How Nazis 'whitewashed' a prehistoric shaman's remains

Christine Lehnen
19 minutes ago

Nazis thought the grave belonged to a white man. But the 9,000-year-old human remains were of a powerful woman of color.

When the "Shaman of Bad Dürrenberg" was discovered in eastern Germany in 1934, the remains were assigned to a rich man, the "original Aryan". The Nazis, already in power, believed they had discovered in the 9,000-year-old remains one of their powerful "Aryan" ancestors: A white-skinned, blue-eyed, blond-haired man.

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However, more recent investigations have revealed they were thoroughly mistaken. The buried skeleton did not belong to a white man, but a dark-skinned, powerful woman, buried with a child - a female shaman from the Mesolithic period, which lasted roughly from 9,500 to 4,500 BC.

Who was the shaman of Bad Dürrenberg?

"Rarely have people been so mistaken about a person as they were about this woman", renowned archaeologists and authors Harald Meller and Kai Michel write in their book "Das Rätsel der Schamanin: Eine Reise in unsere Vergangenheit", (German for: "The Riddle of the Shaman: A Journey into Our Past" ) which was published in October last year.

Meller and Michel explain how they tried to throw light on the skeleton's secrets, using genetic analysis, magnetic resonance imaging and state-of-the-art dental examinations.

It was not only the deceased's gender and skin color that the archaeologists were wondering about but also her position in society: Had this woman been a powerful shaman? If so, why was she chosen for this important position? And who was the child buried beside her?

More:
https://www.dw.com/en/how-nazis-whitewashed-a-shamans-prehistoric-remains/a-64196637