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Bog body

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Tollund Man,Denmark, 4th c. BC
Gallagh Man,Ireland,c. 470–120 BC

Abog bodyis a humancadaverthat has been naturallymummifiedin apeat bog.Such bodies, sometimes known asbog people,are both geographically and chronologically widespread, having been dated to between 8000BCEand theSecond World War.[1]The unifying factor of the bog bodies is that they have been found in peat and are partially preserved; however, the actual levels of preservation vary widely from perfectly preserved to mere skeletons.[2]

Unlike most ancient human remains, bog bodies often retain their skin and internalorgansdue to the unusual conditions of the surrounding area. Combined, highly acidic water, low temperature, and a lack of oxygen preserve but severelytantheir skin. While the skin is well-preserved, the bones are generally not, due to the dissolution of thecalcium phosphateof bone by the peat's acidity.[3]The acidic conditions of these bogs allow for the preservation of materials such as skin, hair, nails, wool and leather which all contain the protein keratin.[3]

The oldest known bog body is the skeleton ofKoelbjerg Manfrom Denmark, which has been dated to 8000 BCE, during theMesolithicperiod.[1]The oldest fleshed bog body is that ofCashel Man,which dates to 2000 BC during the Bronze Age.[4]The overwhelming majority of bog bodies – including examples such asTollund Man,Grauballe ManandLindow Man– date to theIron Ageand have been found in northwest Europe, particularly Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Sweden, Poland, and Ireland.[5][6]Such Iron Age bog bodies typically show a number of similarities, such as violent deaths and a lack of clothing, which has led archaeologists to believe that they were killed and deposited in the bogs as a part of a widespread cultural tradition ofhuman sacrificeor executed as criminals.[1][7]Bogs could have indeed been seen as liminal places positively connected to another world, which might welcome contaminating items otherwise dangerous to the living.[7]More recent theories postulate that bog people were perceived as social outcasts or "witches", as legal hostages killed in anger over broken treaty arrangements, or as victims of an unusual death eventually buried in bogs according to traditional customs.[7]

The German scientistAlfred Dieckpublished a catalogue of more than 1,850 bog bodies that he had counted between 1939 and 1986,[8][9]but most were unverified by documents or archaeological finds;[10]and a 2002 analysis of Dieck's work by German archaeologists concluded that much of his work was unreliable.[10]Countering Dieck's findings of more than 1400 bog body discoveries, it seems that after a more recent study the number of bog body finds is closer to 122.[11]The most recent bog bodies are those of soldiers killed in the wetlands of the Soviet Union during the Second World War.[1]

Bog chemistry[edit]

The preservation of bog bodies in peat bogs is a natural phenomenon and not the result of human mummification processes.[1]It is caused by the unique physical and biochemical composition of the bogs.[12]Different types of bogs can affect the mummification process differently: raised bogs best preserve the corpses, whereas fens and transitional bogs tend to preserve harder tissues such as the skeleton rather than the soft tissue.[12]

A limited number of bogs have the correct conditions for preservation of mammalian tissue. Most of these are located in colder climates near bodies of salt water.[13]For example, in the area of Denmark where theHaraldskær Womanwas recovered, salty air from the North Sea blows across the Jutland wetlands and provides an ideal environment for the growth ofpeat.[14]As new peat replaces the old peat, the older material underneath rots and releaseshumic acid,also known as bog acid. The bog acids, withpH levelssimilar to vinegar, preserve human bodies in the same way as fruit is preserved bypickling.[14]In addition, peat bogs form in areas lacking drainage and hence are characterized by almost completelyanaerobicconditions. This environment, highly acidic and devoid of oxygen, denies the prevalent subsurfaceaerobic organismsany opportunity to initiatedecomposition.Researchers discovered that preservation also requires that the body is placed in the bog during the winter or early spring when the water temperature is cold – i.e., less than 4 °C (39 °F).[14]This allows bog acids to saturate the tissues before decay can begin. Bacteria are unable to grow rapidly enough for decomposition at temperatures under 4 °C.[14]

The bog chemical environment involves a completely saturated acidic environment, where considerable concentrations of organic acids, which contribute most to the low pH of bog waters, and aldehydes are present.[15]Layers of sphagnum, which are compacted layers of irregular mosses and other peat debris, and peat assist in preserving the cadavers by enveloping the tissue in a cold immobilizing matrix, impeding water circulation and any oxygenation.[16]An additional feature of anaerobic preservation by acidic bogs is the ability to conserve hair, clothing and leather items. Modern experimenters have been able to mimic bog conditions in the laboratory and successfully demonstrated the preservation process, albeit over shorter time frames than the 2,500 years that Haraldskær Woman's body has survived. Most of the bog bodies discovered showed some aspects of decay or else were not properly conserved. When such specimens are exposed to the normal atmosphere, they may begin to decompose rapidly. As a result, many specimens have been effectively destroyed. As of 1979, the number of specimens that have been preserved following discovery was 53.[17][18]

Discoveries such asRöst Girlno longer exist, having been destroyed during theSecond World War(photo date: 1926).

