Live Science reports that a life-sized model of a woman who lived in central Norway some 800 years ago has been hand-made by a team of researchers and artists led by Ellen Grav of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

The model, known as Tora, was based on information gleaned from a woman’s skeleton and from the excavation of her grave in Trondheim. “We know that she was buried in the churchyard near the street where the merchants lived,” Grav said. Grav and her colleagues suspect, therefore, that the woman came from a merchant family.

A study of her bones revealed that she had worked hard throughout her life, and died at about 65 years of age. She likely walked hunched over, due to a spinal deformity, and her lower teeth had been missing for a long time, Grav added. Tora’s hair and skin were crafted by makeup artist Thomas Foldberg, while her clothing and shoes were fabricated by archaeologist Marianne Vedeler of the University of Oslo and local dressmaker Nille Glæsel, who specializes in creating clothing with medieval techniques. “Tora’s life was hard, but she must have had good days as well,” Grav said of the model’s smiling face.

(Image credit: Åge Hojem, NTNU University Museum)