There have been findings of “bog bones” in north – western continental Europe and Britain since at least the 18th century-human remains that have been preserved in the anoxic climate of bogs. Such specimens are very well preserved, with hair , skin, and clothes that are often maintained for centuries.
Bog bodies offer a unique glimpse of ancient societies, but they also
pose several questions that are often related to how they ended up in their odd
burial place. Did they end up in bogs as human sacrifices? As punishment for
criminal behavior? Or perhaps by unfortunate accident? Each of their stories is
uniquely mysterious.
The Windeby Bog Bodies – Star-Crossed Lovers? Criminals? Or Strangers?
Windeby I, previously known as the ‘ Windeby Girl, ‘ is a bog body
discovered in a peat bog located in Windeby Germany city. It was found in 1952,
when local people cut the peat from a bog. Unfortunately, the machinery used
for the peat cutting had already severed one of the body’s legs, one of its
feet, and one of its hands.
At first, the bog body was named ‘ Windeby Girl ‘ because it was
believed that because of its small frame it belonged to a 14-year – old
womandue to its slight frame. There were no grave goods found with the body
apart from a woolen band covering the eyes and a collar around the neck.
For the former, it has been suggested that it had either been used to
cover the corpse’s eyes after death, or to hold the hair back, in which case
the band would have slipped down over the eyes due to the shrinkage of the
body. Later, another bog body was unearthed close to where Windeby I was found.
This time, it belonged to a middle-aged man who had been strangled with a hazel
branch, and was then placed in the bog on a stake.
According to the Roman historian Tacitus, the Germanic tribes that
lived beyond the Rhine had the custom of punishing wrong-doers by having their
executed bodies staked in bogs. Therefore, it was thought that the two bog
bodies belonged to an adulterous couple who were caught and punished.
However, there are some problems with this belief. Firstly, Tacitus’
information was biased and often secondhand. And second, the Windeby I bog body
displayed no signs of trauma, as one would expect if the person had been
executed. Instead, the remains suggest that the person had suffered from
repeated bouts of illness or malnutrition, which finally resulted in death.
In 2007 the remains of the ‘Windeby Girl’ we re-examined and DNA
analysis suggested that it is more likely that the body belonged to a male. And
radiocarbon dating of the two bodies from Windeby revealed that the older
so-called male lover was in fact 300 years older than Windeby I. Today, both
the Windeby bog bodies (along with another bog body, a headless body , and a
bodiless head), are housed in the Landesmuseum in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
The Puzzling Grauballe Man
Grauballe Man is the name given to a bog body that was discovered in
Denmark in 1952. This bog body was found by a group of peat cutters working in
the Nebelgaard Bog near the village of Grauballe in Denmark. When Grauballe Man
was discovered, a quick visual examination at the site revealed that he was
completely naked and that he had no belongings with him. His strikingly red
hair was also noted. This, however, was not the natural color of Grauballe
Man’s hair when he lived, but the result of his immersion in the bog.
Further examination at the museum revealed that he was about 30 years
old at the time of his death, was 5 feet, 9 inches (1.75 meters) tall, and his
hands and fingers were smooth and showed no signs of manual labor. Radiocarbon
dating showed that Grauballe Man lived at some point in time between 310 and 55
BC during the Germanic Iron Age.
When researchers examined Grauballe Man’s stomach contents, they found
his last meal was a porridge made of corn, seeds from 60 different herbs, and
grasses containing traces of a poisonous fungus called ergot . The fungus
probably made Grauballe Man sick and incapable of work.
It likely caused painful symptoms, including convulsions,
hallucinations, and burning sensations for the mouth, feet, and hands. It is
possible that he was regarded by his neighbors as being possessed by an evil
spirit , which could have led eventually to his execution and deposition in a
bog. Grauballe Man was killed by having his throat slit.
It is also possible that he was a criminal who was punished by death or
that he was a sacrificial victim . These hypotheses find support in the
writings of the Roman historian Tacitus, though the lack of manual labor done
by Grauballe Man makes the second hypothesis more plausible.
Today, Grauballe Man is housed in the Moesgaard Museum in Aarhus and is
one of its main attractions . He is exhibited in a room protected from light
and temperature changes, so as to maintain his excellent state of preservation
. Moreover, the room was designed in such a way as to allow visitors to
experience how it is like to be in a peat bog.
