What is Bog body? A bog body is a human cadaver that has been mummified in a natural process found buried within a peat bog. Bog bodies uncovered from bog peat were sometimes both geographically and chronologically known as bog people. These unearthed bog bodies, or bog people are the human preserved corpses naturally and some animals recovered from peat bogs, and have been most commonly found bog bodies in Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and Ireland, which surfaced during the early 1700s up to present time. The facts of the bog bodies is that these mummified corpses have been found in peat and some are partially preserved, and some of the recovered corpses preservation vary from fully preserved with skins to skeletons. But due to the unusual conditions of the surrounding areas of peat, most bog bodies recovered or ancient human remains, have retained their skin and internal organs. These unusual peat conditions include highly acidic water, low temperature and a lack of oxygen, and combine to preserve but makes the human skin severely tan, making the skin well-preserved, but not the bones, due to the acid in the peat and dissolved the calcium phosphate of bone. A bog is a mire(peatland or a wetland terrain dominated by living, while the peat is a deposit of partially decayed vegetation or dead plants that accumulates peat, often known as mosses and sphagnum moss in some majority cases, and one of the four main types of wetlands. Bogs other names were mire, quagmire and muskeg (a common type of acidic soil in Arctic and boreal areas), alkaline mires are called fens. These bogs are frequently covered in Ericaceae or heath shrubs rooted in the sphagnum moss and peat. And the gradual deposits of dead plant material in a bog functions as a carbon sink. Bogs developed where the water at the ground surface is acidic and become low in nutrients, and the water is derived from precipitation in some cases, also known as one of the hydrometeors classes which are atmospheric water phenomena, in which case they are termed rain-fed water or ombrotrophic. Water flowing out of bogs has a brownish in color, which comes from dissolved peat tannins (an astringent, bitter plant polyphenolic compound that binds to and precipitates proteins and various organic compounds such as amino acids and alkaloids). Mires otherwise known as bogs, are the most important source of peat but in some less common types of wetland also accumulates peat, including fens, pocosins and peat swamp forests, other names for lands dominated by peat include moors or muskegs. The oldest bog body known is the Koelbjerg Woman and her remains are held in Fyns Oldtid Museum in Hollufgard in Odense, Denmark, and also the oldest set of human bones found in Denmark dated to the Maglemosian cultures time around 8000 BC.
Peat Bog
1) The Elling Woman
In 1998, a bog body was unearthed west of Silkeborg, Denmark and was named as the Elling Woman. The Elling Woman was discovered by a local farmer, Jens Zakariasson, and at first he mistook of a drowned animal. The Elling Woman was found wrapped in a sheepskin cape with a leather cloak tied around the preserved bog body’s legs. However, her face was preserved poorly, and there were no internal organs found inside her body. Elling Woman is believed to have been hanged and have been a human sacrifice, like the Tollund Man. The year of death was estimated dated to approximately 280 BCE, and also around the time of the Tollund Man’s date of death, however, it is not possible to confirm whether or not both she and he were killed at exactly the same time. The Tollund Man was discovered later around 60 meters or 200 ft away from where the Elling Woman was found 12 years ago. The Elling Woman suffered from osteoporosis at the age of 25, according to examinations done. The Elling Woman bog body is recognized often by its long braid hair style about 90 centimeter long, which was tied into a knot.
2) The Tollund Man
The Tollund Man is the natural mummified corpse of a bog body man who lived during the 4th century BCE, during the period of the Pre-Roman Iron Age as characterized in Scandinavia, found in 1950 on the Jultland Peninsula in Denmark, buried in a peat bog, which preserved his body. The physical features of the Tollund Man were so well-preserved that at the time of discovery, he was mistaken for a murder victim recently. Twelve years before the discovery of the Tollund Man, another bog body named the Elling Woman, was discovered in the same bog. Doctors concluded after the 1950′s initial autopsy report, that Tollund Man died by hanging rather than strangulation and believed to be a human sacrifice at the time of his death. The head of the Tollund Man was not damaged according to examinations and X-rays result, and his heart, lungs and liver were well preserved, although his body had shrunk in the bog. The Tollund Man’s age was estimated as approximately 40 years old and height at 1.61 m or 5ft 3 in, and relatively short stature at that time, by studies at Silkeborg Museum.
