| Girl of the Uchter Moor Human Mummy | |
| |
| Biographical Information | |
|---|---|
| Name(s) | Girl of the Uchter Moor (Moora) |
| Age | 17 to 19 years of age |
| Sex | Female |
| Status | Worker |
| Height | Approximately 4ft 11in |
| Source | |
| Culture | Northwestern European Iron Age |
| Date(s) | 764 to 515 B.C. |
| Site | Unknown |
| Current Location | |
| Location | Uchte Germany |
| Catalog # | |
Girl of the Uchter Moor, Moora for short, is the name given to female bog body of the Iron Age.
The body of a girl was discovered in a bog in 2000, found by a peat cutter who was operating a backhoe. Unfortunately the girls body was dismembered by the backhoe, the dig team found more than 100 body parts. Carbon dating put the age of the remains at 650 B.C. with an estimated age of 16-19 years old at death.
Moora was seen as a worker during her time due to the intense physical labour that she underwent, as evidenced on her remains. Moora also seemed as though she was primarily a labourer because of the malnutrition that she underwent and the two partial skull fractures that she endured.
Mummification[]
With the use of a bog body mummification, archaeologist were able to discover every bone from Moora's body with the exception of one scapula. It was determined that when Moora was mummified, she was naked.
Studies[]
When Moora was originally discovered, she was believed to be a 16 year old girl that had disappeared in 1969. But with the use of DNA testing and radiocarbon dating, it was proven that she was a mummy from the Iron Age.
AP Photo/Moora's hand
Dig supervisor speculated she had likely been gathering bilberries (an intoxicating berry commonly used by early German tribes), and that her death was accidental, if she had been strangled, stabbed, or her head had been smashed in, signs of it would show on the bones. Her death was most likely an accident.
Pathology[]
During her years, Moora had suffered from different diseases. Due to her chronic malnutrition, Moora suffered from bone decay and lack of bone growth. As well, she had been diagnosed with a benign tumor in her skull. Although Moora lived with many of these diseases for the majority of her life, her cause of death is unknown but unusually among Iron Age bog bodies, is thought to have been accidental.
Additional[]
Over the years, Moora's face has been reconstructed four different times, two of those reconstructions were digital.
External Links[]
http://archive.archaeology.org/1005/bogbodies/uchter_moor.html
Girl of the Uchter Moor. (n.d.). Retrieved March 08, 2017, from http://mummypedia.wikia.com/wiki/Girl_of_the_Uchter_Moor