Historical context[edit]

Mesolithic to Bronze Age[edit]

The oldest bog body that has been identified is theKoelbjerg Manfrom Denmark, which has been dated to 8000 BCE, during theMesolithicperiod.[1]

Around 3900 BCE,[19]agriculture was introduced to Denmark, either through cultural exchange or by migrating farmers, marking the beginning of the Neolithic in the region.[20]It was during the early part of this Neolithic period that a number of human corpses that were interred in the area's peat bogs left evidence that there had been resistance to its introduction.[21]A disproportionate number of the Early Neolithic bodies found in Danish bogs were aged between 16 and 20 at the time of their death and deposition, and suggestions have been put forward that they were eitherhuman sacrificesor criminals executed for their socially deviant behaviour.[21]An example of a Bronze Age bog body isCashel Man,from 2000 BCE.[4]

Iron Age[edit]

Windeby I,the body of a teenage boy, found in Schleswig, Germany

The vast majority of the bog bodies that have been discovered date from theIron Age,a period of time when peat bogs covered a much larger area of northern Europe. Many of these Iron Age bodies bear a number of similarities, indicating aknown cultural tradition of killing and depositing these people in a certain manner.ThesePre-Roman Iron Agepeople lived in sedentary communities, built villages and their society was hierarchical. They wereagriculturalists,raising animals in captivity as well as growing crops. In some parts of northern Europe, they alsofished.Although independent of theRoman Empire,which dominated southern Europe at this time, the inhabitants traded with the Romans.[22]

For these people, the bogs held some sort of liminal significance, and indeed, they placed into themvotive offeringsintended for the Otherworld, often ofneck-rings,wristlets or ankle-rings made ofbronzeor more rarelygold.The archaeologistP.V. Globbelieved that these were "offerings to the gods of fertility and good fortune."[23]It is therefore widely speculated that the Iron Age bog bodies were thrown into the bog for similar reasons and that they were therefore examples ofhuman sacrificeto the gods.[24]Explicit reference to the practice of drowning slaves who had washed thecult imageofNerthusand were subsequently ritually drowned in Tacitus'Germania,suggesting that the bog bodies were sacrificial victims may be contrasted with a separate account (GermaniaXII), in which victims of punitive execution were pinned in bogs using hurdles.[25]

Many bog bodies show signs of beingstabbed,bludgeoned,hangedorstrangled,or a combination of these methods. In some cases, the individual had been beheaded. In the case of theOsterby Manfound at Kohlmoor, nearOsterby,Germany in 1948, the head had been deposited in the bog without its body.[26]

Usually, the corpses were naked, sometimes with some items of clothing with them, particularly headgear. The clothing is believed to have decomposed while in the bog for so long.[27]In a number of cases, twigs, sticks or stones were placed on top of the body, sometimes in a cross formation, and at other times, forked sticks had been driven into the peat to hold the corpse down. According to the archaeologistP.V. Glob,"this probably indicates the wish to pin the dead man firmly into the bog".[28]Some bodies show signs of torture, such asOld Croghan Man,who had deep cuts beneath his nipples.

Some bog bodies, such asTollund Manfrom Denmark, have been found with the rope used to strangle them still around their necks. Similarly to Tollund Man,Yde Girl,who was found in the Netherlands and was approximately 16 years old at her time of death, has a woollen rope with a sliding knot still tied around her neck.[29]Yde Girl's remains showed evidence indicating that she had sustained trauma prior to her death.[30]Aside from the rope preserved around her neck indicating strangulation, near her left clavicle there are marks indicating that she was also subjected to sharp force trauma.[30]Yde Girl, and other bog bodies in Ireland, had the hair on one side of their heads closely cropped, although this could be due to one side of their head being exposed to oxygen for a longer period of time than the other. Some of the bog bodies seem consistently to have been members of the upper class: their fingernails are manicured, and tests on hair protein routinely record good nutrition.Straborecords that theCeltspractisedaugurieson the entrails of human victims: on some bog bodies, such as theWeerdinge Menfound in the northern Netherlands, the entrails have been partly drawn out through incisions.[31]

Modern techniques of forensic analysis now suggest that some injuries, such as broken bones and crushed skulls, were not the result of torture, but rather due to the weight of the bog.[32]For example, the fractured skull ofGrauballe Manwas at one time thought to have been caused by a blow to the head. However, aCT scanof Grauballe Man by Danish scientists determined his skull was fractured due to pressure from the bog long after his death.[32]

