A woman and a child from Gøngehusvej

A woman and a child from Gøngehusvej

A 7000-6000 year old burial of a young woman (aged around 20 when she died) and her newborn baby from Vedbaek, Denmark. By her head were 200 red deer teeth, and the child is cradled in the wing of a swan with a flint knife at its hip. It’s thought the pair died together in childbirth.

At the end of the 1980s a settlement at Gøngehusvej 7 in Vedbæk was excavated. The archaeologists found pits and graves with the remains of both infants and adults – read more

At the end of the 1980s a settlement at Gøngehusvej 7 in Vedbæk was excavated. The archaeologists found pits and graves with the remains of both infants and adults – the dead were either inhumated or cremated. They were buried around 5000 BC. A dog burial and a well-preserved double-grave were also found. In the double-grave lay a woman around 40 years old and a 3-year-old child. Red ochre had been sprinkled over the skeletons in the grave, and the dead had been given amulet beads from red and roe deer, wild boar, elk, bear and aurochs.

The woman from Gøngehusvej had survived a severe blow to the back of the head. By her head were a bone hairpin and a grebe bill. She had perhaps originally worn a cap of bird skin, of which only the bill is preserved today. On her chest lay two bone netting needles and foot bones from roe deer hooves. The bones came from a skin, which had been wrapped around her body. The child had been given two flint knives, which suggest that it was a boy.