Bronze Age man gets his voice back after 4,000 years

Gristhorpe Man is an early Bronze Age skeleton – probably of a warrior chief – discovered inside an oak tree trunk coffin during the excavation of a burial mound on land owned by William Beswick at Gristhorpe, near Filey, in 1834.

The coffin, skeleton and grave goods including fragments of an animal skin cloak, a basket made of tree bark and parts of a bronze dagger, were all donated to the Scarborough Philosophical Society.

The Scarborough Philosophical Society opened the Scarborough Museum (now the Rotunda Museum) in 1829 and the Gristhorpe collection remained there until it closed for refurbishment in 2006.

While the museum was being renovated, the Gristhorpe collection was given a temporary home at the Division of Archaeological Sciences at Bradford University, where a series of tests and investigations were carried out on the ancient remains.

Before returning to the Rotunda in 2008, Gristhorpe Man was taken to the Bradford Royal Infirmary for a CT scan and the details recorded of the skull helped Dr Alan Ogden reconstruct the face.

Gristhorpe Man – who was boiled in copper vat to preserve him – is remarkable among remains so old in still possessing a full set of teeth.

So Dr Ogden went one step further and, using his skills as a dentist and osteologist, was able to use software that allows the elderly warrior to speak – although not in a language he would understand.

Dr Ogden said: "I was able to build a facial reconstruction from the amazingly well – survived skull from what is arguably the best-preserved 4,000-year-old skeleton in Britain.

"Investigations by a team of us at Bradford showed that he was in his early sixties, had lived in the area most of his life and had usually been in good health.

"He was tall and muscular and had lived on a rich and carefully prepared diet.

"We presume therefore that he was part of a local ruling family. His death was relatively sudden and was probably related to a brain tumour which our examinations revealed."

Yesterday Dr Ogden, of Bradford University, installed the facial reconstruction and talking version of Gristhorpe Man at the museum in what is believed to be a first for forensic archaeology.

Dr Ogden prepared a facial reconstruction using modern forensic modelling techniques, based on his musculature and the likely thickness of his facial soft tissues at his age.

He continued: "Unfortunately such a model bears only as much likeness to a living person as a formal passport photograph.

"I have therefore used modern software techniques to animate him as he speaks in English.

"He would actually have spoken a form of Proto-Celtic, that we can only guess at.

"I hope that the visitor to the museum can visualise him as a living man, a senior figure in his society, used to being obeyed and probably even revered."

Karen Snowden, head of collections for Scarborough Museums Trust, said yesterday: "We are really excited to be able to add another layer of interpretation to Gristhorpe Man.

"His skeleton, grave goods and coffin are one of the most important group of objects in Scarborough's collections and we have been working with Bradford University for a few years now to fully understand this unique man and his history. The story is now made more real with the addition of his voice".

The Rotunda Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm, and the new facial reconstruction will be on display from today.

Life of privilege for a warrior

Gristhorpe Man was found in 1834 by William Beswick, a local landowner, in an ancient burial mound near Gristhorpe and excavated under the supervision of Scarborough Philosophical Society.

Much more recent research has revealed the man's status was on a par with a tribal chieftain.

Being 6ft tall, he enjoyed a very good rich man's diet and still has a full set of teeth in remarkable condition.

The body was wrapped in a skin cloak, of which only fragments survive. There was also a bronze dagger, and other grave goods, including flint tools, and a wicker basket. Studies confirmed he died from natural causes but there were many healed fractures,as might be expected in a warrior.

The bones were blackened by a reaction of the iron in the water with the tannin in the bark of the coffin.

The skeleton was preserved by boiling it in horse glue in a laundry copper.