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Egtved Girl (Denmark)

By K. Kris Hirst, About.com

Definition: The Egtved Girl is the name given to the extremely well-preserved burial of a Bronze age woman (ca. 1370 BC) located in south Jutland, Denmark. The level of preservation has provided a very close look at Bronze Age clothing and hairstyles. A 20-year-old woman was dressed in a string skirt, a short sleeved shirt with a woven belt and a bronze spiked belt disc. She was laid on a cow-hide and covered by a coarse woollen blanket. Lying next to her was a birch-bark drink container with remnants of a drink made of bog myrtle, cranberries and honey. Egtved was the closest look at the clothing of a prehistoric person we had until the Bronze Age fellow named Otzi was found in the Austrian/Italian alps.

The reasons for the preservation are currently under investigation by the Lejre Experimental Centre in Denmark.

This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Sources for the term include the references listed on the front page of the Dictionary, and the websites listed in the sidebar. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.

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