3) The Grauballe Man
The uncovered bog body in 1952 from a peat bog near Grauballe village in Jutland, Denmark, they named the Grauballe Man. The bog body is estimated dating from the late 3rd century BC, during the early Germanic Iron Age. The cause of death of the Grauballe Man was based on the evidence of his wounds, he was most likely killed by having his throat slit open, and his corpse was thrown or buried in the bog, where his body was naturally preserved for over two millennia. The Grauballe Man was not the only bog body to be found in the Jutland’s peat bogs, with other notable bog people examples were the Tollund Man and the Elling Woman. Grauballe Man’s discovery, represents an established tradition at the time, as commonly known examples of human sacrifice,a possible important rite in Germanic Iron Age paganism just like the Tollund Man and the Elling Woman.The corpse of the Grauballe Man was found without any artifacts or any evidence of clothing, indicating that when he died he was naked entirely, or his clothing might had deteriorated, which had also happened with the Tollund Man.The slit on his neck was cut open from ear to ear, that severed cut his trachea and his oesophagus as the actual manner of his death, and such kind of wound could not have been self-inflicted, that indicates it was not suicide. During the autopsy, the damaged area to the skull that was initially thought to be inflicted by a hard blow to the head, was a fractured skull due to pressure from a bog long after his death which has been determined by a CT scan. The Grauballe Man’s age was estimated around thirty years old at the time of his death.
4) Clonycavan Man
Clonycavan Man is the name given to a well-preserved Iron Age bog body found in March 2003 in a bog peat in Clonycavan, Ballivor, County Meath, Ireland. The Clonycavan Man has been estimated to have been approximately 1.76 metres (5 ft 9 in) in height, and is notable for his hair’s gel. However, his torso and upper abdomen are preserved. The Clonycavan Man was found in a bog by a modern peat harvesting machine, which was thought to be possibly responsible for the severing of the bog body’s lower body. He was described as having a squashed nose and crooked teeth, with pores visible on the nose, and he had a thin beard. Clonycavan Man is on display for an exhibit in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, and featured in 2006 to 2007′s Kingship and Sacrifice exhibition. Based on examination of the evidence found on Clonycavan Man’s body, he was believed to have been murdered by the Irish Police Forensic Division Garda Technical Bureau. His skull had been split open by a sharp instrument, and found a deep wound on the top of his head, where parts of his brain have been also found. Also across the bridge of his nose there is a large laceration leading under his right eye. Both injuries was concluded it might have been caused by the same sharp instrument, such as an axe.Through Radiocarbon dating has placed the date of his death between 392 BCE and 201 BCE, during the Iron Age of western Europe, making him around 2,300 years old. The most distinguished feature of the Clonycavan man was his Mohawk hairstyle, which was raised with the help of a hair gel made from the plant oil and pine resin, imported from south-western France or Spain.
