Scientists have reconstructed the face of a 10,000-year-old woman thanks to cutting-edge DNA technology.

The remarkable image, created by a team from Ghent University, in Belgium, shows the face of a woman who lived and died in the Meuse river valley some 5,000 years before the building of Stonehenge.

The woman’s remains, which date from the Mesolithic period, were found among the bodies of between 30 and 60 other woman. Analysis of DNA fragments taken from her skull reveal that she would have had dark hair, blue eyes and lighter-coloured skin than many other Europeans of the same era.

The difference in “Meuse Woman’s” colouring has been attributed to the fact that she and her tribe were probably nomads who wandered over great distances.

The burial of the women appears to have involved complex and by our standards brutal religious rituals. “We noticed that the skulls were scalped and manipulated with ochre, possibly as a burial ritual. It is also striking that only women were buried there,” Professor Isabelle De Groote said.

She added: “We know what the woman ate, based on animal remains. Remains of poles indicate camps. Remains of hazelnuts show that there were hazel forests.”

Meuse Woman’s remains were actually found in the Margaux caves in Belgium back in 1988, but it’s only now that the full research has been published.

She was given a face by Dutch twin brothers, Adrie and Alfons Kennis, who describe themselves as “paleo-anthropological artists.” They used the Ghent team’s detailed findings to reconstruct her features, using  a combination of resin and silicone. 

In time, she will have a proper name, too. An online poll offers members of the public to choose from one of three names; Margo, Freya or Mos’anne.

People can vote for their favourite name until the end of June by using the voting link at the top of the project’s website.

Her exact cause of death remains a mystery. “It is rare that we see this in a skeleton because most causes of death do not show on the skeleton but we do not see a blow to the head in her, for example,” De Groote told the Daily Mail. 

Meuse Woman’s people lived a simple life, in harmony with nature. Professor De Groote added: “They used animal parts for clothing, tools, and bindings, and may have domesticated dogs. Their lifestyle was closely tied to the natural environment, relying on seasonal resources and skilled foraging and hunting.”

Mesolithic people not only made tools from stone but also used bones, and wood, making weapons such as bows and arrows as well as harpoons, and fish hooks. 

By the the late Mesolithic era, humans had developed advanced skills such as pottery and painting. Hunter-gatherers began to craft containers to store some food for future needs.