Bog Bodies

[ramonmercado]

Ancient bog body found in Meath to be carbon dated
Second set to be found at Rossan Bog after body from 700-400BC found in 2012

Experts from the National Museum of Ireland plan to radiocarbon date an ancient bog body found at a Midlands bog today. It is the second one to be found at the midlands bog in two yearsThe partial remains, comprising of adult leg and foot bones and flesh, were discovered by Bord Na Móna workers at Rossan Bog close to the Westmeath border in Co Meath on Saturday.

Once the find was made, a Bord Na Móna worker initiated company protocol and called gardai to examine the scene. Work was stopped and the National Museum of Ireland was notified.

A team of archaeologists and conservators from the National Museum of Ireland spent last weekend examining the find at the bog before removing the remains on Monday. They have yet to determine the gender or age of the body, but are convinced the remains are those of an adult. Further analysis of the bog body will now take place in the National Museum of Ireland’s conservation laboratory at Collins Barracks, Dublin.

Maeve Sikora of the museum’s Irish antiquities division, who led the museum’s fieldwork team, thanked Bord na Móna staff for promptly reporting the find and providing assistance at the site. ...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ancient- ... -1.1930625

 

[Ulalume]

Saw a program on bog bodies recently, called ghosts of murdered kings.
It was pretty good.

Youtube has it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-ILFfRa5IY

 

[ramonmercado]

An expert has stated that the latest bog body found in Ireland has proven that belief that the Celts ritually sacrificed their kings to the Gods.

The body also proves they underwent horrible deaths, if the times turned bad under their reign.

The latest Iron Age bog body dating back to at least 2,000 BC was discovered near Portlaoise in the Irish midlands by an alert bog worker and it bears the same hallmarks of ritual torture that two other famous bodies have.

Ned Kelly, keeper of antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland told the Irish Examiner that a clear pattern has emerged in each case.

"We do not think of these bog bodies in the same way as we do axes or implements that are found," he said. "You have to remember that these are individuals and it is absolutely essential to deal with their remains in a dignified manner. There would be no justification in taking these bodies unless we do so with respect and with the serious intent to tell their stories on their behalf.

"I am quite convinced we are dealing with an Iron Age male, one who was subjected to a ritual killing. There are cuts and marks on the body that indicate that this is somebody who was done to death."

The body is linked closely to two other major finds, the discoveries of Old Croghan Man and Clonycavan Man, also found in Irish bogs, both of whom were ritually sacrificed.

Human sacrifice was apparently a normal part of the Celtic rituals, especially of kings in hard times. ...

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/bo...by-celts-says-expert-129289548-237410131.html

 

[Spookdaddy]

Interesting article on the subject in Mike Dash's latest A Blast From the Past instalment: The bodies in the bogs.

There may well not be so much in there which is new to those who are familiar with the subject - but an article by Mike Dash is always worth reading.

 

[maximus otter]

More on the Alken find.

Thousands of bones from boys and men likely killed in a ferocious battle 2,000 years ago have been unearthed from a bog in Denmark, researchers said Monday.

Without local written records to explain, or a battlefield to scour for evidence, experts are nevertheless piecing together a story of the Germanic people, often described by the Romans as "barbarians" for their violent nature.

Four pelvic bones strung on a stick were among the remains of at least 82 people found during archaeological excavations at Alken Enge, on Denmark's Jutland peninsula, indicating an organized and ritual clearing of a battlefield, said the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The site, which has been studied since 2009, has yielded the earliest discovery of "a large contingent of fighters from a defeated army from the early first century AD," said the PNAS report.

The more than 2,300 human bones were contained in peat and lake sediments over 185 acres (75 hectares) of wetland meadows. Radiocarbon-dating put them between 2 BC and 54 AD.

In this era, Roman soldiers were pressing an expansion northward, and around 7 AD, the Romans suffered a massive loss in which tens of thousands of warriors were killed by the Germanic people. [The Battle of the Teutoberg Forest].

"What they do in the succeeding decades is have these military raids in Germania, basically to punish the barbarians for this huge defeat," said Løvschal.

"What we actually think we are seeing here could be the remains of one of those punitive campaigns."

Løvschal said the bones appear to be from a "fairly heterogeneous population," with some as young as 13 to 14, and others as old as 40-60.

