In prehistoric Northwest Europe, it was not uncommon for the dead to be deliberately placed in the watery pools of peatlands. It was not the customary burial rite at the time, and many of these people ended up in bogs after meeting a very violent end, leading archeologists to believe these were ritual killings. Beyond their violent and enigmatic deaths, these bog bodies can also tell us about individual lives, as well as past societies. Here are five of the most revealing examples.
What Are Bog Bodies?
Bog bodies are whole or partial elements of human (and animal) bodies found in peatlands. This includes bog skeletons, which have little to no soft tissue remaining, and bog mummies, which have skin, nails, hair, brain, and even eyes, intact. Peat bogs are acidic and most importantly lack oxygen, meaning there are fewer organisms to break down the body’s soft tissue. The sphagnum mosses that grow in bogs also help, releasing a kind of tanning agent that turns the skin to leather and the hair red. Preservation also depends on steady water levels and temperatures, which is why some bodies are better preserved than others.
Thousands of bog bodies have been found across Europe, from Ireland to the Baltic Sea states, each of them hinting at not just the life of the individual up until their death, but also at wider social and religious trends. A recent study has considered examples from 9000 BCE right up to the 20th century, including victims of homicide, suicide, and even accidental death. Although the study illustrates the diversity of dates, individuals, and circumstances of death, emphasizing different explanations for how these people came to be preserved in peat, there is one particular phase that stands out.
Many bog bodies date from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age/Roman Period, and were largely found in Northwest Europe. Many of these bog bodies were subjected to what has been called “overkill” — in other words, multiple excessive types of violence. This so-called overkill, along with further evidence related to the individuals’ identities and the locations they were found in, has led archeologists to consider the likelihood that they were human sacrifices.
Whether these ritual sacrifices were related to war or weather, territory or treason, productivity or prophecy, is still very much up for debate. Here we’ll look at five of these later prehistoric examples and what they reveal about the individuals, their lives, their deaths, and society as a whole.
1. Tollund Man
We will start with the northernmost of the five examples, Tollund Man, possibly Europe’s most famous bog body, and the inspiration for a Seamus Heaney poem. In May 1950, he was found in Bjaelskovdal bog, near Silkeborg, in Jutland, Denmark. He was 30-40 years old and 5ft 3in (162cm) tall. He died around 405-380 BCE, by hanging. We know this because of the braided leather rope which remained around his neck, and the autopsy results, which showed a mark high on the neck, as opposed to the kind left by strangulation. He was found in a sleeping position, a serene expression on his lightly stubbled face. It is as though he is just sleeping, still to this day. He was naked apart from a belt and an animal skin cap covering his closely cropped hair.
Examination of his feet showed that he often walked barefoot, sometimes cutting his feet. Another examination, of his intestines, revealed that he ate a purely vegetarian meal before he died, a kind of porridge of 30 different kinds of plant seeds. Recent laboratory analysis of his hair has shown that he was local, but may have moved at least 20 miles in his final months.
Tollund Man reveals a contradiction in what we might expect from a sacrificial victim. He met a violent end, but there were no signs of overkill. His eyes and mouth were closed after his death, and he was placed in the fetal position, quite literally laid to rest. His life was taken, but it seems those responsible tried to afford him some kind of peace in death. With only the details of Tollund man’s few items of clothing, his stomach contents, and the signatures left in and on his body, specialists continue to reveal piece after piece of a puzzle we might never fully solve.
Tollund Man and a second bog body of a 25 year old woman, Elling woman (also hanged and placed not 50m from Tollund man) form the center of an exhibition about Iron Age life and death at the Silkeborg Museum.
2. Osterby man
Next, we travel to Germany, where in 1948 a single skull was discovered in the Köhlmoor bog near Osterby, Schleswig-Holstein. This 50-to-60-year-old man was killed by a blow to the head. Signs of trauma were found on the left temple. He was then decapitated, his skull wrapped in a deerskin cape, and thrown into a mire. The separation of the head from the body stands out among the examples listed here. It was possibly a human offering to the god of war, or even related to the “cult of the head.” At this time, it was common to deposit the broken bodies of warriors, but also the deliberately damaged spoils of battle, such as swords, spears, shields, and axes.
Osterby’s hair was originally dark blonde with some grays. It was set in an elaborate knot on the side of his head. He died around 100 CE, a time for which we have contemporary Roman documents. Roman historian Tacitus mentions a Germanic group, the Suebi, and notes that their free people showed their status by combing their hair sideways and wearing it in a knot, just like Osterby Man. Julius Caesar notes the Suebi as being the most warlike of the Germanic peoples. These historical accounts add more depth to what we might imagine about Osterby Man’s life; perhaps he was a seasoned warrior who survived the Gallic Wars? Or perhaps he didn’t?
