MIKULOVICE, CZECH REPUBLIC—Live Science reports that researchers led by archaeologist Michal Ernée of the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic have reconstructed the torso of a woman of the Únětice culture whose remains were unearthed in a Bronze Age cemetery in eastern Bohemia. She had been buried sometime between 1880 and 1750 B.C. with five bronze bracelets, two gold earrings, a three-strand necklace made of beads of amber imported from the Baltic, and three bronze sewing needles. “It’s maybe the richest female grave from the whole Únětice region,” Ernée said. Analysis of her well-preserved skull and fragments of surviving DNA indicates she was petite, had brown hair and eyes, and fair skin. Team members Ludmila Barčáková, Radek Lukůvka, and Kristýna Urbanová also recreated her clothing and jewelry. Analysis of DNA from the other 26 burials in the cemetery will attempt to find out if the individuals buried there were related. To read about the discovery of a Neolithic well in East Bohemia, go to “Around the World: Czech Republic.”