The bog is estimated to hold the remains of around 380 men who died from combat injuries.

"They do not seem to have a lot of healed trauma, from experience with previous battles," she said.

"They could have had previously very little experience with battle."

The bones show weapon strikes predominantly on the right side, with few injuries around the midsection where the fighters may have been holding shields with their left arms.

Experts think the bodies may have been lying on the battlefield for quite some time, possibly six months to a year, because many bones show signs of being gnawed by dogs or wolves.

They were stripped of their personal belongings before being deposited into the bog.

Many questions remain. Who was involved in the battle? Was it tribe-against-tribe? Or Germanic fighters against Roman warriors?

And what is the meaning of stringing pelvic bones on a stick?

"Those four pelvises on a stick could almost point to having connotations to sexual humiliation," said Løvschal.

"It seems to have aggressive undertones to it as well. So it has been difficult to say who did it."

Archaeologists could also see another telling change in the landscape after the battle.

Once a pastoral area including cropland, forest and grassland, it changed dramatically into a densely forested landscape for the next 800 years, said Løvschal.

"It suggests that this event had a huge impact on the people who lived there," she added.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/bone-trove-denmark-tells-story-barbarian-battle-020139197.html

maximus otter

 

[ramonmercado]

Google matches Facebook in tone deaf censorship.

They lay undiscovered for thousands of years before being dug up and put on display, but now Ireland’s bog bodies are at risk of being hidden again.

Ancient Origins, an archaeology website, says that Google has flagged 100 of its pages as “inappropriate material” because they include images of mummified bodies, nude statues and ancient battle scenes. It said the tech giant refuses to post advertisements on pages if they include images it deems unsuitable.

Ancient Origins said that it had changed images in more than 60 articles but refused to remove photographs of mummies because they were an essential part of ancient history that should not be censored. Among these were photographs of Cashel Man and Clonycavan Man, both well-preserved bodies found in bogs.

Ireland has some of the oldest and best-preserved bog bodies in the world thanks to a combination of temperature and water quality. The skin and organs of many such bodies are almost entirely intact because of the highly acidic, low-oxygen, cool bog water.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/google-offended-by-the-naked-truth-wtj02r6ds?t=ie

 

[ramonmercado]

Thousands of bones from boys and men likely killed in a ferocious battle 2,000 years ago have been unearthed from a bog in Denmark, researchers said Monday.

Without local written records to explain, or a battlefield to scour for evidence, experts are nevertheless piecing together a story of the Germanic people, often described by the Romans as "barbarians" for their violent nature.

Four pelvic bones strung on a stick were among the remains of at least 82 people found during archaeological excavations at Alken Enge, on Denmark's Jutland peninsula, indicating an organized and ritual clearing of a battlefield, said the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The site, which has been studied since 2009, has yielded the earliest discovery of "a large contingent of fighters from a defeated army from the early first century AD," said the PNAS report.

The more than 2,300 human bones were contained in peat and lake sediments over 185 acres (75 hectares) of wetland meadows. Radiocarbon-dating put them between 2 BC and 54 AD.

In this era, Roman soldiers were pressing an expansion northward, and around 7 AD, the Romans suffered a massive loss in which tens of thousands of warriors were killed by the Germanic people. [The Battle of the Teutoberg Forest].

"What they do in the succeeding decades is have these military raids in Germania, basically to punish the barbarians for this huge defeat," said Løvschal.

"What we actually think we are seeing here could be the remains of one of those punitive campaigns."

Løvschal said the bones appear to be from a "fairly heterogeneous population," with some as young as 13 to 14, and others as old as 40-60.

The bog is estimated to hold the remains of around 380 men who died from combat injuries.

"They do not seem to have a lot of healed trauma, from experience with previous battles," she said.

"They could have had previously very little experience with battle."

The bones show weapon strikes predominantly on the right side, with few injuries around the midsection where the fighters may have been holding shields with their left arms.

Experts think the bodies may have been lying on the battlefield for quite some time, possibly six months to a year, because many bones show signs of being gnawed by dogs or wolves.

They were stripped of their personal belongings before being deposited into the bog.

Many questions remain. Who was involved in the battle? Was it tribe-against-tribe? Or Germanic fighters against Roman warriors?

And what is the meaning of stringing pelvic bones on a stick?

"Those four pelvises on a stick could almost point to having connotations to sexual humiliation," said Løvschal.

