Karen Fleming from the University of Dundee has recreated the head of a woman believed to have been from Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.
A student has revealed the face of a female druid from the Iron Age in a 3D wax reconstruction.
Karen Fleming from the University of Dundee has recreated the head of a woman, nicknamed Hilda, believed to have been from Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.
Believed to have been more than 60 years old when she died, Hilda is depicted as toothless although she still displays many features recognisable today.
Ms Fleming, a mature student originally from Edinburgh, called Hilda a “fascinating character to recreate”.
She said: “It’s clear from the skull she was toothless before she died, which isn’t too surprising considering the diet of folk back then but it was impressive how long she lived.
“A female’s life expectancy at this time was roughly 31 years but it is now thought that living longer during the Iron Age is indicative of a privileged background.
“It’s impossible to know for sure when she died as we were unable to carbon date the skull.
“But assuming the information in the journal from 1833 is correct, Hilda passed away any time between 55BC to 400AD and was of Celtic origin.
“I think she looks like many older women I’ve met in my life and I’m proud of that.”
Hilda was based on an ancient skull held at the University of Edinburgh’s Anatomical Museum.
Her face will go on display at this year’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design Masters Show which runs from this Friday to Sunday August 25.
It comes after a summer of mixed weather – which Ms Fleming admitted posed its own problems in creating Hilda.
She said: “It’s funny to say it now but I had to keep parts of Hilda, like her wax modelled ears, in the fridge for most of the summer.
“As a mature student who commutes from Edinburgh, I often had to keep her cool in the car, strapped up in the passenger seat. I’m sure that’s a sight passers-by won’t forget seeing.”
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian drone strike sparked a fire at an oil depot in Russia’s southern Volgograd region, officials said Saturday, after Russia launched a powerful hypersonic missile along with drones and other weapons that disrupted Kyiv's power supply and heating.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, Volgograd Gov. Andrei Bocharov was quoted as saying in a Telegram post published on the channel of the local administration. The post did not specify the damage, but said that people living near the depot may have to be evacuated.
Ukraine’s General Staff said Saturday it had struck the Zhutovskaya oil depot overnight. In a statement on Telegram, it said the depot is supplying fuel to Russian forces, adding that damage was being assessed.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian energy sites aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”
Saturday's attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, according to Ukrainian officials, killing at least four people in the capital. For only the second time in the nearly 4-year-old war, it used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv’s NATO allies.
The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further Moscow aggression if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, said Friday's attacks “have resulted in significant civilian casualties and deprived millions of Ukrainians of essential services, including electricity, heating and water at a time of acute humanitarian need.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said heat supply would be fully restored in Kyiv by the end of Saturday.
She said areas on the right bank of the Dnieper River would gradually lift emergency blackouts and return to scheduled outages. But resuming power supply on the left bank, where Russian attacks were concentrated, is more complicated due to significant damage to the power grid, she added.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that its forces used aviation, drones, missiles and artillery to strike Ukrainian energy facilities and fuel-storage depots.
Russia struck Ukraine with 121 drones and one Iskander-M ballistic missile, according to the Ukrainian air force. It said 94 drones were shot down.
Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said 59 Ukrainian drones were neutralized overnight over Russia and occupied Crimea.
Ukraine's military said that besides the oil depot in Volgograd, it had struck a drone storage facility belonging to a unit of Russia’s 19th Motor Rifle Division in Zaporizhzhia, southern Ukraine, as well as a drone command and control point near the eastern city of Pokrovsk.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)
A residential building is damaged after a Russian air strike during a heavy snow storm in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
