Face of teen girl from 7th century reconstructed
The face of a girl who lived 1,400 years ago has been reconstructed after her skull was unearthed.
The face of a 16 year old girl has been reconstructed after her skull was discovered at a 1,400 year old Anglo Saxon burial site.
Her remains and a gold cross, dated to the third quarter of the 7th century, were discovered at Trumpington Meadows in South Cambridge in 2012.
Forensic artist Hew Morrison has now created a likeness of the girl by using measurements of her skull and tissue depth data for Caucasian females.
Without DNA analysis, he could not be sure of the girl's eye and hair colour.
"Her left eye was slightly lower, about half a centimetre, than her right eye." said Mr Morrison.
"This would have been quite noticeable in life."
Analysis of the girl's bones and teeth indicated that she moved to England from somewhere near the Alps, perhaps southern Germany, some time after she turned seven years old.
After arriving in England, the proportion of protein in her diet decreased by a small but significant amount, according to the work of bioarchaeologists Dr Sam Leggett and Dr Alice Rose, and archaeologist Dr Emma Brownlee, during PhD research at the University of Cambridge.
This change occurred close to the end of the girl's life, suggesting she died soon after arriving in England.
Dr Leggett, now at Edinburgh University, said: "She was quite a young girl when she moved, likely from part of southern Germany, close to the Alps, to a very flat part of England.
"She was probably quite unwell and she travelled a long way to somewhere completely unfamiliar - even the food was different.
"It must have been scary."
What else was found?
She was buried in a remarkable way - lying on a carved wooden bed wearing the cross, gold pins and fine clothing.
Hers is one of only 18 bed burials uncovered in the UK.
The ornate cross, combining gold and garnets, is one of only five of its kind found in Britain.
It identifies her as one of England's earliest converts to Christianity and as a member of the aristocracy, if not royalty.