"It seems to have aggressive undertones to it as well. So it has been difficult to say who did it."

Archaeologists could also see another telling change in the landscape after the battle.

Once a pastoral area including cropland, forest and grassland, it changed dramatically into a densely forested landscape for the next 800 years, said Løvschal.

"It suggests that this event had a huge impact on the people who lived there," she added.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/bone-trove-denmark-tells-story-barbarian-battle-020139197.html

maximus otter

Tales of an even older massacre here.

https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...-bodies-from-first-ever-human-massacre.60779/

 

[Krepostnoi]

often described by the Romans as "barbarians" for their violent nature.

As a point of order, isn't this putting the cart before the horse? I was always led to believe that the term "barbarian" arose in mockery of what the Romans decided was incomprehensible speech: they heard "bar-bar-bar" where we might (choose to) hear "blah, blah, blah". Thus the speakers were bar-bar-ians. The association with "uncivilised" - ie violent - behaviour came after.

 

[Mikefule]

As a point of order, isn't this putting the cart before the horse? I was always led to believe that the term "barbarian" arose in mockery of what the Romans decided was incomprehensible speech: they heard "bar-bar-bar" where we might (choose to) hear "blah, blah, blah". Thus the speakers were bar-bar-ians. The association with "uncivilised" - ie violent - behaviour came after.

I have heard three etymologies of "barbarian":

• From the supposed "ba ba ba" speech of non-Latin speakers
• From Greek barbaros meaning simply "foreigner"
• From Latin barba meaning "beard"

Barbarians were not called barbarians because they were violent, but they were called violent because they were barbarians.

The Romans formed a standing army, trained to the highest standards, equipped and armoured uniformly, and disciplined brutally, and they invaded much of Europe seizing slaves, plundering wealth, and mercilessly slaughtering defeated enemies who refused to form an alliance and pay tribute. Calling non-Romans "violent" would have been hypocritical beyond words, and I am sure that they would never had stooped so low!

There is a comparison with the later Europeans who developed hardened steel edged weapons, gunpowder and fire arms, built enormous warships, and set out to conquer, plunder, take slaves, and spread their gospel of peace and forgiveness — and everywhere they went, they found "savages".

 

[ramonmercado]

Bog bodies at risk of serious deterioration.

Ancient bones in disturbed peat bogs are rotting away, alarming archaeologists
By Cathleen O’GradyJul. 29, 2020 , 2:00 PM

The wrinkles on the face of “Tollund Man” are still visible, even though he died more than 2200 years ago. The mossy wetlands in Denmark that mummified his body are ideal for preserving organic matter, giving archaeologists an extraordinary window into our distant past. But a recent excavation at a similarly boggy site in Sweden shows these perfect conditions are fragile, and when they break down, so, too, do the bodies, bones, and other organic remains that have been preserved for centuries. The finding suggests a long-standing tenet of archaeology—avoiding excavation and leaving artifacts in the ground for long-term preservation—needs revisiting, at least for some wetland sites.

Anecdotal evidence has long suggested the condition of remains excavated from wetlands like peat bogs is declining, says Benjamin Gearey, a wetland archaeologist at University College Cork who was not involved with this study. For example, bone deterioration has been documented at Star Carr, an archaeological site in northern England. But it’s been hard to know how widespread the pattern is–and how fast the decay is occurring.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...bogs-are-rotting-away-alarming-archaeologists

 

[Kondoru]

It didnt exactly work well for Pirans oratory.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Tollund Man's last meal has now been analyzed in detail.

Last meal of ancient human sacrifice victim 'Tollund Man' revealed in exquisite detail

Shortly before his violent death in 400 B.C., a man — whose remains are known as Denmark's famous bog body "Tollund Man" — ate a meal of porridge and fish, a new study finds.

Tollund Man also had several parasitic infections from whipworms and mawworms, as well as the first reported case of tapeworm ever found in an ancient body preserved in a bog, said the researchers, who made the finding by studying a piece of Tollund Man's colon.

"We have been able to reconstruct the last meal of Tollund Man in such great detail that you can actually recreate the meal," study lead researcher Nina Nielsen, an archaeologist and head of research at Museum Silkeborg in Denmark, told Live Science. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/bog-body-tollund-man-last-meal.html

 

[ramonmercado]

I wonder if the PSNI have identified a suspect yet?