5) Old Croghan Man
Old Croghan Man or the Seanfhear Chruacháin in Irish, is the name given to a well-preserved Iron Age bog body found in June 2003 in an Irish bog. The bog body remains are named after Croghan Hill, north of Daingean, County Offaly, near where the bog body was found. The Old Croghan Man is on display in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. The Old Croghan Man was discovered after three months, which the Clonycavan Man was found in County Meath. The Old Croghan Man is believed to have died between 362 BC and 175 BC, making the body over 2,000 years old. Some evidence according to studies and examinations, the Old Croghan Man was in his early 20′s at the time of his death, and estimated to have stood at 6ft 6in or 1.98 m tall based on the span of his arm, which is very rare for that time and the tallest bog body ever found. His manicured nails was speculated that he belongs to a high standard status in life and not someone who engaged in manual laborer. Scars in the Old Croghan Man’s lungs suggest that he may have suffered from an inflammation of the pleura, the lining surrounding the lungs known as pleurisy. The Old Croghan Man was found naked, with a braided leather around his left hand, his body cut in half and had been decapitated and believed the cause of his death is from stab wound to his chest, and a deep scar from an injury to one of his arm, describing that he tried to defend himself from an attack. There were deep cuts found under each of his nipple, where several theories concluded that indicates he was tortured before he was killed or maybe the wounds under his nipples were mutilated (may be before or after death) for symbolic purposes or culture rituals. However, Eamonn Kelly of the National Museum of Ireland, forwarded his theory, suggesting that the mutilation was a symbolic rituals to mark him as a rejected ruler. But some theories suggest that Old Croghan Man and other found bog bodies were human sacrifices to gods of fertility or harvest, and were killed and buried to ensure good harvests of cereals, crops and milk.
6) Huldremose Woman
Huldremose Woman or Huldre Fen Woman, is a bog body unearthed in 1879 from a peat bog near Ramten, Jutland, Denmark, and revealed that the Huldremose Woman had live during the Iron Age, around 160 BCE to 340 CE according to Carbon 14 analysis. The mummified Huldremose Woman remains are exhibited at the National Museum of Denmark. The Huldremose Woman’s clothing that she wore, has been reconstructed and can be found displayed at several museums. A Ramten school teacher Niels Hanson, discovered the bog body after digging a meter through the peat on May 15, 1879, and then reported the discovery to a fellow teacher, who notified police, and as a pharmacist, he moved the mummified body for examination to a nearby barn. The National Museum of Copenhagen then surrendered the bog body’s remains. The Huldremose Woman body was found with her legs bent behind the back, with almost severed right arm, it was believed at first, that the arm was damaged by a shovel during excavation of the peat, though the corpse was still intact. The theory, believed that she had one broken leg but was already healed before her death. The Huldremos Woman wore a woolen plaid cape, with a scarp and a skirt, and found with her a comb and headband. One of the woman’s feet had a laceration, which were thought to be inflicted by a shovel during excavation as post-mortem injuries, but were then evaluated to have occur before the time of death. Also found a rope around the neck of the bog body, suggesting that she was may be hanged or strangled, or it may have been a necklace.
7) Lindow Man,
Lindow Man, or Lindow II and as Pete Marsh (named for fun) is the mummified bog body of a man discovered at Lindow Moss’s peat bog near Wilmslow in Cheshire, North West England, on 1 August 1984 by commercial peat-cutters. A year before Lindow Man was found, Lindow Woman was first discovered in the same moss, and other body parts have been also discovered. The Lindow Man’s discovery, was described as one of the most 1980′s archaeological discoveries. Lindow Man was a healthy male in his mid-20s, at the time of his death, and was believed that he may have been a figure of high status, as his body shows evidence that he had a heavy or rough work. Some debate over the reason for the cause of death of the Lindow Man, due to the nature of his death was violent, perhaps ritualistic human sacrifice, which according to examination, after his last meal of charred bread, Lindow Man was strangled, and a hard blow on the head, and cut his throat. It is thought that Lindow Man was buried into the Lindow Moss, facing down, some time between 2 BC and 119 AD, in either the Iron Age or during Romano-British era, due to difficulty of dating the bog body.The Lindow Man bog body has been preserved by freeze-drying and is on permanent display at the British Museum, and sometimes displayed at the Manchester Museum or travel occasionally to other venues.
