Yde Girl is a body discovered in the Stijfveen peat bog near the village of Yde, Netherlands. She was found on May 12, 1897, and was said to be surprisingly well-preserved, particularly her hair. However, by the time the body was handed to the authorities two weeks later, it had become heavily damaged and started to decay. Most of her teeth and hair had been removed from the skull. The tools used for cutting peat were also reported to have caused significant harm to the body.
Discovery
The body was found on May 12, 1897, in the Stijfveen bog between the villages of Yde and Vries in the province of Drenthe. While cutting peat, Hendrik Barkhof and Willem Emmens saw what looked like a piece of leather buried in the peat. When they looked closer, they saw it was preserved human skin and hair. They were very frightened and covered the remains with peat before leaving the area. Three days later, a newspaper learned about the discovery and reported the news.
On May 21, the mayor of Vries contacted the Drents Museum in Assen and shared a detailed description. He noted long hair, skin stained blue from peat, an open mouth with visible teeth, and an injury on the right cheek. The upper body and shoulders were tightly joined, along with parts of both arms and one hand with all fingers. The feet were present, some with nails still attached. A femur and other bones were nearby. A piece of fabric and a long wool band wrapped around the neck were also found.
Before museum staff arrived, the remains were exposed to air and handled by workers, which caused some damage. Some parts were also taken by others, making the condition worse. When museum director J. H. W. Joosting arrived with officials, the thigh bone was missing, most of the teeth were gone, and much of the hair had been pulled out or lost due to drying.
The remaining items were placed in a crate and sent to the museum in Assen. An oak log found at the site was left behind. When the remains arrived, they were laid out to dry, a common practice in smaller museums at the time.
Joosting suggested moving the remains to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden for study, but the Drents Museum refused, wanting to display the body themselves. The Yde Girl was shown publicly without further research.
The remains show the kind of preservation found in northern European peat bogs. Acids from the peat bonded with proteins in the skin, making it dark and tough. The low-oxygen environment slowed decay. When exposed to air, the skin dried and tightened.
The upper body and shoulders were better preserved than the lower body, pelvis, or abdomen. The hair measured about 21 centimeters (8.3 inches). It had originally been blonde but turned red-gold from contact with peat. Most of the hair was on the left side of the head, while the right side was bare. Later studies suggested this might have happened because one side was exposed to air longer than the other.
Most bones had softened or dissolved because acidic water from the bog removed calcium. Remaining bones showed a curved spine, an uneven pelvis, and a right leg that may have turned inward, confirmed later by scans. A small stab wound was found below the left collarbone, but it was not the cause of death. The wool band around the neck had been wrapped three times, with a knot below the left ear.
Small traces of moss, sedge, and peat were found on the body and textiles, typical of raised bog areas. A pollen sample from the 1950s suggested the person died during the growing season. Later tests gave a more precise time range.
Only a few items were found with the body, but the surviving textiles help understand clothing from the Iron Age in the Netherlands. The body was wrapped in a wool cloak that had once been light-colored with narrow stripes, likely dyed with plant-based colors. The fabric had many flaws, was worn, torn, and repaired, suggesting it had been used for a long time before being placed in the bog. Today, only two main pieces of the cloak remain.
A long wool band wrapped around the neck was about 215 to 220 centimeters (85 to 87 inches) long and made using a technique called sprang, which creates elastic fabric by weaving threads together. About 125 centimeters (49 inches) of the band survive today. The loops and knot show how it was tightened around the neck.
No jewelry, metal items, or personal belongings were found with the body. An oak log was nearby, but its purpose is unknown. Plant remains, including sphagnum moss and heather, found at the site are typical of raised bogs and suggest the body was placed on the bog intentionally, not lost accidentally.
Examination
Carbon-14 tests show that Yde Girl died between 54 BC and 128 AD, when she was about 16 years old. She had long reddish-blonde hair, and one side of her head was once thought to have been shaved before her death. However, recent studies of Windeby I suggest that the shaved hair on some bog bodies may be due to one side of the head being exposed to oxygen for a longer time. Scans reveal she had scoliosis, a condition that causes the spine to curve. She was 137 centimetres (4 ft 6 in) tall, which is shorter than the average height for a 16-year-old.
Her body was found wearing a wool cape and a woolen band around her neck, made using a braiding method called sprang. This suggests she may have been executed or sacrificed. A stab wound near her collarbone was found, but it was not the cause of her death. It is believed she may have died while unconscious, as no defensive wounds were found on the hand that was recovered. This is different from the case of the Kayhausen Boy in Germany, who had a cut on his left hand from a possible defense attempt.
Like most bog bodies, Yde Girl’s skin and features are preserved because of tannic acid in the marsh water. When she was discovered, workers accidentally damaged her skull. Today, only her torso, head, right hand, and feet remain intact. The rest of her body was not preserved or was damaged by tools used to cut peat.
Exhibit
The Yde Girl's remains were placed on display, and no further studies were conducted until 1992. Richard Neave, from the University of Manchester, used a CT scan of her skull to determine her age, based on her bones and historical records.
The Yde Girl gained international attention when Neave created a reconstruction of her face. He used methods from plastic surgery and criminal pathology. Because the body was not fully preserved, some parts of the face, such as the nose, were estimated. The Yde Girl and her reconstructed face are shown at the Drents Museum in Assen.
The Yde Girl, along with Roter Franz and the Weerdinge Men, were displayed in museums around the world during the early and mid-2000s. This exhibition caused protests in Canada, where rules prohibit showing the bodies of Indigenous people. Many experts and members of the public find displaying human remains to be unacceptable.