Over the past few centuries, men harvesting peat in European bogs
have discovered the preserved remains of hundreds of human corpses
called “bog bodies”. Some of them are as old as 10,000 years. They have
been recovered mostly in north-western Europe, especially in Ireland,
Great Britain, the Netherlands, northern Germany, and Denmark. What
makes bog bodies so unique is they are fantastically well preserved,
often with skins and internal organs intact, thanks to the unusual
chemistry of peat bogs. Peat bogs are made up of accumulated layers of
dead moss that contain highly acidic water, low temperature and poor
oxygen, all of which contribute towards preservation of the bodies.
Soft
tissues, stomach contents, hair, nails, and clothing are frequently
preserved well enough for forensic analysis. Stomach contents can
provide information about diet, while teeth and nails provide useful
clues about the person’s health and age. Clothes are an indicator of
culture.
No one knows how these people ended up in the bogs, but
the presence of horrific wounds, such as slashed throats, suggest the
bodies had been sacrificed or executed as punishment for crimes. One of
the most notable example of bog bodies, and one of the most well
preserved, is Tollund Man, unearthed in Denmark in 1950.
The remarkably well preserved head of the Tollund Man.
Photo credit: Robert Clark, National Geographic
Tollund
Man was discovered on the morning of May 8th, 1950, by two brothers and
their family who were digging for peat to be used as fuel, in a bog
close to Bjældskovdal, an area located approximately 10 kilometres west
of Silkeborg, in Denmark. Because the body appeared so fresh the workers
believed they had discovered a recent murder victim. Radiocarbon dating
of Tollund Man revealed that he died in approximately 375-210 BCE, or
nearly 2,400 years ago.
When he was excavated, Tollund Man was
completely naked except for a narrow leather belt around his waist. One
end of the belt had an oblong cut, through which the other end of the
belt had been pulled through and secured in a loop. On his head, he wore
a pointed leather cap made of sheepskin and wool, fastened securely
under his chin by a hide thong. Additionally, the corpse had a noose
made of plaited animal hide drawn tight around the neck and trailing
down his back. His hair was cropped so short as to be almost entirely
hidden by his cap. There was short stubble on his chin and upper lip,
suggesting that he had not shaved on the day of his death.
Photo credit
It
is believed that Tollund Man was a victim of human sacrifice rather
than an executed criminal because of the foetal arrangement of his body,
and the fact that his eyes and mouth were closed.
The body is
now displayed at the Silkeborg Museum in Denmark, although only the head
is original. Because conservation techniques for organic material were
insufficiently advanced in the early 1950s for the entire body to be
preserved, the forensic examiners suggested the head be severed and the
rest of the body remain unpreserved. Subsequently the body desiccated
and the tissue disappeared. In 1987, the Silkeborg Museum reconstructed
the body using the skeletal remains as a base and attached it the head.
Twelve
years before Tollund Man was discovered, in 1938, another bog body of a
24-year-old woman called the Elling Woman was discovered only 80 metres
from the place where the Tollund Man was later found. She had been
hanged exactly like the Tollund Man and placed in the bog dressed in a
cloak of sheepskin. She had a blanket made of skin or a cloak made of
cowhide wrapped around her hips and legs. Her hair was gathered in a
pigtail and tied into a knot at the back of her neck.
Photo credit
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Just
like the Tollund Man and Elling Woman, hundreds of more bog bodies have
been discovered till date, the most recent discovery is that of the
Cashel Man found in Ireland in 2011. Here are some of the best preserved
bog bodies.
Old Croghan Man
(350-175 B.C.) was found in Ireland in 2003. He died a gruesome death
from a stab wound to the chest. He had been decapitated and had his body
cut in half. He was exceptionally tall for his time, standing roughly
6' 6". This close-up picture of his hand shows remarkable preservation
of the skin and nail.
Photo credit
Clonycavan Man
(392–201 BCE) was discovered three months before Old Croghan Man and
was found in the same bog. Nothing remains below the waist of the man,
either due to the turf cutting machine or when he had been brutally
murdered. He was killed, probably as a ritual sacrifice, from a blow by a
sharp instrument like an axe on top his head.
Photo credit
Windeby Girl
(41–118 CE) is one of the best preserved German bog bodies. It is
believed to be the body of a 14-year-old girl, because of its slight
build. Later DNA testing, however, shows the body was actually that of a
sixteen-year-old boy.
Photo credit
Grauballe Man
(290 BCE), uncovered in 1952 in Jutland, Denmark. His fingers had been
so perfectly preserved in the bog, that his finger prints had been
taken, the same with Old Croghan Man. Grauballe Man was most likely a
ritual sacrifice victim, killed by having his throat slit open. Analysis
of his stomach’s content revealed that the Grauballe Man ate a soup
laced with an hallucinogenic fungus perhaps intended to induce a
trance-like state in a ritual that included his sacrifice.
Photo credit
Huldremose Woman
(160 BCE-340 CE), recovered in 1879 in Jutland, Denmark. At the time of
death, the woman was more than 40 years old, which is considered
elderly for people of that time period. Her right arm was severed, but
the injury probably occurred by shovels during the unearthing of the
body. A wool cord tied her hair and enveloped her neck, but forensic
analysis found no indication of death by strangulation.
Photo credit
Sources:
http://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/12/tollund-man-2400-year-old-bog-body.html
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