Greetings my Faithful Readers!
This week is a trip into the macabre, as we take a look at Bog Bodies. Like a train wreck, it's impossible not to look at these strange and ancient bodies. The truth of the matter is, however, that we, as historical enthusiasts, have a lot to learn from these finds.
Take, for instance, Lindow Man. It is speculated that Lindow Man was alternately a criminal on the run, a late-day Druid Priest sacrificed in a ritual, or the victim of a robbery. Whatever the ancient truth may have been, Lindow Man's work was not finish on that dark day at approx 500 AD. Once he was discovered, his entire being was analyzed. Such care was taken to analyze his stomach remains that it is possible to garner a fairly accurate recipe from his stomach contents. Scientists were able to tell what grains he ate, how they were cooked, how long, at what temperatures, and how much gluten was present (which tells the length of time the dough sat before cooking and whether it was leavened or not).
According to The Life and Death of a Druid Prince: The Story of Lindow Man, an Archaeological Sensation by Anne Ross, Don Robins (a somewhat melodramatic book that nevertheless gives the scientific results of the stomach analysis) Lindow man's last meal was most likely a mixed-grain bannock, which was burnt on one edge such as might happen with a traveler who stops to make a hasty meal by the roadside. Some folks--see links below--interpret the results to mean a sort of porridge. But however the results are interpreted, that's the sort of information that is invaluable in re-creating history. I used this and similar information to re-create a meal for an early-period feast many years ago. Lacking early Celtic cookbooks, archaeology was the first and best place to go for information about Ancient Celtic Food.
Many of these finds are fairly early to our time period, but none the less fascinating. I encourage you to use the reading list linked below for more information to these fascinating finds. Please pass this Links List along to those who may find it interesting.
Cheers
Dame Aoife Finn m/k/a Lisbeth Herr-Gelatt Canton of Riverouge Barony of Endless Hills Kingdom of Aethelmearc
If you wish to correspond with Aoife directly, please send mail to: mtnlion at ptd dot net.
Reluctant Travelers: The Bog Bodies of Europe
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/wilson/ant304/projects/projects97/dentep/d...
(Site Excerpt) On May 13, men working on the peat elevator discovered a
well-preserved skull which the forensic pathologist identified as a 30 to
50-year-old European female. When confronted with this discovery, Mr.
Reyn-Bardt confessed to the murder. Police continued their investigation in
the peat, and decided to involve Oxford University's Research Laboratory for
Archaeology. Just before the Reyn-Bardt case went to trial, Oxford came
forward with a date for the skull-they had found it to be 1660-1820 years
old....
The Bodies in the Bog: A Reading List
http://www.digitalmedievalist.com/bibs/bogbib.html
Bog finds, Wetlands, Logboats
http://www.abc.se/~m10354/uwa/bog_log.htm
(Site Excerpt) In Europe, hundreds of logboats (dugouts) have been found in
bogs and sweetwater lakes. The oldest are c 9000 years old, the youngest are
c 250 years old in most of Europe, but as young as c 100 years in the Baltic
States and Russia. Most logboats found in bogs are probably not sacrificed
offerings. Such logboats may simply have been abandoned in lakes or
riverbeds that later dried-out.
The Mysterious Bog People
http://www.civilization.ca/media/docs/pr148beng.html
(Site Excerpt) The Mysterious Bog People is a unique exhibition. Never
before have so many bog mummies and offerings been brought together,
providing valuable insight into the practices of our ancestors. Even the
remains of the only known wooden Bronze Age temple will be on display.
Tri-Spiral: Lindow Man Articles
(Adobe Acrobat required)
http://www.sidhe66.atfreeweb.com/PDF%20docs/Imbolc01.PDF
Articles on: Lindow Cereals, Lindow Man find
Early Anglo-Saxon Costume: An Archaeological Approach
Copyright 2002, 2003 by Elizabeth Peters
http://home.comcast.net/~bethpeters3/WebArticles/ArchDressClass.htm
(Site Excerpt) One of the challenges in researching early period costume is
that written and artistic records contain little or ambiguous material. In
this class, we will look at Anglo-Saxon Costume in the Pagan Era (410-650
AD). Examples of men's and women's costume will be discussed. We will
examine an archaeological approach to reconstructing the costume of this
period. Reports of bog and grave finds as well as actual dress ornaments
from the period will be used.
Questions about Bog Mummies
http://www.mummytombs.com/mummymaster/mummyQbogs.htm
(Site Excerpt) A sleeveless tunic was found in one bog, a sleeved tunic in
another. All of these are considered men's garments. Skin capes and woolen
cloaks have been found with women's bodies. The most famous clothing item is
a woolen peplos (a draped dress--somewhat like a toga) found on Huldremose
Woman.
