Faces of Neolithic Sisters Revealed After 6,000 Years in Czech Forest!
Over 6,000 years ago, deep in the Krumlov Forest of South Moravia in what is now the Czech Republic, two sisters lived and worked in a small Neolithic mining settlement. Their lives were far from easy, and, thanks to cutting-edge forensic techniques, we can now see their faces in remarkable detail. These new 3D reconstructions not only show us what they looked like, but also open a window into the harsh realities of the society they belonged to.
Photo Credit: E. Vaníčková, et al., Archaeolo Anthropol Sci (2025)
The story begins more than 15 years ago, when archaeologists excavating a prehistoric chert (flint) mine discovered the remains of two adult women buried one on top of the other, the elder cradling a newborn on her chest. Nearby lay the partial skeleton of a small dog. Research published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences suggests that the two women were sisters who had worked, and ultimately been laid to rest, in the very shaft where they toiled.
Dr Martin Oliva of the Moravian Museum, a co-author of the study, explained that the grave’s location hints at more than simple burial convenience. The mine may have held spiritual or ritual significance, perhaps linked to ancestral veneration or sacrificial practices.
Photo Credit: E. Vaníčková, et al., Archaeolo Anthropol Sci (2025)
The team’s investigation was thorough, involving radiocarbon dating, DNA testing, isotopic analysis, and detailed examination of the bones. Both women were relatively short, measuring around 1.48 and 1.46 metres (4 ft 10 in), and their skeletons revealed a lifetime of punishing work: worn vertebrae, early arthritis, herniated discs, and even partially healed fractures, including one on the elder sister’s forearm. These injuries suggest they continued working despite significant pain and trauma.
Isotopic analysis revealed another layer of complexity. The sisters grew up malnourished and unwell, yet in adulthood consumed a meat-rich diet, unusual for Neolithic Europeans, whose food supply was often plant-heavy. This could have been due to plentiful game in the forested region, or perhaps a diet deliberately designed to sustain their gruelling physical labour.
DNA confirmed the women’s sibling relationship and even offered clues to their appearance: the younger probably had dark hair and green or hazel eyes, while the elder may have been blonde with blue eyes. These details were used to create the lifelike reconstructions now on display at the Moravian Museum in Brno. Using plaster, silicone, prosthetic eyes, and individual strands of implanted hair, the artists recreated their faces based on the well-preserved skulls.
Photo Credit: E. Vaníčková, et al., Archaeolo Anthropol Sci (2025)
Their clothing was modelled on archaeological textile finds from the same period, made entirely from plant fibres such as flax and nettle. The elder wears a simple blouse and wrap with a hairnet, while the younger has a linen blouse and braided fabric strips woven through her hair.
Yet the burial raises lingering questions. The newborn was not related to either woman, and the positioning of the dog’s remains is puzzling. Could this have been a ritual offering, or even a symbolic sacrifice connected to the mine itself? Neolithic people often imbued natural features such as shafts with deep spiritual meaning.
On a wider scale, the findings hint at social shifts in early agricultural societies. As hierarchies formed, the researchers suggest, “the hardest labour may no longer have been done by the strongest, but by those who could most easily be forced to do it.” This implies that inequality, whether based on gender, age, or social standing, may have shaped the way work was allocated, even thousands of years ago.
The sisters’ faces may now be preserved in silicone and plaster, but their story remains as much about the resilience of the human spirit as it is about the inequalities woven into the very roots of civilisation.