In 1921 a burial mound at Egtved was excavated.   In it was found a completely preserved coffin, and inside it lay a 16-18 year old girl about 160cm (5’4”) tall, slim, with long, loose blonde hair and carefully trimmed nails.   For burial she had been laid in the coffin, fully dressed, on top of a cow-skin.   Her upper body was clad in a loose bodice with elbow length sleeves and around her hips she wore a knee length skirt of string.   On her braided woollen belt were a large, spiral-decorated bronze disk with a spike and a bronze comb.   Small pieces of woollen cloth were wrapped about her feet.  She wore bronze bracelets on her wrists.   A bundle of rags containing the burned bones of a 5-6 year old child (perhaps a sacrifice?) had been placed at the end of the coffin.   At the head end there was a small box made of birch-bark containing her hairnet, an awl and a few bronze pins among other things.   Before the coffin was closed the girl’s body had been covered by a woollen blanket and a cow-skin.   On this a bark bucket had been placed, containing a fermented drink, a kind of beer or mead brewed from what, cranberries and honey.   Before the coffin was closed a sprig of flowering yarrow was dropped into the coffin, showing she was buried during the summer.   Dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) has shown the burial took place in the year 1370BC.

The Egtved girl’s outfit was reconstructed for the National Museum of Denmark at the Lejre Archaeological Centre a few years ago, and shows that in many ways the outfit looked remarkably modern.

Another reconstruction, this time a literary one of the girl's funeral, can be found in 'The Northmen' by Thomas Francek and is, I think, worth quoting here:

Perhaps the funeral begins at the home of the Egtved girl with a series of ritual sacrifices conducted by her family or a priest.   Then the solemn procession of mourners forms, the lurs sound the dirge and the body of the girl, lying on its cowhide shroud, is placed on a horse-drawn bier.   Slowly the procession winds along the narrow main road leading out of the village, past the low hills dominated by the burial mounds of previous generations.   And now a new mound has been added.   For days the workers have been preparing the site.   Sections of turf have been lifted, a bed of stones has been laid down to receive the casket, and the massive oak coffin itself has been hewed and hollowed on the spot from a trunk, the white chips left where they fell on the earth.

Only a person of high rank or considerable wealth could command such a burial.   Dressed in finery, the girl has been carefully groomed.   Her fingernails have been cleaned and trimmed, and her hair dressed and tied back with a ribbon.

As the bier reaches the burial ground, the young woman's body is lifted and placed in its coffin, and two birch-bark boxes are laid beside it.   One is a small work box containing her effects: a bronze awl, a few bronze pins and a length of woollen cord - perhaps an extra hair ribbon.   The other box contains a ritual token of rememberance from her survivors: a drink made from fermented juices of various berries that grow in bogs.   And at her feet the mourners place a small cloth-wrapped bundle, the cremated remains of a child.   Perhaps the dead child, too, is a ritual gesture, a sacrificial offering made in honour of the young woman's high station.   Perhaps the cremated remains are simply those of a young member of the clan who has recently died and is sharing a funeral.

And now all is ready.  The cow-hide shroud is folded over the body, and someone steps forward (her husband? her mother?) to drop in the last token: the sprig of yarrow.  The coffin lid is closed and the crowd departs, but the interment continues for days.   Stones are piled on the coffin to keep out grave robbers and animals.   Great masses of turf are stripped from the surrounding meadows to be placed in layers on top of the stones.   Gradually the new barrow rises on top of its hill, there to stand for 3,500 years, a monument to a much esteemed young woman and to the golden age in which she lived.

The surviving garments from the Egtved girl's burial.

The Egtved girl's clothing.

The modern reconstruction of the Egtved girl's clothing.