The bones were discovered by chance in May during work in Bietikow, in the Brandenburg region, which surrounds Berlin: the “Lady of Bietikow” most likely lived between 3,400 and 3,300 BC. J.-C.
This woman, undoubtedly deceased when she was in her forties, would have been a contemporary of Ötzi, the “man of ice” whose mummified remains were discovered in 1991 in an Alpine glacier, on the border between Italy and Austria.
“So you can compare Ötzi and the lady from Bietikow in terms of age. But the discovery of the man from Tisenjoch, that is to say Ötzi, was much more spectacular in terms of state of conservation, ”archaeologist Philipp Roskoschinsky told AFP.
“It was a natural mummy. This means that not only the bones have been preserved, but also all kinds of organic matter, skin, organs, etc. He describes.
In Brandenburg, not far from the border with Poland, only bones, with remains of clothing, were discovered, by chance, during earthworks for the construction of wind turbines.
These remains, however, show that this woman was buried during the Neolithic period, more than 5,000 years ago, in a squatting position, one of the oldest forms of burial of the dead.
“The few bones of Lady of Bietikow are already instructive. At the time, cereals were introduced into daily food and trade, ”says the archaeologist.
“Compared to animals, cereals can be stored better and used more easily as a means of payment. However, this often led to a deterioration in the health of the population, ”adds Roskoschinsky.
“Some teeth are quite worn, you can see it here,” abounds Bettina Jungklaus, also an archaeologist, detailing the jawbone of the skeleton.
“Normally there is enamel on the surface of the teeth. Here, however, it is very worn, eaten away (…) The enamel is completely absent and this allows us to draw conclusions about the nutrition: it was undoubtedly very rich in fiber, very hard ”, according to the archaeologist.
Additional examinations will now attempt to determine whether the woman is indeed from this region or whether she has emigrated.
Ötzi, “the ice man” roughly contemporary with the “lady from Bietikow”, was dressed in a bear hair headgear and goatskin leggings.
Ötzi’s body was covered with 57 tattoos, one of the oldest traces of the practice ever discovered.
Ötzi’s remains, kept at the museum in Bolzano (northern Italy), attracts some 260,000 visitors a year.