Magdalenian Girl

"Magdalenian Girl" or "Magdalenian Woman" is the common name for a human skeleton, dated to the boundary between the Upper Paleolithic and the early Mesolithic, ca. 15,000 to 13,000 years old, in the Magdalenian period. The remains were discovered in 1911 in the Dordogne region of southwestern France in a limestone cave known as the Cap Blanc rock shelter. The find was made when a workman drove a pickaxe into the cliff face in the rock shelter, shattering the skull. It is the most complete Upper Paleolithic skeleton in Northern Europe.

When Magdalenian Girl was acquired in 1926 for the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois by Henry Field, then curator of Physical Anthropology, it was hailed as one of the most significant acquisitions the museum ever made. On the first day the precious specimen was exhibited, tens of thousands of visitors flocked to the museum to see it.

Skeletal analysis

Sex There was some speculation as to her sex but it was ultimately decided by the size and shape of her pelvic bones, which is a major indicator of sex in skeletons. This is the oldest recorded case of impacted wisdom teeth. Other evidence that indicated her age were fully fused epiphyses and degenerative wear on her vertebrae.

In 2013, a French sculptor named Elisabeth Daynes completed a facial reconstruction of Magdalenian Girl by using a printed version of the CT scan of the skull. The reconstruction includes strong cheekbones, decorative hair beads, and a Mona Lisa-like smile, in which the teeth are not visible.