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Professor Marie Allen and Conservator Malin Sahlstedt. Photo: Anna Maria Forsberg/Vasamuseet.

One of Vasa’s crewmen was a woman

When the human remains found on board the warship Vasa were investigated, it was determined that the skeleton designated G was a man. New research now shows that the skeleton is actually from a woman. "It is very difficult to extract DNA from bone which has been on the bottom of the sea for 333 years, but not impossible”, says Marie Allen, Professor at Uppsala University.

Carved chess pieces on a board of ebony, mother-of-pearl and inlaid silver in Philipp Hainhofer’s Pomeranian Art Cabinet (Berlin). Photo: Greger Sundin.

Parlour games 400 years ago – almost like today

In a new thesis from Uppsala University, art historian Greger Sundin studied 16th and 17th century games that have been preserved in princely collections for example. Right at the end of his work on the thesis, he and a colleague were able to solve an over 300 year old riddle about a game in the Augsburg Art Cabinet.

Uppsala University - quality, knowledge, and creativity since 1477

Founded in 1477, Uppsala University is the oldest university in Sweden. With more than 50,000 students and 7,500 employees in Uppsala and Visby, we are a broad university with research in social sciences, humanities, technology, natural sciences, medicine and pharmacology. Our mission is to conduct education and research of the highest quality and relevance to society on a long-term basis. Uppsala University is regularly ranked among the world’s top universities.

Uppsala University

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BOX 256, 751 05 Uppsala
Sweden