as Abri du Pape, where they built hearths and crafted flint tools. 'Their diet was diverse, including wild game like deer and boar, fish, birds, and plant foods such as hazelnuts, which were a key resource. 'They used animal parts for clothing, tools, and bindings, and may have domesticated dogs. 'Their lifestyle was closely tied to the natural environment, relying on seasonal resources and skilled foraging and hunting. 'They would have moved around a lot, but returned to their favourite campsites and the burials caves.' Through an online poll, the public are invited to choose a name for the woman out of three options – Margo, Freya and Mos'anne. Margo refers to the cave in which she was found, while Freya and Mos'anne refer to the hills and river basin in which the caves are located, respectively. People can vote for their favourite name until the end of June by clicking 'vote' at the top of the project's website. Then from September, she will be visiting museums across Belgium as part of a travelling exhibition. The full list of locations includes University of Ghent, Andenne Museum Space and Gallo-Romeins Museum in Tongeren. The Neolithic Revolution was the world's first verifiable revolution in agriculture. It began in Britain between about 5000 BC and 4500 BC but spread across Europe from origins in Syria and Iraq between about 11000 BC and 9000 BC. The period saw the widespread transition of many disparate human cultures from nomadic hunting and gathering practices to ones of farming and building small settlements. The revolution was responsible for turning small groups of travellers into settled communities who built villages and towns. Some cultures used irrigation and made forest clearings to better their farming techniques. Others stored food for times of hunger, and farming eventually created different roles and divisions of labour in societies as well as trading economies. In the UK, the period was triggered by a huge migration or folk-movement from across the Channel. Today, prehistoric monuments in the UK span from the time of the Neolithic farmers to the invasion of the Romans in AD 43. Many of them are looked after by English Heritage and range from standing stones to massive stone circles, and from burial mounds to hillforts. Stonehenge, the most famous prehistoric structure in Europe, possibly the world, was built by Neolithic people, and later finished during the Bronze Age. Neolithic structures were typically used for ceremonies, religious feasts and as centres for trade and social gatherings.
Times
4 days ago
- Science
- Times
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. • Could Neanderthal fingerprint be the world's oldest portrait? '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.
