A WOMAN who died in a shipwreck around 400 years has been reconstructed and left scientists shocked.
For decades researchers assumed the skeleton belonged to a male until a new genetic analysis was conducted this year.
The woman died on a 17th-century Swedish warship Vasa when it sank in Stockholm harbor.
Only married women were allowed on the maiden voyage of ships at the time so experts believe the lady was connected to a man onboard.
She’s been given the name Gertrude.
Originally, scientists called the skeleton Gustav, and was thought to be 45 years old.
A reconstruction of the skeleton as Gustav was created in 2006.
It looks very different from the new reconstruction showing a young blonde woman aged between 25 to 30.
Around thirty people are said to have died when Vasa sank in 1628.
Dr Fred Hocker, director of research at the Vasa Museum, in Stockholm, said in a statement: “Through osteological analysis it has been possible to discover a great deal about these people, such as their age, height and medical history.
“Osteologists recently suspected that G could be female, on the basis of the pelvis. DNA analysis can reveal even more.”
Professor Marie Allen who led the work said: “For us, it is both interesting and challenging to study the skeletons from Vasa.
“It is very difficult to extract DNA from bone which has been on the bottom of the sea for 333 years, but not impossible.
“Already some years ago we had indications that skeleton G was not a man but a woman.
“Simply put, we found no Y-chromosomes in G’s genetic material. But we could not be certain and wanted to confirm the result.”
A new genetic testing method was able to confirm the result and a new reconstruction was able to be made.
