Over the past few centuries, and likely before then, men harvesting peat in
European bogs have struck upon remarkable and, to the peat cutters, no doubt
frightening discoveries. More than a thousand bog bodies and skeletons have
come to light, and scientists now have the means to study the remains in such
detail that they can, in a sense, resurrect these ancient people. Drawing on
the work of Dutch bog-body scholar Wijnand van der Sanden, the following map
charts more than 80 important finds and includes details on 12 of the most
fascinating.—Susan K. Lewis
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1.
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Gallagh Man
400-200 B.C.
Found in County Galway, Ireland in 1821
He was discovered lying on his left side, draped in a skin cape. Beneath the
cape he was naked. Whether he once wore linen clothes that have disappeared
over time is unclear. He was anchored to the peat with two long wooden stakes, and around his neck
was a band of willow rods likely used to strangle him. He was roughly 25 years
old at the time.
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2.
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Meenybraddan Woman
A.D. 1500-1600
Found in County Donegal, Ireland in 1978
The style of the woolen cloak in which she was wrapped dates this woman to the
late 16th century, distinguishing her from the more common Iron Age bog bodies.
She was in her late 20s or early 30s when she died. Given that she was interred
in a peat bog, in what was likely an unconsecrated grave, she may have been a
murder victim or a suicide.
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3.
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Oldcroghan Man
350-175 B.C.
Found in County Offaly, Ireland in 2003
Oldcroghan Man fits the classic profile of an Iron Age bog body. He died a
gruesome death, suffering repeated cuts and stabs before he was dismembered.
Experts debate whether he was a sacrifice to the gods, a criminal being
punished, or perhaps both. His torso, the only part of him recovered, reveals
that he was exceptionally tall for his time, standing roughly 6' 6".
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4.
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Lindow Man
100 B.C.-A.D. 100
Found near Manchester, England in 1984
Examined by more than 50 experts, Lindow Man is likely one of the most
scrutinized corpses in the world. He was in his 20s and, unlike most bog
bodies, wore a beard and moustache. He had mild arthritis but good teeth and
well-manicured nails. His death was far worse than a simple execution: he was
struck on the head, had his throat cut, and was throttled with a rope made of
animal sinew, perhaps to increase the bleeding, before being thrown facedown
into a watery bog.
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5.
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Amcotts Moor Woman
A.D. 200-400
Found in Lincolnshire, England in 1747
Unearthed long before the modern era of scientific inquiry into and
preservation of bog bodies, the only remnant of Amcotts Moor Woman is now her
left shoe. The design of the leather shoe dates her to the late Roman Period in
Europe. Her right shoe and hand were sent to the Royal Society in London soon
after she was discovered, but like many bog-body finds before the 19th century,
they have disappeared without a trace.
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6.
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Yde Girl
100 B.C.-A.D. 50
Found in Drenthe, The Netherlands in 1897
A small percentage of bog bodies are children. Yde Girl appears to have been
strangled and stabbed at the age of 16. Some experts believe she was selected
for sacrifice in part because of her awkward gait and curved spine (CT scans
revealed she had scoliosis). Other CT scans, of her skull, aided the
reconstruction of her face. Her long fair hair was preserved in the peat, but
on half of her head it had been cut off. Other bog bodies also had their hair
cut when they were killed.
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7.
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Weerdinge Men
100 B.C.-A.D. 50
Found in Drenthe, The Netherlands in 1904
They were long called the "Weerdinge couple" and thought to be a man and a
woman. Experts now speculate these two men may have been brothers, lovers, or
father and son. One of them suffered a large chest wound, and his intestines
spilled out when he was laid in his grave. According to the Roman historian
Strabo, some Iron Age Europeans tried to divine the future by "reading" a
victim's entrails.
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8.
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Rendswühren Man
100 B.C.-A.D. 100
Found near Kiel, Germany in 1871
The year Rendswühren Man was discovered, a self-taught German scholar
named Johanna Mestorf—who coined the word Moorleiche (bog
body)—published the first catalogue of such finds. She interpreted
Rendswühren Man as a murder victim. He was 40 to 50 years old when he
died, likely from a blow to his head. Near his body were the remnants of a
woolen cloak and a skin cape. His caretakers in the 19th century smoked his
body in order to preserve it.
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9.
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Osterby Man
A.D. 1-100
Found near Osterby, Germany in 1948
Only his decapitated head was found, wrapped in a deerskin cape. He was likely
killed by a blow to his left temple before he was decapitated. His hair,
reddened by chemicals in the peat, is tied in an elaborate hairstyle called a
Swabian knot. The Roman historian Tacitus, who lived in Osterby Man's era,
describes the hairstyle as typical of the Suebi tribe of Germany.
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10.
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Windeby Girl
A.D. 1-200
Found near Windeby, Germany in 1952
It's unclear exactly how she died, but given that she was merely 13 to 14 years
old and that she was buried in a bog with a woolen band covering her eyes, it
was likely from unnatural causes. Only five yards from her body the corpse of a
man lay buried, and some experts suggest that the two were punished for an
adulterous affair. Like the Yde Girl, Windeby Girl had part of her hair cut off
at the time of her death.
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11.
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Tollund Man
400-300 B.C.
Found in Aarhus, Denmark in 1950
He is renowned, even beloved, for the gentle expression on his impeccably
preserved face. The noose around his neck makes clear that, like other Iron Age
bog bodies, he was killed, but following the violent act he was carefully laid
in a restful pose, like a sleeping child. Learn more about him in Tollund
Man.
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12.
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Grauballe Man
100 B.C.-A.D. 100
Found in Aarhus, Denmark in 1952
Peat cutters accidentally struck his head with their shovels. Knowing of
Tollund Man and other finds in the region, they were less shocked than they
might have been otherwise. Grauballe Man was carefully excavated under the
supervision of archeologist and bogbody specialist P. V. Glob, and has become
one of the most X-rayed and analyzed corpses in the world. Before his throat
was cut, 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.
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