Magdalenian Girl facts for kids

The Magdalenian Girl (also known as the Magdalenian Woman) is the name given to a very old human skeleton. This skeleton is about 13,000 to 15,000 years old. It comes from a time called the Magdalenian period. This period was at the end of the Upper Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) and the start of the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age).

The skeleton was found in 1911 in a limestone cave. This cave is called the Cap Blanc rock shelter. It is located in the Dordogne region of southwestern France. A worker accidentally hit the skull with a pickaxe when it was first found. Even so, it is the most complete skeleton from the Upper Paleolithic found in Northern Europe.

In 1926, the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois, bought the Magdalenian Girl. Henry Field, who was a curator there, said it was a very important find. When the skeleton was first shown, thousands of people came to the museum to see it.

What Her Teeth Tell Us

Scientists have talked a lot about the Magdalenian Girl's age. This is because she had impacted wisdom teeth. Wisdom teeth are the last teeth to grow in. When they are "impacted," they don't have enough room to come through the gums.

During the Stone Age, impacted wisdom teeth were very rare. People then ate a very coarse diet. This meant they chewed a lot. Chewing helped their jawbones grow bigger. Bigger jaws made more room for wisdom teeth to come in.

Robert D. Martin, a scientist, said that finding impacted wisdom teeth 15,000 years ago is interesting. It suggests that human diets might have changed earlier than we thought. Dr. Martin and other scientists studied her teeth. They used new tools and technology. They concluded that the Magdalenian Girl was an adult woman.

Rebuilding Her Face with Technology

In 2012, scientists started scanning a copy of the Magdalenian Girl's skull. They wanted to make a detailed digital model. They used a special X-ray machine to create a CT scan. This machine took many pictures of the skull from different angles.

When the skull was first found, it was accidentally broken into pieces. It was put back together, but not perfectly. This made it hard for scientists to know exactly what the Magdalenian Girl looked like. It also made it hard to answer important questions about her.

The new digital images help scientists see if the skull has changed over time. They can also use these images to rebuild the skull digitally. This helps protect the real skull from more damage. If the scan is good enough, experts can create a more accurate picture of her face. The Daily Herald newspaper reported that she was about 5 ft 4 in (163 cm) tall. She likely died around 24 years old.

In 2013, a French artist named Elisabeth Daynes made a facial reconstruction of the Magdalenian Girl. She used a printed version of the CT scan. Her reconstruction shows strong cheekbones and decorative hair beads. It also shows a smile where her teeth are not visible, like the famous Mona Lisa painting.