North America[edit]

A number of skeletons found in Florida have been called "bog people". These skeletons are the remains of people buried in peat between 5,000 and 8,000 years ago, during the Early and MiddleArchaic period in the Americas.The peat at the Florida sites is loosely consolidated and much wetter than in European bogs. As a result, the skeletons are well preserved, but skin and most internal organs have not been preserved. An exception is that preserved brains have been found in nearly 100 skulls atWindover Archaeological Siteand in one of several burials atLittle Salt Spring.Textileswere also preserved with some of the burials, the oldest known textiles in Florida.[33][34][35]A 7,000-year-old presumed peat pond burial site, theManasota Key Offshorearchaeological site, has been found under 21 feet (6.4 m) of water near Sarasota. Archaeologists believe that early Archaic Native Americans buried the bodies in a freshwater pond when the sea level was much lower. The peat in the ponds helped preserve the skeletons.[36][37]

Discovery and archaeological investigation[edit]

Rendswühren Man,Germany

Ever since the Iron Age, humans have used the bogs to harvestpeat,a common fuel source. On various occasions throughout history, peat diggers have come across bog bodies. Records of such finds go back as far as the 17th century, and in 1640 a bog body was discovered at Schalkholz Fen inHolstein,Germany.[38]This was possibly the first-ever such discovery recorded. The first more fully documented account of the discovery of a bog body was at a peat bog on Drumkeragh Mountain inCounty Down,Ireland; it was published byElizabeth Rawdon, Countess of Moira,[39]the wife of the local landowner.[40]Such reports continued into the 18th century: for instance, a body was reportedly found on the Danish island ofFynin 1773,[41]whilst theKibbelgaarn bodywas discovered in the Netherlands in 1791. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, when such bodies were discovered, they were often removed from the bogs and given aChristianburial on consecrated church grounds in keeping with the religious beliefs of the community who found them, who often assumed that they were relatively modern.[42]

1903 excavation of theKreepen Man
Remains fromLevänluhta(Isokyrö,Ostrobothnia) at theNational Museum of Finland

With the rise ofantiquarianismin the 19th century, some people began to speculate that many of the bog bodies were not recent murder victims but were ancient in origin. In 1843, at Corselitze onFalsterin Denmark, a bog body unusually buried with ornaments (seven glass beads and a bronze pin) was unearthed and subsequently given a Christian burial. By order of theCrown Prince Frederick,who was an antiquarian, the body was dug up again and sent to theNational Museum of Denmark.According to the archaeologist P.V. Glob, it was "he, more than anyone else, [who] helped to arouse the wide interest in Danish antiquities" such as the bog bodies.[43]

After theHaraldskær Womanwas unearthed in Denmark, she was exhibited as having been the legendaryQueen Gunhildof the Early Mediaeval period. This view was disputed by thearchaeologistJ. J. A. Worsaae,who argued that the body was Iron Age in origin, like most bog bodies, and predated any historical persons by at least 500 years.[44]The first bog body that was photographed was the Iron AgeRendswühren Man,discovered in 1871, at the Heidmoor Fen, near Kiel in Germany. His body was subsequently smoked as an early attempt atconservationand put on display in a museum.[45]With the rise ofmodern archaeologyin the early 20th century, archaeologists began to excavate and investigate bog bodies more carefully and thoroughly.

Archaeological techniques[edit]

Reconstruction of theGirl of the Uchter Moor

Until the mid-20th century, it was not readily apparent at the time of discovery whether a body had been buried in a bog for years, decades, or centuries. However, modern forensic and medical technologies (such asradiocarbon dating) have been developed that allow researchers to more closely determine the age of the burial, the person's age at death, and other details. Scientists have been able to study the skin of the bog bodies, reconstruct their appearance and even determine what their last meal was from their stomach contents since peat marsh preserves soft internal tissue. Radiocarbon dating is also common as it accurately gives the date of the find, most usually from the Iron Age. For example, Tollund man of Denmark, whose remains were recovered in 1950, has undergone radiocarbon analyses that place his death date to around the 3rd or 4th century.[46]

More modern analyses using stable isotope measurements have allowed scientists to study bone collagen collected from Tollund Man to determine his diet as being terrestrial-based.[46]Their teeth also indicate their age at death and what type of food they ate throughout their lifetime.[47]Dental caries, which are cavities within teeth, can direct archaeologist toward a person's diet prior to their death.[48]Unlike erosion that the teeth may undergo due to decay, dental caries are typically sharp and well-defined cavities that have a larger diameter than erosion that occurs after death.[48]Significant rates of dental caries point to diets that are rich in carbohydrates and can lead archaeologists to differentiate between plant-based diets and protein-based diets (animal protein is non-cariogenic).[48]Dental enamel defects known as hypoplasias can also be seen in the analysis of teeth and can point towards malnutrition as well as diseases.[48]Ground-penetrating radarcan be used in archaeological investigation to map features beneath the ground to reconstruct 3D visualizations.[49]For bog bodies, ground-penetrating radar can be used to detect bodies and artefacts beneath the bog surface before cutting into the peat.[50]