8) The Haraldskær Woman
The Haraldskær Woman (or Haraldskjaer Woman) is a bog body of a woman found naturally mummified in a bog in Jutland, Denmark, and carbon dating of the bog body from about 490 BCE (before Roman Iron Age). The Haraldskær Woman was discovered by workers in 1835 while excavating peat on the Haraldskær Estate. The anaerobic or Hypoxia, refers to low oxygen conditions, and acids of the peat bog contributed to the bog body’s perfect preservation, found her skeleton, skin and internal organs intact. Disputes regarding the Haraldskær Woman‘s age and identity, was settled by the Scientists that this well preserved bog body was in 1977, while the radiocarbon dating determined that the death of the woman occurred sometime the fifth century BCE. Nowadays the Haraldskær Woman’s body is in a decorated glass covered sarcophagus or coffin-like, on permanent display in central Veile, Denmark inside St. Nicolai Church. After discovery of the body, Earlier theories of her identity after the discovery of her remains, centered on the persona of Queen Gunnhild of Norway, who lived around AD 1000. Recovered bog bodies from peat bog, indicates that most of the victim died from a violent murder or human sacrifice rituals, and theories are found consistent with the remains being thrown away or left into a bog as opposed to a dry earth burial rituals. Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson King of Denmark and Norway, ordered Queen Gunnhild be drowned in a bog, according to the Jómsvíkinga Saga. While King Frederick VI of Denmark-Norway, he commanded a nice and detailed carved sarcophagus where her remains will be laid down based on the kings belief of her royal rank. However, the bog body recovered from the bog, was later confirmed was not of Queen Gunnhild, based of radiocarbon dating, but of an unidentified woman of the early Iron Age who lived about 490 BCE, and was named the Haraldskær Woman, her body still lies in state in a display at Saint Nicolai Church in the north the transverse section, although it was not proven she belongs to any royal lineage. The bog body was found by excavators in a supine position or lying with the face up well preserved. The woman’s remains was naked and her clothes, a leather cape and three woolen garments, was placed on top of her. The Haraldskær Woman‘s age was determined by doctors that she may be about 50 years old at the time of her death, and in good health without signs of degenerative diseases like arthritis, which are usually found in human remains of that age.
9) Ötzi the Iceman
Ötzi also called Ötzi the Iceman, the Similaun Man, the Man from Hauslabjoch, Homo tyrolensis, and the Hauslabjoch mummy, is a man which is well-preserved natural mummy, estimated to lived around 3,300 BCE. The mummy was found in the Ötztal Alps, in September 1991, in Ötzi, near the Similaun mountain and Hauslabjoch on the border between Austria and Italy. Ötzi the Iceman is the oldest known oldest natural mummy in Europe, and has offered a clear view of Chalcolithic period or Copper Age Europeans. Ötzi the Iceman‘s body and belongings are seen on exhibit at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Olzano, South Tyrol, Italy. Ötzi was approximately 1.65 metres (5 ft 5 in) tall, weighed about 50 kilograms (110 lb; 7.9 st) and was about 45 years old at the time of his death. Ötzi‘s facial reconstruction has been created for the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, using the modern 3-D technology. Ötzi was believed that the body was of a recently deceased mountaineer,looking much older for his 45 years, with deep-set brown eyes, a beard, a wrinkled face, and sunken cheeks, and been described looking tired and not groomed. According to Ötzi’s examination, he had whipworm (Trichuris trichiura), an intestinal parasite. Based on his CT Scan Ötzi had three or four of his right ribs had been cracked when he was found lying face down after death, or where the ice had crushed his body, that he was sick three times in the six months before he died. Scientists speculates that Ötzi was found with high levels of both copper particles and arsenic were found in his hair, and his copper axe which is 99.7% pure copper, and was involved in copper smelting. They also found out that his outer layer skin, his epidermis was missing, which became his natural process from his mummification in ice. Many beliefs spread that Ötzi the Iceman was cursed as influenced by the Curse of the Pharaohs claims and allegation revolves around the deaths of many people connected to Ötzi the Iceman‘s discovery, recovery and those who performed examination.That these alleged people have died under mysterious circumstances which includes, co-discoverer Helmut Simon, and Konrad Spindler, the first examiner of the mummy in Austria in 1991 at a local morgue. The deaths of seven people, of which four died in a violent accidents, and have been attributed to the alleged curse. But the fact is, hundreds of people were involved in the Ötzi the Iceman‘s recovery and are still involved in studying the body and the artifacts found with the bog body, and a small percentage of these people involved, have died over the years has not been shown to be statistically significant.
