Swedish scientists have reconstructed the face of a 400-year-old woman buried with a padlock on her foot and an iron sickle across her neck due to people during her time thinking she was a vampire.
The woman, who lived in 17th-century Europe and was named Zosia, was entombed in an unmarked cemetery in Pien, northern Poland. Her face was brought back using DNA, 3D printing and modeling clay.
“It’s really ironic, in a way,” Swedish archaeologist Oscar Nilsson told Reuters. “These people burying her, they did everything they could in order to prevent her from coming back from the dead…we have done everything we can in order to bring her back to life.”
How was Zosia found?
The remains of Zosia, a name she acquired by locals, were found in 2022 by a team of archaeologists from Toruń’s Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland.
Zosia died between the ages of 18 and 20, and Nilsson said she suffered from a health condition that caused fainting, severe headaches and possible mental health issues, Reuters reported.
The sickle, padlock and certain types of wood found at Zosia’s grave site were believed to hold magical properties that protected the public from vampires, Reuters reported, citing the Nicolaus Copernicus team.
Among the other bodies found at the same unmarked cemetery was a “vampire” child who was buried face down and padlocked at the foot like Zosia.
Who was Zosia?
Not much is known about Zosia’s life, but the items she was buried with indicate that she may have been from a wealthy or possibly noble family, Nilsson and the scientists said.
Zosia grew up in 17th-century Europe during a time when war was rampant, which in turn created a sense of fear that led to the belief in supernatural monsters among the public, Nilsson said.
Nilsson began recreating Zosia’s face using a 3D-printed replica of her skull, and with plasticine clay he formed her facial features by building it “muscle by muscle.” He used bone structure, gender, age, ethnicity and weight to estimate the depth of her features.
“It’s emotional to watch a face coming back from the dead, especially when you know the story about this young girl,” Nilsson told Reuters.
The scientist added that he wanted to bring Zosia back “as a human, and not as this monster that she is buried as.”
Contributing: Reuters
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