Se cree que la mujer, que murió hace 2.200 años, inspiraba un gran respeto en su tribu, ya que fue enterrada con ropas finas y joyas.

Los científicos dicen que la mujer era celta. Se sabe que los celtas de la Edad del Hierro enterraban a miembros de su tribu en “ataúdes de árboles” enterrados a gran profundidad.

Los restos de la mujer fueron encontrados en la ciudad de Zurich en 2017, según Live Science.

Ataviada con un fino vestido de lana y un chal, un abrigo de piel de oveja y un collar hecho de cuentas de vidrio y ámbar, los investigadores creen que realizó poco o ningún trabajo duro mientras estaba viva. Se estima que tenía alrededor de 40 años cuando murió, y un análisis de sus dientes indicó que era muy golosa.

Adornada con pulseras de bronce y una cadena de cinturón de bronce con cierres y colgantes de hierro, esta mujer no formaba parte de estratos sociales bajos. El análisis de sus huesos mostró que creció en lo que hoy es Zurich, probablemente en el valle de Limmat.

Most impressive, besides her garments and accessories, is the hollowed-out tree trunk so ingeniously fixed into a coffin. It still had the exterior bark intact when construction workers stumbled upon it, according to the initial 2017 statement from Zurich’s Office of Urban Development.

While all of the immediate evidence — an Iron Age Celtic woman’s remains, her bewildering accessories, and clothing, the highly creative coffin — is highly interesting on its own, researchers have discovered a lot more to delve into since 2017.

According to The Smithsonian, the site of discovery has been considered an archaeologically important place for quite some time. Most of the previous finds here, however, only date back as far as the 6th century A.D.

The only exception seems to have occurred when construction workers found the grave of a Celtic man in 1903. They were in the process of building the school complex’s gym, the Office of Urban Development said when they discovered the man’s remains buried alongside a sword, shield, and lance.

Researchers are now strongly considering that, because the Celtic woman’s remains were found a mere 260 feet from the man’s burial place, they probably knew each other.

Experts have claimed that both figures were buried in the same decade, an assertion that the Office of Urban Development said it was “quite possible.”

Though archaeologists previously found evidence that a Celtic settlement dating to the 1st century B.C. lived nearby, researchers are rather confident that the man found in 1903 and the woman found in 2017 belonged to a smaller, separate community that has yet to be entirely discovered.

The department’s 2017 press release stated that researchers would initiate a thorough assessment of the grave and its contents, and by all accounts, they’ve done just that.

Archaeologists salvaged and conserved any relevant items and materials, exhaustively documented their research, and conducted both physical and isotope-based examinations on the woman.

Most impressive to experts was the woman’s necklace, which had rather impressive clasps on either end.

The office said that its concluded assessment “draws a fairly accurate picture of the deceased” and the community in which she lived. The isotope analysis confirmed that she was buried in the same area she grew up in.

While the Celts are usually thought of as being indigenous to the British Isles, they lived in many different parts of Europe for hundreds of years. Several clans settled in Austria and Switzerland, as well as other regions north of the Roman Empire.

Interestingly enough, from 450 B.C. to 58 B.C. — the exact same timeframe that the Celtic woman and man were buried — a “wine-guzzling, gold-designing, poly/bi𝑠e𝑥ual, naked-warrior-battling culture” called La Tène flourished in Switzerland’s Lac de Neuchâtel region.

Eso fue hasta que Julio César lanzó una invasión de la zona y comenzó su conquista del oeste y el norte de Europa. Al final, parece que la mujer celta recibió un entierro bastante amable y cariñoso y dejó la Tierra con sus pertenencias más preciadas a su lado.