SEE ALSO:
Big Mummies
http://www.mummytombs.com/mummylocator/bog/mummiesbog.htm
(Site Excerpt) The only other place (besides northern Europe) to produce bog
mummies is Florida (Windover Pond, though the preserved remains there were
not entire "bog bodies" but "bog brains:" early native Americans used the
pond as a burial site from which scientists recovered some skeletal remains
in the mid-1980s; the preserved brain matter inside some skulls was able to
provide DNA samples.
Mummy Museums
http://www.mummytombs.com/museums/nl.assen.drents.weerdinge.htm
(Site Excerpt) Found in the Bourtangermoor in 1904 by peatcutter Hilbrand
Gringhuis, the bodies were long thought to be those of a man and woman. They
were called the Weerdinge couple, and they were even given names: Darby (for
the man) and Joan.
Wikipedia: Bog Body
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_body
(Site Excerpt) Preserved bodies of humans and animals have been discovered
in bogs in Britain, Ireland, northern Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.
Records of such finds go back as far as the 18th century. It is not readily
apparent if a body has been buried in a bog for years, decades, or
centuries. However, during the 20th century, forensic and medical technology
was developed which allow researchers to more closely determine their age.
Peatlands Archaeology
http://www.peatlandsni.gov.uk/archaeology/
(Site Excerpt) Although the majority of finds are from Antrim and
Londonderry, this is partly due to the fact that Ordnance Survey extensively
surveyed both counties in the 1830s, collecting archaeological information
as they went. Antiquarians working from Belfast formed collections from
objects found on these surveys, many of which eventually found their way
into museums. It is probable that a vast number of similar finds may have
been lost from peatlands in other counties, particularly the widespread
areas in Tyrone and Fermanagh.
Tollund Man and Elling Woman
http://www.silkeborgmuseum.dk/en/tollund.html
(Site Excerpt) Why Tollund Man was hanged and buried in the peat bog we
shall never know. But his fellow men did not treat him like a criminal:
after he died, they carefully closed his eyes and mouth and carried him to
the peat bog, where he was laid to rest with care. This bears witness to a
dignified burial. Thus it is reasonable to see Tollund Man as a human
sacrifice to the god or gods. Maybe to the god of the bog, he who gave men
peat and other goods. Early Iron Age societies cremated their dead, only bog
bodies had a different burial - perhaps the gods would be appeased by a
whole body only and not by burnt bones.
The Drents Museum in Assen: Yde Girl
(Article about facial reconstruction)
http://www.mummytombs.com/museums/nl.assen.drents.yde.reconstruct.htm
(Site Excerpt) In1992, the face of Yde Girl was reconstructed by medical
artist Richard Neave. The task was daunting, because the mummy had been
found 100 years earlier and had dried out so much that it was half its
original size.
Bodies of Evidence
(a timeline of mummified remains and their discovery)
http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/B/bodies/ttimeline.html
Many sites from Archaeology.org
Violence in the Bogs
http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/bog/violence1.html
(Site Excerpt) In 1879 the body of an adult woman was found in a bog near
Ramten, Jutland in Denmark. The body, known as Huldremose Woman, was very
well preserved. The woman met her violent end sometime between 160 B.C. and
340 A.D. Her arms and legs showed signs of repeated hacking, and the diggers
who found her body noted that her right arm was detached from the rest of
her body. That arm was evidently cut off before she was deposited in the
peat. (National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen)
Bodies of the Bogs
http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/bog/
(Site Excerpt) Over the past centuries, remains of many hundreds of
people--men, women, and children--have come to light during peat cutting
activities in northwestern Europe, especially in Ireland, Great Britain, the
Netherlands, northern Germany, and Denmark. These are the "bog bodies." The
individual bog bodies show a great degree of variation in their state of
preservation, from skeletons, to well-preserved complete bodies, to isolated
heads and limbs. They range in date from 8000 B.C. to the early medieval
period. Most date from the centuries around the beginning of our era. We do
not know exactly how many bog bodies have been found--many have disappeared
since their discovery.
Clothing and Hair Styles of the Bog People
http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/bog/clothing1.html
(Site Excerpt) A well-preserved body was found on Grewelthorphe Moor, North
Yorkshire in 1850. Dressed in bright woolen garments and a pair of shoes, it
was reburied in the churchyard of Kirkby Mazeard. Fortunately a policeman
managed to secure some bits and pieces: a nailed sole of the left shoe, a
woolen insole, and a textile fragment of irregular shape which may have been
part of a stocking. The unusual shoe sole is typical for the Roman period.
(Yorkshire Museum, H 2053.1, H 2053.2)
Haraldskaer Woman
http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/bog/gunhild.html
(Site Excerpt) ... it was believed that the remains were those of the
Norwegian queen Gunhild. According to the Jomsvikinga saga she was killed
and drowned in a bog at the instigation of the Danish king Harald Blatand
(Blue Tooth). King Frederick VI had a beautiful sarcophagus carved for this
alleged royal mummy, in which it was laid to rest in the church of St.
Nicholas in Vejle.
