Tollund Man, Denmark, 4th c. BCEGallagh Man, Ireland, c. 470–120 BCE
A bog body is a human cadaver that has been naturally mummified in a peat bog. Such bodies, sometimes known as bog people, are both geographically and chronologically widespread, having been dated to between 8000 BCE and the Second 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 internal organs due to the unusual conditions of the surrounding area. Combined, highly acidic water, low temperature, and a lack of oxygen preserve but severely tan their skin. While the skin is well-preserved, the bones are generally not, due to the dissolution of the calcium phosphate of 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 of Koelbjerg Man from Denmark, who has been dated to 8000 BCE, during the Mesolithic period.[1] The oldest fleshed bog body is that of Cashel Man, who dates to 2000 BCE during the Bronze Age.[4] The overwhelming majority of bog bodies – including examples such as Tollund Man, Grauballe Man and Lindow Man – date to the Iron Age and 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 of human sacrifice or 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 scientist Alfred Dieck published a catalog 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]
^ abcdFischer 1998. p. 237.
^Van der Sanden 1996. p. 7.
^ 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. ISSN 0108-464X.
^Cite error: The named reference kings was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Connolly, R. C. (1985). "Lindow Man: Britain's Prehistoric Bog Body". Anthropology Today. 1 (5): 15–17. doi:10.2307/3032823. ISSN 0268-540X. JSTOR 3032823.
^Menotti, Francesco; O'Sullivan, Aidan (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Wetland Archaeology. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-162618-0.
^ abcRandsborg 2015, pp. 7–8.
^Dieck, Alfred (1965). Die europäischen Moorleichenfunde (Hominidenmoorfunde) (in German). Neumünster: Wachholtz. pp. 136pp.
^Glob 1969, pp. 101.
^ 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. ISBN 3-89646-026-9.
^Cockburn, Aidan; Cockburn, Eve; Reyman, Theodore A. (1998). Mummies, Disease and Ancient Cultures. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-58954-3.
A bogbody is a human cadaver that has been naturally mummified in a peat bog. Such bodies, sometimes known as bog people, are both geographically and...
This is a list of bogbodies in order of country in which they were first discovered. Bogbodies, or bog people, are the naturally preserved corpses of...
wetlands Bogbody – Corpse preserved in a bogBog butter – Ancient substance found in peat bogsBog iron – Form of iron ore deposited in bogs Irish Peatland...
Cashel Man is a bogbody from a bog near Cashel in County Laois, Ireland. He was found on 10 August 2011 by Bord na Móna employee Jason Phelan from Abbeyleix...
Borremose bodies are three bogbodies that were found in the Borremose peat bog in Himmerland, Denmark. Recovered between 1946 and 1948, the bodies of a man...
Lindow II and (in jest) as Pete Marsh, is the preserved bogbody of a man discovered in a peat bog at Lindow Moss near Wilmslow in Cheshire, North West England...
Scandinavia as the Pre-Roman Iron Age. He was found in 1950, preserved as a bogbody, near Silkeborg on the Jutland peninsula in Denmark. The man's physical...
Grauballe Man is a bogbody that was uncovered in 1952 from a peat bog near the village of Grauballe in Jutland, Denmark. The body is that of a man dating...
the name given to the bogbody found preserved in a peat bog near Windeby, Northern Germany, in 1952. Until recently, the body was also called the Windeby...
58500°E / 53.09694; 6.58500 Yde Girl (English: /ˈɪdə/ ) is a bogbody found in the Stijfveen peat bog near the village of Yde, Netherlands. She was found on...
The Elling Woman is a bogbody discovered in 1938 west of Silkeborg, Denmark. The Tollund Man was later discovered just c. 60 m (200 ft) away, twelve years...
of 140 bodies. The newly updated airing system preserves the thirty-eight bodies that are currently on display. Apart from several bogbodies, Denmark...
vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. Sphagnum moss, also called peat moss, is one of...
Age bogbody discovered in 2000 in marshland near Uchte, Germany. The remains include vertebrae, hair and skull pieces. The studies of the body began...
found on contemporary depictions of Germanic peoples, their art, and bogbodies. Roman historian Tacitus reports in Germania (98 CE) that the Suebian...
Koelbjerg Man, formerly known as "Koelbjerg Woman", is the oldest known bogbody and also the oldest set of human bones found in Denmark, dated to the time...
Hasidic saints, such as Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk and others. Gisant Bogbody Buddhist mummies Paramahansa Yogananda Sokushinbutsu Sufism Shahid Quigley...
Irish Iron Age bogbody found in June 2003. The remains are named after Croghan Hill, north of Daingean, County Offaly, near where the body was found. The...
is also called a bog pool, bog eye, raised bog kolk, bog kolk or just kolk. Bog ponds owe their existence to the growth of the bogbody and are thus of...
given to a well-preserved Iron Age bogbody found in Clonycavan, Ballivor, County Meath, Ireland in March 2003. The body shows signs of having been murdered...
Osterby Man or the Osterby Head is a bogbody of which only the skull and hair survived. It was discovered in 1948 by peat cutters to the southeast of...
an ancient peat bog west of Wilmslow, Cheshire. Bogbody of Lindow Man was discovered there in 1983 Matley Bog - an ancient woodland bog in the New Forest...
Man (Swedish: Bockstensmannen) is the remains of a medieval man's body found in a bog in Varberg Municipality, Sweden. It is one of the best-preserved...
naturally preserved in a sphagnum bog in Lower Saxony, Germany. He is one of the few recorded bog children discovered. The body, of a boy believed to have been...
Gallagh Man is the name given to a preserved Iron Age bogbody found in County Galway, Ireland, in 1821. The remains date to c. 470–120 BC, and are of...
in the Moss, when he came across the preserved body of a fully clothed man about two feet beneath the bog. While his clothes were partially damaged, a unique...
Huldremose Woman, or Huldre Fen Woman, is a female bogbody recovered in 1879 from a peat bog near Ramten, Jutland, Denmark. Analysis by Carbon 14 dating...
Freeze-drying is an accepted method of preserving bogbodies in museum collections. Some notable bogbody discoveries include the Tollund Man of Denmark...
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