The Egtved Girl

This is a reminder that in June I will be blogging three days a week for the summer.  The summer schedule will run from June to August.  In June and July, I will try to find more reality-based history or something fun, and then in August, I will start up with my recommendations for the school year.  Then in September, I will be back blogging five days a week.  The final documentary of the school year is called the Egtved Girl and the run time for this documentary is 52:45.

The Egtved Girl is a preserved Bronze-Age woman that was found in Denmark.  She was buried with a child.  She was a young lady and went on a journey.  She is a brave young woman going out on the journey on her own.  Her death will solve a mystery.  What caused her to leave home?  What did she experience on her journey?  Did she have to rely on other people’s hospitality?  Whom did she meet on her way?  What does her death tell us about the Bronze Age Society?

She was found in Egtved Denmark in 1912.  A farmer is working in his field when he discovered a coffin.  The find is a stroke of luck for the Danish National Museum.  Archeologists excavate the grave and take its treasures back to the museum.  Even today the finds are spectacular.  The wood coffin contains clothing in good condition.  The grave goods were high quality and building the coffin would have been a challenge.  Why did the people put the effort into her burial?  She was buried with a yarrow plant.  This hinted that she was buried in summer.  Why was she buried with a yarrow plant?  The yarrow is also a medicinal plant, so perhaps she was a healer. 

The documentary transitions to South Bohemia.  Archeologists are opening up a burial mound.  Digging up burial mounds is highly unusual in South Bohemia.  However, there is a motorway is going to go through the area and so the site needs to be examined.  In Bohemia, what was used in burial mounds did not preserve well.

Danish scientists start examining the Egtved girl.  They look at the ornaments she was buried with.  She was buried like a Scandinavian.  She was dressed in a skirt and that was a rare find.  The archeologists continue to examine the clothing and there was wool found on the girl.  The wool came from far away.  The clothing was Nordic in design, but the material to make the clothing did not come from a Scandinavian country.  Did this girl come from outside of Denmark? 

Her teeth are examined carefully and it was determined that she was a young woman.  What do the teeth reveal about the young woman?  Her DNA was examined, however, testing failed.  One of the scientists examining the girl concluded that she was not from Denmark.  The announcement that she was not from Denmark caused a stir.  How did this girl make her way to Denmark?  Why did she make her way to Denmark?

The Stone Age was the age when things started to change.  Social structures started to be established.  Crafts started developing.  People farmed and grew cereals.  They discovered bronze and started gathering wealth.  Trading becomes important.  Egtved leaves her homeland and says goodbye to her parents for the last time.  Where was she going?  Whom would she encounter along the way?  It was shocking to discover that she was found so far away from her homeland.  Did she leave her homeland to marry someone?  Who was the child?  The remains of the child were burned, however, there are some fragments remaining.  The child was between five years old and six years old.

Who was the woman?  What else could the grave goods tell us about this young woman?  How did she get to Denmark?  Why was she buried with such care and prominence?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more about the Egtved girl!

This documentary was pretty cool to watch.  It really went to show that our ancestors traveled more than you thought they would have.  The information was presented really well and had a good flow as well.  This would be a documentary that I would include in a lesson plan.