Luttra Woman

The Luttra Woman is a skeletonised bog body discovered in a peat bog in Falbygden near Luttra, Sweden. The remains were found on 20 May 1943 by a peat cutter. The skull was well-preserved, but some bones of the skeleton, particularly many between the skull and the pelvis, were missing. Osteological assessment identified the remains as those of a young female. The presence of raspberry seeds in her stomach contents, together with an estimated age of early to mid-twenties at death, led to her being nicknamed Hallonflickan (Swedish: [ˈhalɔnflɪkːˌan] ^ⓘ; lit. 'Raspberry Girl'). Radiocarbon-dated to 3928–3651 BC, she was, as of 2015, the earliest known Neolithic individual from Western Sweden. In a study, her estimated height of 145 cm (4 ft 9 in) was deemed short for a Stone Age woman of the region.

Several anthropological studies have reported no evidence of injuries or fatal diseases on her remains. Researchers concluded that she had likely been bound and placed in shallow water at or shortly after her death. Axel Bagge, an archaeologist who took part in the initial examination, proposed that her death may have resulted from deliberate drowning, either as a human sacrifice or as the consequence of a witch execution. An alternative interpretation suggested that the bindings were part of a water burial ritual performed after her death from unrelated causes. Since 1994, her skeleton has been part of the permanent exhibition Forntid på Falbygden ('Prehistory in Falbygden') at the Falbygden Museum in Falköping, Sweden. In June 2011, the museum added a forensic bust reconstruction to the display.