The Girl van Yde’s body was discovered in May 1897 after nearly two thousand years of resting in the peat of Drenthe.
Yde 1897- The dredge bracket went through the peat so heavily that one of them just remarked: ‘The devil get’ the guy who dug that hole’. Suddenly a black head with reddish hair appeared on the surface of the peat layer. The two workers thought the curse had taken effect and ran.
In 1902 the legal scholar J.G.C. Joostling the discovery of the ‘girl from Yde. She had been found by two peat diggers during their dredging work on May 12, 1897. The girl had luscious, long hair and was quite small. It has remained known because it is one of the better preserved bog bodies in the Netherlands. After all, peat is one of the best preservatives for a human body.
Peat swamps as a mystical place
The peat swamps were seen by the Germans as a mystical place, a passage to another world. It is known that the Germanic gods demanded human sacrifices and the peat swamp was a good place for this. Before her death, half of her head had been shaved, suggesting a sacrificial ritual.
New research
As interest in the origin of the girl van Yde and the cause of her death grew in the twentieth century, the body was re-examined using pathological disciplines, scanning equipment, papillary examination and the C14 dating. It became known that she lived between 54 BC and 128 AD. It was initially thought to be a few centuries old.
Reconstruction
The cause of death was strangulation by a band wrapped three times around her neck. In addition, a hole of 4.5 cm can be seen on her collarbone, as a result of a knife stab. Due to a reconstruction of her face, we now even know what the girl looked like and we can see through the shriveled, blackened heap of human beings and see the reddish beauty even today in the Drents museum, the former Provincial Museum of Assen.
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Source: 1stauditor.com