10) Mummy Juanita
Mummy Juanita or in Spanish term, Momia Juanita, also known as the Inca Ice Maiden and Lady of Ampato, is the frozen bog body and well preserved mummy of an Inca girl who was killed as an offering to the Inca gods sometime between 1450 and 1480, and estimated age at approximately 11 to 15 years old. Mummy Juanita was discovered by Johan Reinhard, an anthropologist and Miguel Zarate, his Peruvian climbing partner, on Mount Ampato, part of the Andes cordillera in southern Peru in 1995. Mummy Juanita has been on display in Arequipa, Peru at the Catholic University’s Museum of Andean Sanctuaries (Museo Santuarios Andinos) since 1996, and in 1999, it was displayed on a tour of Japan., which became world’s sensational event in the scientific world because to its well-preserved condition. Reinhard and Zárate found a bundle inside the crater that had fallen from an Inca site on the summit, during their mountain climbing in September 1995 at Mt. Ampato (20,700 ft), and were surprised when the bundle contain the well-preserved frozen body of a young girl, and found many items along with her, that had been left as offerings to the Inca gods strewn about the mountain slope down which the body had fallen. Items found were statues and food items. After a few days, the body and the items were transported to Arequipa, where the body was deposited in a special refrigerator at Catholic University. After some initial examinations, Juanita had suffered a lung infection before she was sacrificed. Mummy Juanita was wrapped in a brightly colored aksu, a burial tapestry, and her head was adorned with a cap made from the feathers of a red macaw and she wore a colorful woolen alpaca shawl, fastened with a silver buckle, and was fully clothed in garments similar to the Cuzco’s finest textiles from the Inca capital city. This shows an evidence that Juanita had excellent health, suggesting that she may belong to a Cuzco noble family. All these finds were almost perfectly preserved, providing valuable insight on how the sacred Inca textiles and how used and the Inca nobility dressed. Mummy Juanita was a human sacrifice in the Inca capa cocha, (the practice of child sacrifice in Pre-Columbian cultures, in particular cultures of the Mesoamerican and South American). Radiologist Elliot Fishman concluded that she was killed by a blunt trauma to the head, and had observed that her right eye socket cracked and her skull injury shown the two-inch fracture in her skull, “typical of someone who has been hit by a baseball bat.” This blow in her head, caused a massive hemorrhage, her skull filled with blood, pushing her brain to one side.
11) Plomo Mummy
The Plomo Mummy also known in Spanish as Boy of El Plomo, El Plomo Mummy, or La Momia del Cerro El Plomo, is the mummified and well preserved remains of an Inca child found in 1954 on Cerro El Plomo. The Plomo Mummy was the first frozen bog body of the Incas human sacrifice discovery of high-altitude. The National Museum of Natural History in Santiago, Chile analyze the Plomo mummy and created a replica of the Plomo mummy for public display purposes.
