The woman, who died 2,200 years ago, is believed to have commanded great respect from her tribe as she was buried in fine clothing and jewellery.
Scientists say the woman was Celtic. Iron Age Celts are known to have buried members of their tribe in “tree coffins” buried deep underground.
The woman’s remains were found in the city of Zurich in 2017, according to Live Science.
Dressed in a fine woollen dress and shawl, a sheepskin coat and a necklace made of glᴀss beads and amber, researchers believe she did little or no hard work while alive. She is estimated to have been around 40 years old when she died, and an analysis of her teeth indicated she had a gluttonous appeтιтe.
Adorned with bronze bracelets and a bronze belt chain with iron clasps and pendants, this woman did not belong to a lower social class. Analysis of her bones showed that she grew up in what is now Zurich, probably in the Limmat valley.
Most impressive, aside from his clothes and accessories, is the hollowed-out trunk cleverly fixed in a coffin. It still had its outer bark intact when construction workers stumbled upon it, according to the initial 2017 statement by the Zurich Office of Urban Development.
While all the immediate evidence – the remains of an Iron Age Celtic woman, her puzzling accessories and clothing, the highly creative coffin – is interesting enough on its own, researchers have discovered much more to dig into since 2017.
According to The Smithsonian, the discovery site has been considered an archaeologically important place for quite some time. However, most of the previous finds here only date back to the 6th century AD.
The only exception appears to have occurred when construction workers found the grave of a Celtic man in 1903. They were in the process of building the school complex’s gymnasium, the Office of Urban Development said, when they discovered the man’s remains buried alongside a sword, shield and spear.
Researchers are now seriously considering that because the Celtic woman’s remains were found just 80 metres from the man’s burial site, they probably knew each other.
Experts have claimed that both figures were buried in the same decade, a claim the Urban Development Office said was “quite possible.”
Although archaeologists previously found evidence that a Celtic settlement dating back to the first century BC lived nearby, researchers are fairly certain that the man found in 1903 and the woman found in 2017 belonged to a smaller, separate community that has yet to be fully discovered.
The department’s 2017 press release stated that investigators would begin a thorough evaluation of the grave and its contents, and by all accounts, they have done just that.
The archaeologists recovered and preserved all relevant items and materials, thoroughly documented their research, and conducted physical and isotopic examinations of the woman.
Most impressive to experts was the woman’s necklace, which had some pretty impressive clasps at both ends.
The office said its completed ᴀssessment “paints a fairly accurate picture of the deceased” and the community in which she lived. Isotope analysis confirmed she was buried in the same area where she grew up.
While the Celts are generally thought to have been indigenous to the British Isles, they lived in many different parts of Europe for hundreds of years. Various clans settled in Austria and Switzerland, as well as other regions north of the Roman Empire.
Interestingly, from 450 BC to 58 BC (exactly the same period in which Celtic women and men were buried) a “wine-drinking, gold-designing, poly/biSєxual, naked warrior culture” called the La Tène flourished in Switzerland. Lake Neuchâtel region.
That was until Julius Caesar launched an invasion of the area and began his conquest of western and northern Europe. In the end, it seems that the Celtic woman received a rather kind and loving burial and left the Earth with her most prized possessions by her side.