Scientists have restored the face of a peasant woman who died 400 years ago in a shipwreck

Swedish scientists restored the face of a woman who died in a shipwreck almost 400 years ago - in 1628.

We are talking about one of the passengers of the Swedish warship Vasa, which sank in the harbor of Stockholm and was raised from the bottom in the 1960s. Then the researchers found almost 20 skeletons on board. One of them received the designation G and was soon identified as male. They named him Gustav. In 2006, local medical examiner Oscar Nilsson even presented a reconstruction of his face.

However, it soon became clear that G was not a man, but a woman, and the remains were hastily renamed Gertrude. New genetic analysis showed that she was 25-30 years old at the time of her death. She was a blue-eyed, fair-haired Swede with pale skin. And she was almost certainly married, as there is written evidence that only married ladies were allowed on board this flight.

Her appearance was also reconstructed by Nilsson, who has preserved computed tomography (CT) and a three-dimensional plastic print of the skull of G. The thickness of Gertrude's tissues was derived from the average data of modern Scandinavian and Northern European women of about the same age and weight. The sizes and shapes of the nose, eyes, mouth were determined using new scientific methods.

In the end, both models turned out to be very similar, but they still have a few notable differences. For the first time, the medical examiner tilted Gustav's nose down, and a new analysis of the skull showed that Gertrude had it standard for her nationality - it was reduced. In addition, it was believed that G had already reached 45 years old, but since the woman turned out to be much younger, she had more voluminous lips.

Despite her youth, Gertrude probably lived a hard life: skeletal analysis showed that she repeatedly lifted heavy objects. Nilsson believes that this should have been reflected in the face, so he tried to show this in his work.

The reconstruction was even dressed up. For her, a dark gray jacket and a bright red high hat were recreated, parts of which were found near her remains. The result was the traditional festive clothing of the Swedish peasants of that time.