12) Ice Maiden
The Siberian Ice Maiden, also known as the Princess of Ukok, the Altai Princess, and Ochy-bala the Altaic epic’s heroine, is a mummified woman found in 1993 from the 15th century BCE, discovered in a kurgan (is a tumulus in the Turkic term, are mounds of earth and stones raised over a grave or burial site containing a log coffin, buried along with relics or items) of the Pazyryk culture in Republic of Altai, Russia. The Siberian Ice Maiden mummy dating from the late 20th century,was among the most significant discovery of the Russian archaeological findings. In 2012 The Princess of Ukok aka Siberian Ice Maiden, was transferred to a special mausoleum at the Republican National Museum in Gorno-Altaisk, Polosmak and her team were escorted by Lt. Mikhail Chepanov, a border guard, to a group of kurgans located in a strip of territory which engage into a debate between Russia and China. The Ice Maiden‘s tomb chamber or burial chamber, were built from a rough wood logs to create a small cabin, similar to the winter shelter of the semi-nomad, which was constructed in this way, and the wood log and other organic materials used to have her burial to be dated. The Ice Maiden or Princess of Ukok and her horses were oriented with their heads facing toward the east, same case in other burials of Pazyryk culture. The Princess of Ukok’s age was estimated between 20 and 30 years old at the time of her death, however her death was from unknown causes.
13) Saltmen
The six Saltmen were discovered in the Chehrabad salt mines, located on the southern part of the Hamzehlu village, on the west side of the Zanjan city, in the Zanjan Province in Iran. The remains of six men had been discovered in 2010, most of these remains were killed accidentally when salt mountain where they are working collapsed. Miners bulldozing salt from the Chehrabad Salt Mines, during a winter in 1993, came across a body with long hair, a beard and some artifacts inside one of a front leg leather boot, with three iron knives, a woolen half trouser, a silver needle, a sling, parts of a leather rope, a grindstone, a walnut, piece of broken pottery, some patterned textile fragments, and a few broken bones. The remains had been buried in the middle of a tunnel about 45 meters in length, and named him Salt Man 1, and his head and left boot are now on display at the National Museum of Iran in Tehran. In a 2012 research and examination results, that the 2200 year’s old mummy of Chehrabad Salt Mines, had tapeworm eggs from the genus Taenia sp in his intestine, which means, that the ancient diet, indicates the consumption of raw or undercooked meat and it also compose the evidence of ancient intestinal parasites in Iran and also contributes information to the knowledge in the Near East about gastro-intestinal pathogens.
14) Yde Girl
Yde Girl is a bog body found on May 12, 1897 in the peat bog of Stijfveen near the village of Yde, Netherlands, and was allegedly strange and creepy mummified when discovered most especially her hair, but soon the body was turned over to the authorities, and after two weeks, the bog body had been severely deteriorated and damaged. The Yde Girl estimated age as a 16 year old girl at the time of death by Carbon-14 tests and also have indicated that Yde Girl died between 54 BCE and 128 CE. The Yde Girl had long reddish blond hair, but one side of her head had been shaved before she died. There are studies recently of Windeby 1, suggesting that the shaved hair phenomenon in some bog bodies may affirmed that one side of the head being exposed to oxygen slightly decay longer than the other. The Yde Girl examinations and scans results, she suffered from a scoliosis, a spine condition. The bog body was found clad in a woolen cape, with a braided woolen band, made in a braiding technique known as sprang, wrapped around the neck, an evidence that she was executed or sacrificed. They also found a stab wound in the area of her collarbone, but this stab wound was not determined as the cause of death. Most bog bodies, shows their skin and features are still preserved because of the tannic acid in the marsh water of peat. The excavators accidentally caused a wound to the skull when Yde Girl was excavated, found with her torso, her right hand and feet were found, but the rest body parts was not preserved.
