[MR] bog bodies (Fwd: Aoife-Links Digest, Vol 7, Issue 4)

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In a message dated 4/24/2005 1:00:28 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
aoife-links-request at scatoday.net writes:

Subject:  [Aoife-Links] The Mummy Returns! Bodies from the Bogs 
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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 never the less 
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 traveller 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
Cantonof 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/dentep.
html
(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.