Forensic facial reconstructionis one technique used in studying the bog bodies. Originally designed for identifying modern faces in crime investigations, this technique is a way of working out the facial features of a person by the shape of their skull. The face of one bog body,Yde Girl,was reconstructed in 1992 by forensic pathologistRichard NeaveofManchester Universityusing CT scans of her head.[51]Yde Girl and her modern reconstruction are displayed at theDrents MuseuminAssen.Such reconstructions have also been made of the heads ofLindow Man(British Museum, London, United Kingdom),Grauballe Man,Girl of the Uchter Moor,Clonycavan Man,Roter FranzandWindeby I.[52][53]

Notable bog bodies[edit]

Main article:List of bog bodies

Hundreds of bog bodies have been recovered and studied.[32]The bodies have been most commonly found in theNorthern Europeancountries ofDenmark,Germany,theNetherlands,Great Britain,andIreland.In 1965, the German scientistAlfred Dieckcatalogued more than 1,850 bog bodies, but later scholarship revealed that much of Dieck's work was erroneous, and the exact number of discovered bodies is unknown.[54]

Several bog bodies are notable for the high quality of their preservation and the substantial research by archaeologists and forensic scientists.

References[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^abcdefFischer 1998.p. 237.
  2. ^Van der Sanden 1996.p. 7.
  3. ^abMunksgaard, Elisabeth (1 January 1984). "Bog Bodies: A Brief Survey of Interpretations".Journal of Danish Archaeology.3(1): 120–123.doi:10.1080/0108464X.1984.10589917.ISSN0108-464X.
  4. ^abcHart, Edward; McCabe, Dan (29 January 2014).Ghosts of Murdered Kings.NOVA(Television production). PBS.Retrieved14 January2024.
  5. ^Connolly, R. C. (1985)."Lindow Man: Britain's Prehistoric Bog Body".Anthropology Today.1(5): 15–17.doi:10.2307/3032823.ISSN0268-540X.JSTOR3032823.
  6. ^Menotti, Francesco; O'Sullivan, Aidan (2012).The Oxford Handbook of Wetland Archaeology.OUP Oxford.ISBN978-0-19-162618-0.
  7. ^abcRandsborg 2015,pp. 7–8.
  8. ^Dieck, Alfred(1965).Die europäischen Moorleichenfunde (Hominidenmoorfunde)(in German). Neumünster: Wachholtz. pp. 136pp.
  9. ^Glob 1969,pp. 101.
  10. ^abEisenbeiß, Sabine (2003). Bauerochse, Andreas (ed.).Bog-bodies in Lower Saxony – rumours and facts: an analysis of Alfred Dieck's sources of information.Peatlands: archaeological sites, archives of nature, nature conservation, wise use; proceedings of the Peatland Conference 2002 in Hannover, Germany. Rhaden/Westf.: Leidorf. pp. 143–150.ISBN3-89646-026-9.
  11. ^Cockburn, Aidan; Cockburn, Eve; Reyman, Theodore A. (1998).Mummies, Disease and Ancient Cultures.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-58954-3.
  12. ^abFischer 1998.p. 238.
  13. ^Dente, Jenny (2005).Bog Bodies: Reluctant Time Travelers.El Paso: University of Texas.
  14. ^abcdSilkeborg Museum"The Tollund Man – Preservation in the bog".Silkeborg Museum and Amtscentret for Undervisning, Aarhus Amt, 2004(in Danish). Archived fromthe originalon 20 April 2017.Retrieved20 August2008.
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  21. ^abBennike 1999.p. 29.
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  27. ^Glob 1969,pp. 107.
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  39. ^Countess of Moira, Elizabeth Rawdon(1785),"Particulars relative to a Human Skeleton, and the Garments that were found thereon, when dug out of a Bog at the Foot of Drumkeragh, a Mountain in the County of Down, and Barony of Kinalearty, on Lord Moira's Estate, in the Autumn of 1780",Archaeologia,vol. 7, The Society of Antiquaries of London, pp. 90–110,doi:10.1017/S0261340900022281,archivedfrom the original on 25 September 2020,retrieved28 June2019
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  55. ^Mike Dash, "The bodies in the bogs". https://mikedashhistory /2016/09/04/the-bodies-in-the-bogs//Archived5 September 2016 at theWayback MachineA Blast From the Past], 4 September 2016.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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