Ancient human remains which date back more than 2,000 years have been recovered by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

The discovery was made during excavations, after archaeologists were alerted to human bones on Bellaghy peatland in October 2023. It is thought the remains could be those of a teenage boy.

The PSNI say it is a "unique archaeological discovery for Northern Ireland". It explained that the remains had been carbon dated to "as old as 2,000-2,500 years".

Det Insp Nikki Deehan said excavations "first uncovered a tibia and fibula and a humerus, ulna, and radius bone relating to the lower left leg and right arm respectively".

"Further investigation revealed more bones belonging to the same individual," she added.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-68092307

 

[Frideswide]

@ramonmercado ? what do you make of the Dr Anne Ross (of Hexham Heads fame) suggestion that at least one of the bog bodies was a sacrifice with various ritual components discernable?

My head says Hmmmmm but my heart says YES!

 

[ramonmercado]

@ramonmercado ? what do you make of the Dr Anne Ross (of Hexham Heads fame) suggestion that at least one of the bog bodies was a sacrifice with various ritual components discernable?

My head says Hmmmmm but my heart says YES!

Hmmm indeed but it's certainly a strong possibility. Boglands are a liminal place/space and the (ceremonial?) griddle cake as a last meal, which had mistletoe as an ingredient. certainly was a last kiss off here.

 

[ramonmercado]

Looks as if there was a ritual element here. @Frideswide

The bones of a Neolithic man found over a century ago in a Danish peat bog reveal that he was an immigrant who was brutally murdered. To solve the 5,000-year-old cold case, researchers studied everything from dental plaque to DNA. They concluded that this "Vittrup Man," as researchers call him, may have been an itinerant flint trader who was sacrificed by hostile locals.

In 1915, peat diggers discovered a handful of human and bovine bones at the bottom of their trench near the village of Vittrup in northern Denmark. After finding a ceramic pot and a wooden club, the diggers contacted the local history museum about the artifacts. While these two objects, dated to around 3800 to 3500 B.C., were soon taken to the National Museum of Denmark and displayed, the bones remained largely unstudied for a century.

Two recent studies of genomes of people who died in the Mesolithic to Neolithic periods of European prehistory, however, revealed that Vittrup Man lived between 3300 and 3100 B.C. and had a genetic profile distinct from those of his local contemporaries. The results of a full analysis of Vittrup Man, published Wednesday (Feb. 14) in the journal PLOS One, reveal a life history that included migration, dietary changes and an early death in a land far from his original home. ...

https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...as-smashed-by-8-heavy-blows-in-violent-murder

 

[SimonBurchell]

Looks as if there was a ritual element here. @Frideswide

The bones of a Neolithic man found over a century ago in a Danish peat bog reveal that he was an immigrant who was brutally murdered. To solve the 5,000-year-old cold case, researchers studied everything from dental plaque to DNA. They concluded that this "Vittrup Man," as researchers call him, may have been an itinerant flint trader who was sacrificed by hostile locals.

In 1915, peat diggers discovered a handful of human and bovine bones at the bottom of their trench near the village of Vittrup in northern Denmark. After finding a ceramic pot and a wooden club, the diggers contacted the local history museum about the artifacts. While these two objects, dated to around 3800 to 3500 B.C., were soon taken to the National Museum of Denmark and displayed, the bones remained largely unstudied for a century.

Two recent studies of genomes of people who died in the Mesolithic to Neolithic periods of European prehistory, however, revealed that Vittrup Man lived between 3300 and 3100 B.C. and had a genetic profile distinct from those of his local contemporaries. The results of a full analysis of Vittrup Man, published Wednesday (Feb. 14) in the journal PLOS One, reveal a life history that included migration, dietary changes and an early death in a land far from his original home. ...

https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...as-smashed-by-8-heavy-blows-in-violent-murder

Given the life expectancy in the Neolithic, I wouldn't call that an "early death". It was a violent time, and well within average lifespan for the period - perhaps even a little older than average.

 

[Frideswide]

Given the life expectancy in the Neolithic, I wouldn't call that an "early death". It was a violent time, and well within average lifespan for the period - perhaps even a little older than average.

I read that as early meaning life was cut short. Without the dramatic events he'd have carried on living - but he was brought to a premature end?