15) Girl of the Uchter Moor
In 2000, the remains of a female bog body they named Girl of the Uchter Moor also known as Moora the name given to the female Iron Age bog body discovered in the marshland near Uchte, Germany. The bog body remains found include vertebrae, hair and pieces of her skull, and began the studies of the body in 2005. The University of Kiel performed radiocarbon dating showing that Moora had died between 764 and 515 B.C. Her Body was not cremated despite the common burial practices during the Iron. All of the bog body parts are may be have been found except for one shoulder blade or scapula. Before performing the DNA analysis, the bog body found was initially believed to be Elke Kerll, a missing sixteen-year-old girl in 1969 after going to a dance club. While Moora’s age was determined to be between 17 and 19 years old at the time of her death. Moora was left-handed according to examinations. Moora was believed had experienced extreme physical labor and may be often carried heavy loads, like water jugs, while roaming around the marshland. Moora also sustained at least two partial skull fractures that gradually healed themselves, according to Saring Dennis from the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf. Moora, and also suffered long periods of sickness because of long winter’s hardship. Moora suffered from chronic malnutrition during her childhood to adolescence through examination of her bone growth lines, was also diagnosed to have a benign tumor at the base of her skull, leading to the spine curvature and chronic inflammation in the leg bones, but the cause of Moora’s death is unknown. It was later known that Moora was naked at the time she was buried into the bog. The face of Moora has been reconstructed four times, which the two were digital, and were created by molding material in the traditional way over a plastic replica of the skull. The artist had to estimate the shape of lips, hair color and skin tones, the same process of reconstructing the Yde Girl.
16) Windeby I
The well preserved bog body found in 1952 in a peat bog near Windeby, Northern Germany and was named Windeby I, but the name was changed recently to Windeby Girl, because it was believed to be the body of a 14-year old girl, due to its slight build according to archeologist examination. A Canadian anthropologist and pathologist Prof. Gill-Robinson, used DNA testing to prove that the body was of a boy. In 1952, commercial peat cutters found the bog body, and is now on display at The Landesmuseum at the Schloss Gottorf in Schleswig, Germany. During excavation, the peat cutters noticed the severed from the body a hand, a foot and a leg, but was too late to shut down the peat cutting machinery, however, the bog body was well preserved by the peat, despite the damage, and still an important discovery by archeologists. Another adult male bog body was found shortly near Windeby 1 and named him Windeby II. The Windeby II body, was found to have a half-shaven head and a woolen blindfold tied across the eyes. Windeby II’s hair according to recent examinations was concluded that half of his scalp was not shaven , but rather due to being exposed to oxygen a bit longer compared to the rest of his body. The woolen blindfold, was made using the sprang technique, or probably was used to tie back the boy’s shoulder-length hair and which had slipped down over the face after the death of Windeby II. It was also concluded according from evidence, that the cause of death of the boy was possibly as a sacrifice or a punishment.The bog body was discovered underneath rocks and branches, and pressumed used to hold the body down, and this studies was supported by observation and examination.
17) Kreepen Man
The Kreepen Man sometimes called as Brammer Man or Kreepen-Brammer Man is a bog body of a bearded man was found in June 9 or 10, 1903, lying face down. There were no other clothing found on the body, when he was discovered, although stones and twigs were present nearby. The Kreepen Man remains were destroyed during World War II, and fallen apart, but was dated after a piece of his hair was found.
18) Roter Franz – Neu Versen Man
The bog body remains named Neu Versen Man, also known as Roter Franz which means in English term as Red Franz, was discovered in 1900 in the Bourtanger Moor on the border of Germany and the Netherlands. The body dates to 220–430 CE of the Roman Iron Age. The Neu Versen Man was nicknamed Red Franz which was derived from his red hair and beard. Through examination it was confirmed that the slit on his throat, with an arrow wound and a broken shoulder was the cause of his death.
