The woman from Skrydstrup

A well-preserved oak-coffin grave from the Bronze Age (c. 1300 BC) was found in a burial mound near Skrydstrup, Southern Jutland, in 1935. The dead woman was around 18 years old. She was laid in the coffin wearing a short-sleeved blouse of woven wool with embroideries on the sleeves and in the neckline. A large square piece of textile, gathered at the top by a belt, covered her from her waist down to her feet. Her hair was done in a particular style in which all of the hair is combed forward over a hair pad. A woollen cord is afterwards bound around the hair, which then is plaited across the forehead from temple to temple, like one plaits a wreath of flowers. Finally the hairdo was covered with a hairnet made from horse hair. A woollen cap made using the sprang technique had also been placed in the grave with her. Large spiral gold ear rings lay by both ears and a horn comb was attached to her belt.