In Norway, the skeleton recreated Tora - a woman who lived 800 years ago

Ellen Grave, archaeologist at the Museum of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), introduced the world a realistic model of an elderly woman named Tora. Her life-size sculptural reconstruction is based on skeletal remains that were discovered in Norway.

It is established that Thora was born in the late 1200s and lived in Trondheim, a city in central Norway. According to the museum, at that time it was mainly inhabited by artisans and merchants.

While there is no written record of Thor, archaeologists have pieced together the life story of this medieval woman based on clues from her skeletal remains and the location where they were exhumed.

Archaeologists suspect that the people buried in this cemetery were quite wealthy. And this is confirmed by the fact that the Torah lived to about 65 years, which is considered a very old age for that period.

A spinal deformity in Tora's skeleton led Grav and her team to conclude that the woman likely walked hunched over. She also had no lower teeth and lived for a long time without them until her death.

Grav worked with Thomas Foldberg, a Danish film industry makeup artist, to make Tohru look as realistic as possible. Unlike many facial reconstructions, which involve the use of X-rays or CT scans, Fauldberg focused on studying the skeleton of Torah to create a complete 3D model of a medieval woman.

So, soft silicone was used for the skin, all the spots on the body were drawn by hand, and each strand of hair on the eyebrows, eyelashes and head was attached separately.

As for the Torah costume, Marianne Vedeler, a textile expert at the University of Oslo, researched archaeological finds in the area where Tora lived. Together with the tailor Nille Glazel, she sewed a dress appropriate for the time for the model, using the same medieval technologies.

This exhibit is now on display at the NTNU Museum in Trondheim and is available for viewing by all visitors.