19) Osterby Man or the Osterby Head
Osterby Man or the Osterby Head is a bog body of which only the skull and hair was intact after it was discovered in 1948 by peat cutters to the southeast of Osterby, Germany.The bog body’s head is at the State Archaeological Museum at Gottorf Castle in Schleswig, Schleswig-Holsten. The Osterby Man has his hair tied in a Suebian Knot, a historical male hairstyle attributed to the free men and social status of the tribe of the Germanic Suebi. The Roman empire senator and historian Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus attested the Suebian Knot this in Chapter 38 of his his 1st century CE work Germania, found on art by and depictions of the Germanic people, and worn by bog bodies. The Suebian knot can be seen in numerous Roman depictions and on at least one other bog body, Dätgen Man (who wore his knot on the back of his head). Osterby Man has featured the Suebian knot on its coat of arms since 1998, and this Suebian knot indicates that Osterby Man died in the late Iron Age or the Roman period, and the radiocarbon dating also indicates a date between 75 and 130 CE, but then, the hair sample used was taken from the private collection of the German archeologist, Alfred Dieck and may be unreliable. Some bog bodies dating died during the Iron Age have also been beheaded, just like the body of Dätgen Man, who also had a Suebian knot, was recovered about several meters from his head. The beheaded bog bodies found, together with the fractured skull indicates execution by multiple methods. It is not determined whether Osterby Man was drowned intentionally in the bog as a judicial punishment or a sacrifice, or that his body was deposited in the bog, but it has been known that his advanced age may indicate an honorable death.
20) Borremose bodies
Borremose bodies is the three bog bodies recovered in the Borremose peat bog in Himmerland, Denmark between 1946 and 1948, the bodies of a man and two women have been dated to the Nordic Bronze Age. A richly decorated silver vessel Gundestrup cauldron was found in a nearby bog in 1891.
Borremose III or Borremose Woman
In 1948, a body of another woman named as Borremose III or Borremose Woman was recovered, about 400 meters or 1,300 ft south from Borremose man. The Borremose Woman’s approximate age range at the time of death was around 20-35 years old, she was found lying face down, her body was wrapped in a woolen garment. Her hair on one side of the head had been separated from her scalp, however it was thought to be damage caused by the peat digger’s shovels. The face and the skull were crushed, and the neck which began to deteriorate caused difficulties to detect if she died of strangulation. During the reexamination of the damaged skull it was determined that the damage to the skull had happened after death and was caused by loss of bodily minerals such as calcium salts of the bones as well as pressure from the peat. Forensic experts of the National History Museum in Copenhagen, Andersen, Geert Inger and Elizabeth Munksgaard performed a forensic examination on Borremose Woman in 1984. The result of their forensic examination confirmed that the scalp’s damage did not occurred before death. The because of difficulties of the process of examination, the scientists were not able to finalize any conclusion as to the cause of death of the Borremose Woman whether she died a natural cause, or by murder, suicide or accident.
Bocksten Man
The Bocksten Man or Boxsten Man is the remains of a medieval man’s body found in Varberg Municipality, Sweden’s bog and one of the best-preserved discovery from ancient era in Europe and displayed at the Varberg County Museum. It was believed that the Bocksten man had been killed and knocked to the lake’s bottom which later became a bog. This bog is where the body was found lying about 24 km (15 mi) east of Varberg on the west coast of Sweden, close to the Via Regia, the most important medieval road in the area. Bocksten Man was reconstructed recently, so to see what he may have looked like when he was alive. The Bocksten Man’s age was estimated between 35 to 40 years old when he died, based on studies on the teeth, by forensic odontologist, Gunnar Johansson. While, based on the skeletal studies by osteologist Nils-Gustaf Gevall, concluded the age of Bocksten Man is between 35 and 40 years, or might have been up to 60 years old. A Sahlgrenska University Hospital’s professor and a doctor, performed an operation on a plastic body model, based on X-ray computed tomography (x-ray CT), and therefore concluded that he had first been hit at the lower jaw, then at the right ear and the final blow was a lethal hit towards the back of his head. An assumption has been presented that the identity of the Bocksten man was Simon Gudmundi, the Diocese of Linköping‘s dean who died on May 12, 1491. According to Owe Wennerholm reasons, that the name of Gudmundi fit with found micro shield with initials found on it. It is also believed that Gudmundi might have visited the area, and worked with a group which tried to get Catherine of Vadstena (Saint Catherine of Sweden) canonized, and one of her reputed miracles had taken place in the neighboring village. There were speculation that Simon Gudmundi was killed by order of Hemming Gadh because of his interest he could assume the post of dean of the Diocese of Linköping.