Nicknamed, "Lola," the woman lived about 5,700 years ago in what is now Denmark. They were able to sequence her genome from birch pitch, which she may have been chewing to prepare for use in making tools...or she may just have been chewing gum.
She was of eastern European, not Scandinavian ancestry, likely indicating that people were moving around a fair bit.
And she looked like this:
You can see what she, well, isn't. (The gene for fair skin was around in Europe at the time but had not yet become dominant, and didn't until after we made the full transition to agriculture. The likely reason: A diet with less vitamin D in it).
She's shown with a duck, probably her dinner, hazelnuts, and a fish trap. We don't know anything about her, but we know that face. It's the face of one of our ancestors.
Who dropped her chewing gum.
(Picture source: Gizmodo)
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