When this reconstruction was made in 2004, nothing was known about skin and hair color. (more…)
For the exhibition, "Eye in Eye. The people behind mummy portraits." of the Allard Pierson Museum, a child mummy was transferred from the Heidelberg Center for Cultural Heritage of the University of Heidelberg. On this mummy, as on many other mummies from the Fayum area, a portrait was attached. (more…)
In Roman times, there was a mysterious burial ground near Tongeren, Belgium. Only men and children were buried here. Those buried were not Romans but native people. Three-dimensional facial reconstructions were made of one man and one child buried together in one grave.
Because of future building plans a part of the Martinichurch graveyard had to be excavated. During this excavation the archaeologists found a wine barrel, with a skeleton in it. This is remarkable. But it gets even stranger. This person, a man of circa 30 years, was slain by an axe or sword. The unhealed head wound was clearly visible on his skull. (more…)
Gat in de Markt is the name of an excavation in the old center of Vlaardingen, situated on the edge of the market around the Grote Kerk. Part of an 11th century cemetery was found here. The 4 facial reconstructions of this project are based on 4 of the 45 skeletons excavated here. Through DNA research a distant descendant of 1 of these 4 individuals was found.
The Huis van Hilde is an archaeology museum that displays the archaeology and history of North Holland. From the Stone Age (Cees the Stone Age man) to well after the Middle Ages (Casimir, the Russian soldier). This is done using archaeological objects and human figures, some with facial reconstructions, some, if no suitable skeletal material from that period was available, with a generic face.
In 3700 BC, the first coastal dwellers came to the dunes, where the Hague residential area of Ypenburg now stands. They grew grain and kept pigs and cows, but also lived by hunting and fishing. This is the New Stone Age, people used pottery and flint tools. They buried their dead in burial fields, and such a burial field was found during the construction of Ypenburg. From this burial field, four skulls were selected for a facial reconstruction, a young woman named Ypje, an older woman, a young child and an older man. The older man, Ypje and the child were also done in bronze.
Hermen of Zwolle met his demise in an unfortunate way. He was taken prisoner, by whom or why is unknown. Subsequently his hands were tied together at the wrists, his arms bound around his shins, and a stake was put between his knee hollows and elbows. It was in this uncomfortable position that archeologists found Hermen in the ground 600 years later. (more…)
In 1997 a part of the churchyard of the Saint Agnesconvent situated in The Hague, was excavated. This nun was interred at that cemetery. (more…)
Marcus (named after St. Mark, who was depicted on a coin found in his grave) was a young boy who lived in the city of Eindhoven around 1300 AD (more…)
Reuvens, the world’s first archaeology professor, excavated the skeleton of Gera in 1828, among the foundations of the Roman town Forum Hadriani. (more…)
Trijntje was a woman aged 40-60. She was buried 7,500 years ago, making her grave the oldest known grave of a woman in the Netherlands. She lived in the Middle Stone Age, and belonged to the hunter-gatherers. (more…)
Willem van Brederode and his wife Hillegonda were the founders of the Castle of Brederode. They were regarded as very wealthy nobility. (more…)
Dame Hillegonda, who came from very wealthy ancestry, survived her husband Willem by several years and lived to be 70 years old. (more…)
Willem, one of the most important knights of that era, fought alongside Willem II and commanded an army under Floris V. (more…)
This man was interred in a mysterious cemetery in Tongeren (Belgium) where only men and children were buried. (more…)
This little boy was found during the excavation of a mysterious cemetery in Tongeren (Belgium) where only men and children were buried. He lay in a grave together with his younger sister and an older man. The man was not related to them. DNA research not only showed these family connections, but also skin, eye and hair color.
One of the excavated graves contained a small coffin made of alder wood, with the skeletal remains of a five to ten year old girl, enveloped in straw, inside. (more…)
This man died in his forties. What is special about this individual is that he had two dents in his skull signifying major trauma. (more…)
This woman, between 41 and 47 years old, was also found at the “Gat in de Markt”-dig at Vlaardingen. (more…)
During the “Gat in de Markt”- dig at Vlaardingen a small coffin made of oak and ash was uncovered. (more…)
It is unknown whether this man may also be related to the women and child from this burial ground chosen for facial reconstruction. (more…)
The first facial reconstruction of the coastal dwellers was that of a young woman between 25 and 35 years of age.
