Sometimes you come across an archaeological find that reinforces the shifting of perceptions of the body over time. Meet the 'Shamaness of Bad Dürrenberg'... /1
In 1934, during work in a park in the German town of Bad Dürrenberg, in modern Sachsen-Anhalt, a grave was found. It continued two bodies - a woman, aged 25 - 30 and a child between 4 - 6 months old, sex unknown. /2
Testing revealed the grave to date from 5500 to 6500 BCE. That is to say, the grave was around 8,500 years old. That places it during the Mesolithic era.

The woman was found in a seated position, the child between her legs. /3
The skeletons were packed in red ochre, signifying that this was the grave of a significant individual. The scattered remnants of a headdress made of bone, teeth and antlers indicates she was most probably a shaman, a mystic. /4
The woman was also buried with spearpoints, needles and an axe - all high-prestige items. There is no doubt that she was revered locally.

As for what killed her, there is evidence of infections, beginning with cavities and spreading to the jaw. /5
Now, here's the really interesting part - when her skeleton was examined, irregularities were found at the base of the skull and vertebrae, that might have had any number of physiological and neurological effects. /6
Put simply, the woman may have experienced the sensation of insects crawling across her skin. She may have also had double vision, involuntary movements and trance-like blackouts. /7
Rather than these physiological abnormalities leading to her shunning and exclusion, it seems that they gave her her role as a wise woman, a bridge between the worlds. /8
What we could see as a problem to be solved - and let's be clear, her abnormalities may very well have been debilitating - her people saw as a valuable asset in the struggle to survive. /9
Today, the remains of the Shamaness of Bad Dürrenverg are on display - very reverently, I may add - in the @MuseumHalle (Museum of Prehistory) in the city of Halle. /10
If you'd like to learn more about the Shaman of Bad Dürrenberg, there's not heaps in English, but here's a great paper. /11 academia.edu/35915323/The_B…
Hope you enjoyed that. I'm going to be visiting the Museum of Prehistory in the near future, and hope to speak to curators about new discoveries made about her! /FIN

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More from @MikeStuchbery_

Feb 18
Every day, here in Germany, it seems like I come across something weird and slightly puzzling from a historical perspective.

Today, I'm wondering, why were 700 'erdstall', short manmade tunnel systems, built under Bavaria and Lower Austria?
No two 'erdstall' are exactly the same, but do include common features such as slips, where a person could sit or stand.

This one can be found near the municipality oft Beutelsbach.
They're not wine cellars, or places for storing goods - they're simply not built to store things, and they're often damp and confined.
Read 7 tweets
Feb 16
I've wanted to talk about the 'Gold hats' found in Germany and France over the last few centuries for a while.

Now that they make an appearance at 'The World of Stonehenge', the time has arrived!
The first to be found was in my neck of the woods of Southern Germany, back in 1835 at Schifferstadt, near Speyer. It's considered to be the best preserved of the four in existence.

It dates to between 1300 - 1400 BCE, during the chrinological period known as the 'Bronze Age'.
A few years later, across the French border at Avanton, near Poitiers, another hat was found. This one was a little damaged, and restored before display.

It dates from around the same age range as the Schifferstadt hat.
Read 14 tweets
Feb 16
So, here's a story that I can't quite believe - it's simply too, for want of another word, baroque. I've told it before, but the details I've read give it a simultaneously gruesome and tragic flourish.

This is glorious city of Esslingen, near Stuttgart - a magnet for tourists.
In the mid 17th century, Esslingen was a free imperial city, essentially a microstate, albeit one that was on the decline.

The Thirty Years War had devastated the countryside and famine and disease was not uncommon.

Despite this, it enjoyed a commanding presence in the area.
In 1651, a 32 year old lawyer married Ursula Margarethe Schlossberger, from one of the patrician families of Esslingen.

While Daniel Hauff came from no humble background, this marriage was advantageous for him.

Here's their home. Her arms are above the door.
Read 18 tweets
Feb 11
This afternoon, I saw an acquiantance having achieved something I've long dreamed of, but never managed to achieve.

The bubbling emotions made me think about the grief and resentment that can follow an ADD diagnosis. (🧵)
After the initial relief that most of us who have been diagnosed have experienced, there's quite often a period of tremendous grief that follows.

Considering that most diagnosed - both women & men - are so in their 30s/40s, this can be incredibly disruptive.
In my case, it put into sharp relief the signposts by which we chart the course of a 'successful' adulthood - career, a partner, children, a financial safety net.

To be in your late thirties, and become acutely aware of just how 'behind you're lagging' can feel devastating.
Read 12 tweets
Jan 27
Having played a bit of @ExpeditionsGame, I've been more interested in understanding at what my immediate surroundings were like at the time of the Roman Empire.

So, I decided to find out...
First things first - if I woke up sometime in the late first century, not only would I find myself in the middle of expansive forests, but I'd be on a frontier - the Roman province of Germania Superior, on the 'Limes', or imperial border.
The 'Limes' were a wood and earthen border stretching across what is now Germany from Nordrhein-Westfalen to Bayern.

Regular watchtowers and forts would guard the border from the possibility of raiding Germanic tribes.
Read 8 tweets
Jan 26
So I'm now living by myself - pretty much for the first time as an adult. Prior to now I've either been in cohabiting long-term relationships or married.

I gotta say, it's quite a trip - and has made me think a lot about, well, what I'm doing with my life.
For many, many years, I felt like I needed to care for others - that if I wasn't effectively tending to someone else, I was wasting my time.

This, I think, was a compensatory move to offset my (undiagnosed) ADD - I may be hard work, but at least I was trying.
Living by myself, I find that there's so much time that I have that I never noticed before. I must have been running myself really ragged!

So, almost to comfort myself, I end up doing chores, cleaning things, throwing things out - even if it ends up being exhausting.
Read 6 tweets

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