The Ill-fated Elling Woman
Elling Woman is the name given to a well-preserved bog body that was
discovered in Bjældskovdal bog, near Silkeborg in Denmark in 1938 when a farmer
was digging peat. Initially, the farmer thought that he had found the remains
of an animal that had drowned in the bog. He only realized that these were
human remains when he noticed the woolen belt around the body’s waist.
While the back of this bog body was well-preserved, its front was not.
In the 1970s it was determined that the body was of a woman aged about 25 years
old at the time of her death. Radiocarbon dating suggests that Elling Woman
lived during the Iron Age of northwestern Europe, between the 4th and 2nd
centuries BC.
The body was dressed in a skin cloak, and a blanket/cloak of cowhide
was wrapped around her legs. Furthermore, the body’s hairstyle, which was a
long pigtail formed by an intricate pattern of plaiting, tied into a knot, was
noted and has inspired many modern re-creations. A skin rope was also found
with the body, which suggests Elling Woman was hanged to death .
The rope has a sliding knot, which made it suitable for hanging. In
addition, Elling Woman’s neck has a furrow left from her cause of death.
Scholars are uncertain if she was a criminal or a sacrificial victim.
Who Bludgeoned the Bocksten Man to Death and Why?
Around 700 years ago, a young man now known as ‘Bocksten Man’ was
struck three times on the head, then tossed into a peat bog and impaled with
three wooden poles to prevent his body rising to the surface. His body was
discovered in a peat bog in Bocksten in Sweden in 1936.
Studies conducted on Bocksten Man over the decades have revealed some
interesting information about this young man. Based on his attire – a
tunic/cote, a mantle/cloak, a hood, woolen hose, and leather shoes – which were
relatively well-preserved due to the waterlogged condition of the bog, it was
concluded that Bocksten Man lived in the 14th century. This clothing suggests
that he was a person of high social standing. In addition, he also had two
leather belts and two knives on him.
The man was between 30 to 35 years old when he died His long hair also
supports the claim that he was a high-ranking individual in his society.
Furthermore, it was found that there his skull had been damaged by three blows
from a blunt weapon, perhaps a pole or a hammer.
If Bocksten Man was indeed a victim of murder , two main hypotheses
have been presented regarding the reason why. The first is that Bocksten Man
had been recruiting soldiers, and was killed for that. Another suggestion is
that he had been a tax collector, which caused him to be murdered.
It may be pointed out that Bocksten Man had a branch from a straw roof
stuck into his chest, and it has been proposed that this was done, perhaps by
the perpetrators of the crime, to make sure that their victim could not seek
revenge from beyond the grave . Bocksten Man’s face was reconstructed about a
decade ago and the model is displayed in the Halland Museum of Cultural
History.
Tollund Man and the Tale of Ritual Sacrifice
Tollund Man is the naturally mummified body of a man who lived during
the 4th century BC. It is believed he was hanged as a sacrifice to the gods and
placed in a peat bog where he remained preserved for more than two millennia.
Today, the face of the Tollund Man is as preserved as the day he died. The look
upon his face is calm and peaceful, as though looking upon a sleeping man.
This bog body was found by two brothers cutting peat near Silkeborg in
Denmark in 1950. Analysis of his remains shows Tollund Man was slightly over
five feet tall and approximately 40 years old when he died. The stubble on his
chain, eyelashes, and the wrinkles in his skin can still be observed in minute
detail. His last meal was a porridge made from 40 different kinds of seeds and
grains.
He was naked apart from a leather cap and a wide belt around his waist.
Around his neck was a braided leather rope tightened in a noose. It was clear that he had been hanged – but
archaeologists wanted to find out if he was a criminal, a victim of crime, or part
of a ritual sacrifice.
Tollund Man showed no signs of injury or trauma, apart from that caused
by the hanging. It was clear that he had also been buried carefully in the bog
– his eyes and mouth had been closed and his body placed in a sleeping position
– something that wouldn’t have happened if he were a common criminal.
When somebody died in the Iron Age, the body was cremated in a funeral
pyre and the ashes placed in an urn, but Tolland Man was buried in a watery
place where the early people of Europe believed they could communicate with
their many gods and goddesses. He was also killed in the winter or early
spring, a time that human sacrifices were made to the goddess of spring . And
most scholars agree that Tollund Man was probably a sacrifice. He now resides
in a special room of the Silkeborg Museum.
Source : histecho.com
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