She may have walked the earth thousands of years ago, but this woman
was clearly as fond of a nice piece of jewellery as the average 21st
Century girl.
The female skeleton, which is believed to date back to between 1550
and 1250BC, was discovered in Rochlitz, south of Halle in eastern
Germany, while construction was underway to build a new rail track.
The Middle Bronze Age woman had been buried wearing an elaborate
headband made up of tiny bronze spirals.
Staff at the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle, where the skeleton
is now on display as part of its permanent exhibition, said similar
spirals uncovered in the past had been found separate and loose.
Tomoko Emmerling, the museum's press officer, said the discovery gave
historians an insight into how the spirals were worn in the Middle
Bronze Age.
The ancient skeleton, which was excavated within a block in 2008, went
on display at the German museum today.
It is among thousands of artefacts in a new section of its permanent
exhibition entitled 'Glutgeboren', or 'Ember Born'.
The display includes items from the middle and late Bronze Age as well
as from the pre-Roman Iron Age.