Based on skeletal remains and traces in a Stone Age cave, experts reconstruct the portrait of a 15-year-old boy with a skull deformity.
The full-body reconstruction of a Stone Age teenager named Vistegutten is currently on display at the Hå Gamle Prestegard museum in southern Norway, Live Science reported on February 15. This elaborate reconstruction project was carried out over several months.
The Vistegutten boy may have lived near the coast of Norway. (Photo: Oscar Nilsson).
Archaeologists discovered the remains of Vistegutten in a cave in Randaberg along the west coast of Norway in 1907. The 15-year-old boy was 1.25 meters tall, which is quite short for his age, even by mid-Stone Age standards. It is possible that Vistegutten died alone, as his remains appear to be sitting against the cave wall.
“The boy may have been positioned this way after death, but it is also possible that he actually died in this position,” said Oscar Nilsson, the Swedish forensic artist who reconstructed Vistegutten’s portrait.
Vistegutten had scaphocephaly, a condition where the sagittal suture at the top of the skull closes too early, causing the head to elongate front to back without expanding sideways, resulting in a protruding forehead.
“However, this deformity does not come with developmental issues or intellectual disabilities,” stated Sean Dexter Denham, a bone expert at the Archaeological Museum of the University of Stavanger (Norway). Although Vistegutten’s abnormal skull and short stature may have given him an unusual appearance, the evidence suggests that he was well-nourished and healthy.
Forensic artist Oscar Nilsson spent several months reconstructing the boy’s skull. (Photo: Oscar Nilsson)
To create the reconstruction, the team conducted two CT scans of the boy’s skull. From this data, Nilsson produced a 3D-printed plastic replica. Due to uncertainty regarding the thickness of the soft tissue on the boy’s face, Nilsson relied on measurements from modern 15-year-olds in Northern Europe.
Nilsson found that the boy had a rounded and slightly protruding forehead, a narrow nose, but a relatively wide lower nose. DNA analysis also indicated that his skin, hair, and eye color were similar to those of other Norwegians of that era, primarily brown eyes, dark hair, and medium skin tone.
The outfit of Vistegutten was designed by Swedish archaeologist Helena Gjaerum using prehistoric tanning techniques. The attire included a tunic made from scraped moose hide, two salmon skin pieces wrapped around the waist, and a pouch made from deer hide hanging from the belt. Bones from these animals were found at the archaeological site. “The outfit was stitched using both sinew and leather, and then coated with ash and fat to make it look more realistic,” Gjaerum shared. Additionally, the boy wore a necklace made from salmon vertebrae and broken seashells.