MSGID: 1:317/3 64927d04   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Face of Anglo-Saxon teen VIP revealed with new evidence about her life   
      
      
     Date:   
         June 20, 2023   
     Source:   
         University of Cambridge   
     Summary:   
         The face of a 16-year-old woman buried near Cambridge (UK) in the   
         7th century with an incredibly rare gold and garnet cross (the   
         'Trumpington Cross') has been reconstructed following analysis   
         of her skull. The striking image is going on public display for   
         the first time on 21st June, with new scientific evidence showing   
         that she moved to England from Central Europe as a young girl,   
         leading to an intriguing change in her diet.   
      
      
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   The face of a 16-year-old woman buried near Cambridge (UK) in the 7th   
   century with an incredibly rare gold and garnet cross (the 'Trumpington   
   Cross') has been reconstructed following analysis of her skull. The   
   striking image is going on public display for the first time on 21st   
   June,* with new scientific evidence showing that she moved to England   
   from Central Europe as a young girl, leading to an intriguing change in   
   her diet.   
      
   Forensic artist Hew Morrison created the likeness using measurements of   
   the woman's skull and tissue depth data for Caucasian females. Without DNA   
   analysis, Morrison could not be sure of her precise eye and hair colour,   
   but the image offers a strong indication of her appearance shortly before   
   she died.   
      
   Hew Morrison said: "It was interesting to see her face developing. Her   
   left eye was slightly lower, about half a centimetre, than her right   
   eye. This would have been quite noticeable in life."  New "you are what   
   you eat" isotopic analysis of the young woman's bones and teeth conducted   
   by bioarchaeologists Dr Sam Leggett and Dr Alice Rose, and archaeologist   
   Dr Emma Brownlee, during PhD research at the University of Cambridge   
   also reveals that she moved to England from somewhere near the Alps,   
   perhaps southern Germany, sometime after she turned 7 years old.   
      
   Leggett and Rose also found that once the girl had arrived in England,   
   the proportion of protein in her diet decreased by a small but significant   
   amount.   
      
   This change occurred close to the end of her young life, showing that   
   the period between her migration and burial near Cambridge was tragically   
   short.   
      
   Dr Leggett, now at the University of Edinburgh, said: "She was quite a   
   young girl when she moved, likely from part of southern Germany, close   
   to the Alps, to a very flat part of England. She was probably quite   
   unwell and she travelled a long way to somewhere completely unfamiliar --   
   even the food was different.   
      
   It must have been scary."  Previous analysis indicated that the   
   young woman had suffered from illness but her cause of death remains   
   unknown. She was buried in a remarkable way -- lying on a carved wooden   
   bed wearing the cross, gold pins (also on display) and fine clothing.   
      
   Hers is one of only 18 bed burials ever uncovered in the UK. Her ornate   
   cross, combining gold and garnets (third quarter of the 7th century),   
   is one of only five of its kind ever found in Britain and identifies her   
   as one of England's earliest converts to Christianity and as a member of   
   the aristocracy if not royalty. The best known example of such a cross   
   was found in the coffin of St Cuthbert.   
      
   In 597 AD, the pope dispatched St Augustine to England on a mission   
   to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxon kings, a process which continued for   
   many decades.   
      
   Dr Leggett said: "She must have known that she was important and she   
   had to carry that on her shoulders. Her isotopic results match those   
   of two other women who were similarly buried on beds in this period   
   in Cambridgeshire.   
      
   "So it seems that she was part of an elite group of women who probably   
   travelled from mainland Europe, most likely Germany, in the 7th century,   
   but they remain a bit of a mystery. Were they political brides or perhaps   
   brides of Christ? The fact that her diet changed once she arrived in   
   England suggests that her lifestyle may have changed quite significantly."   
   Dr Sam Lucy, a specialist in Anglo-Saxon burial from Newnham College,   
   Cambridge, who published the Anglo-Saxon excavations at Trumpington**,   
   said: "These are intriguing findings, and it is wonderful to see this   
   collaborative research adding to our knowledge of this period. Combining   
   the new isotopic results with Emma Brownlee's research into European   
   bed burials really does seem to suggest the movement of a small group   
   of young elite women from a mountainous area in continental Europe to   
   the Cambridge region in the third quarter of the seventh century.   
      
   "Southern Germany is a distinct possibility owing to the bed burial   
   tradition known there. Given the increasingly certain association   
   between bed burial, such cross-shaped jewellery, and early Anglo-Saxon   
   Christianity, it is possible that their movement related to pan-European   
   networks of elite women who were heavily involved in the early Church."   
   Dr Jody Joy, the exhibition's co-curator, said: "The story of this   
   young woman goes to the very heart of what our exhibition is all about   
   -- new research making visible the lives of people at pivotal moments   
   of Cambridgeshire's history. MAA holds one of Britain's most important   
   collections of Early Medieval archaeology and the Trumpington bed burial   
   is so important. It looks like it still has much more to teach us."   
   In the exhibition, the 'Trumpington Cross' will be displayed together with   
   the delicate gold and garnet pins connected by a gold chain, which were   
   found near the teenager's neck. These pins probably secured a long veil   
   to an outer garment of fine linen. The pins would have caught the light   
   as she moved.The burial bed's decorativeheadboard will also be exhibited.   
      
   * The image and artefacts from the mysterious woman's burial -- discovered   
   in 2012 by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit at Trumpington Meadows   
   on Cambridge's southern limits -- including her famous cross will be   
   unveiled in a major new exhibition at Cambridge's Museum of Archaeology   
   and Anthropology (MAA).   
      
   'Beneath Our Feet: Archaeology of the Cambridge Region' will run from   
   21st June to 14th April 2024.   
      
   **C. Evans, S. Lucy & R. Patten, Riversides: Neolithic Barrows, a Beaker   
   Grave, Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon Burials and Settlement at Trumpington,   
   Cambridge (2018); and S. Lucy, 'The Trumpington Cross in context',   
   Anglo-Saxon England (2016).   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Fossils_&_Ruins   
                   # Ancient_Civilizations # Anthropology # Early_Humans   
                   # Archaeology # Lost_Treasures # Origin_of_Life #   
                   Early_Climate # Fossils   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Triceratops o Geologic_temperature_record o Anthropology   
             o Rhodesian_Man o Human_evolution o Timeline_of_evolution o   
             Homo_rudolfensis o Homo_antecessor   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Cambridge. Original   
   written by Tom Almeroth-Williams. The original text of this story is   
   licensed under a Creative Commons_License. Note: Content may be edited   
   for style and length.   
      
      
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230620113809.htm   
      
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