She was named Ypje, after her find spot, Ypenburg. (more…)
One of the children from the Stone Age grave at Ypenburg was this young child. (more…)
In 1799 an Anglo-Russian invasion took place in North Holland. In several places there was heavy fighting, including Castricum. The skeleton whose face is reconstructed here was found in the dunes around the Huis van Hilde, the exhibition centre. (more…)
This woman was also buried in the Stone Age grave at Ypenburg, (more…)
In Park Het Baken in Ypenburg a section has been devoted to archeology. (more…)
A Bronze Age mass grave was discovered years ago near Wassenaar. Buried in this grave were women, men and children. (more…)
In 15th century Harlem archives Cornelis is besides Jan, the most common name. This is the reason why archaeologists have named him this way. (more…)
During the construction of the Westfrisiaweg in North Holland, an intact skeleton from the Bronze Age was found. The skeleton was excavated on the edge of a burial mound and belonged to a young woman between 20 and 25 years old. She laid in supine position in a narrow burial pit with her hands folded high on her chest. (more…)
Between 2011 and 2013, a large-scale excavation was carried out near the St. Plechelmus Basilica in Oldenzaal. This is a 2D reconstruction. One of the many skeletons excavated at the time belonged to this man.
The street urchin from Gouda was found when excavating the Sint-Janskerk in Gouda. This large, gothic church is famous for its stained glass windows.
Most people in churches, except for the priests, are buried with their heads in the east, but not this boy. All the tell tale signs indicate that this boy was from the lower social classes and normally this means that his body was not even allowed to be buried inside the church. (more…)
In 1905 a part of the mound Hogebeintum, Friesland, was excavated. They found an hollowed out oak tree with the skeleton of a woman inside, a so-called tree-trunk-coffin. Because trees are very sparse in this area, one assumes that this oak must have been imported from far away. (more…)
Geert Groote is the founder of the “Modern Devotion”, a spiritual renewal movement in the Catholic Church. On August 20, 1384, Geert Groote dies of the plague. (more…)
The skeleton of Cees, the Stone Age man, has been excavated in 1990, in the province North-Holland, the Netherlands. (more…)
In 2010 archaeologists excavated a small massgrave containing 9 individuals, among them one woman, 4 men, one young child and three teenagers. The woman reached the age of 26-35 years and was about 1.68 m tall. Her skeleton indicated that she was used to manual labour.The way she was buried and the location suggests that she died during the fights with the Spanish in the siege of Alkmaar. Women played an active part during the siege, they helped with the organisation, the transport and nursing of the wounded. They also helped defending the city walls by e.g. pouring hot pee over the enemy.
The grave of this 9-year old boy was situated alongside a ring ditch. This ditch probably belonged to a burial mound. He was in a supine position with his knees flexed and his head at the same high level. Much later there were also two cows interred alongside this ditch. The meaning of this all, because there were more pits and strange burials on this terrain, remains an enigma. Most people living in that period were farmers. He is also reconstructed as a modern boy.
This girl, a teenager really (16-17 years old), lived around 900 BCE. She was interred with a older boy in a filled ditch. In a first version she wore simple clothes, but to show the wealth of the Bronze Age she was later dressed more lavishly and richly. (more…)
In 1990 the Krabbeplas, a lake near Vlaardingen, was dug. Children at play discovered here skeletal remains. (more…)
The skeleton of this young woman (24-27 year) was excavated in a pestilence graveyard, near the Rochus chapel in Amersfoort. There were remains of a cap broach on her skull, a metal support for a cap, coif or hood. (more…)
The skeleton of this woman was excavated near Castricum – Oosterbuurt, North Holland. (more…)
The tall man was over 70 years old. A respectable age for the Middle Ages. (more…)