Osterby Man’s skull reveals that, during later prehistory, the placing of bodies and body parts in bogs likely had many different meanings. Tacitus noted the drowning of “the coward, the shirker, and the unnaturally vicious” in mires. But this doesn’t quite match with Osterby, whose death by a fatal blow, perhaps in battle, might have even been seen as an honorable one. Again, we’re left with more questions than answers.
The Osterby Man skull, Dätgen Man (who also had a Suebian knot in his hair), and Windeby girl, are all held at the State Archaeological Museum at Gottorf Castle in Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein.
3. Yde Girl
Moving west, we reach Yde and the Stijfveen bog, in Drenthe, in Northern Netherlands. In 1897 the body of a 16-year-old girl was found here. She lived and died around 42 BCE-59 CE. She was quite short at 4’6” (137cm), had scoliosis of the spine, and likely walked with a limp. She had long blondish hair and was found with a very worn cloak. A woolen band was around her neck, which was likely used to strangle her to death. This was not the only violence she had faced; a stab wound was found in the area of her left collarbone. No defensive wounds were found, so it is thought that she was already unconscious when she was killed.
After her discovery, it is said that locals stole hair and teeth from her head. Why people would do this is unclear. Perhaps as souvenirs of the spreading story of the body in the bog? Perhaps to keep as relics, curios, or even charms? Whatever the reasons, this late 19th-century morbid desire to desecrate the deceased’s body has changed. Nowadays archeologists and the public alike are concerned with appropriately caring for and respecting human remains, while recognizing the scientific and educational value of study and display.
Yde Girl herself sparked controversy in Canada. Many locals disagreed with the display of her human remains, held in the same regard there as the bodies of indigenous people. But what most objected to was the commercialization of her face, used on souvenirs ranging from tote bags to t-shirts.
Yde Girl’s inclusion here reveals that (young) women also faced the same violent, likely ritualistic, death as their male contemporaries. Perhaps what is most revealing, though, is not something about the distant past, but instead how modern attitudes toward death and dead bodies are contextual. They can vary greatly depending on local sensibilities and changing tides of opinion.
Much like Tollund Man’s poem, Yde Girl has inspired a song: Fairy of the Bog by Blackbriar. She can be visited at the Drents Museum in Assen.
4. Lindow Man
Crossing the water to Britain, at the Lindow Moss bog, Cheshire, Northeast England, we have Lindow Man. In his mid-20s, about 5’7” (170cm), and 132 lbs (60kg), he was healthy, with good teeth and no signs of heavy labor. He was well preserved including his hair (cut into a kind of mullet), his beard (trimmed), and his nails (manicured). Mistletoe pollen found in his intestines indicates he died in Spring, around 2 BCE-119 CE, around the time of the Roman Conquest. Charred cereals, interpreted as a griddle cake, were also identified.
Lindow Man’s death can certainly be described as overkill—blows to the head, possible stab wounds to the neck and chest, and a broken neck—which was ultimately the cause of death. There is debate as to whether the marks found indicate that the animal sinew around his neck was a garotte. It may have been a necklace, and the marks, the result of swelling after death.
Many of these unconfirmed details have formed the basis for quite a compelling account of Lindow Man’s “triple death.” It is thought that he was perhaps royalty or even a druid, that his last meal points to bad luck, having selected the charred griddlecake from the rest, and that the mistletoe was to calm him. The way in which he died—a stunning blow to the head, before being garotted and having his throat slit—implies an experienced actor leading a partially conscious Lindow Man across the treacherous bog, to the point where his life was taken and offered to the gods.
Perhaps one of the most thoroughly analyzed bog bodies, Lindow Man reveals many tantalizing details that invite us to imagine the possible circumstances around his death. The theories concerning his ritual sacrifice do hold water (excuse the pun), with early historical accounts and other bog bodies pointing to similar practices in later Prehistoric Europe.
Lindow Man can be visited for free at the British Museum, London.
5. Clonycavan Man
Our final individual comes from the expansive peat bogs of the Irish midlands, from which multiple bog bodies have been pulled. Clonycavan Man was found in March 2003, at Clonycavan, Ballivor, Co. Meath. He was in his early 20s when he was killed around 392-201 BCE. Like Lindow Man, he suffered a “triple death.” His skull was split open, he suffered a laceration across the bridge of his nose (likely with the same instrument), and he was disembowelled.
This violent death has comparisons elsewhere in Europe, but also closer to home. Old Croghan Man died roughly around the same time and in a similar way, although he showed more signs of having tried to defend himself. Most interesting is that both men suffered mutilation of their nipples. Historic accounts point to subjects submitting to their kings by sucking their nipples. This deliberate desecration may have denied them their kingly status. This could represent dissatisfaction with leadership, political upheaval, or ritualistic responses as attempts to mediate major changes at the time.
Clonycavan Man was quite short at 5’ 2” (157cm). This might be why he wore his hair high on his head, styled with plant oil and pine resin wax. This ancient hair gel was imported from Europe, probably France or Spain, and points to 1) Clonycavan Man’s preoccupation with appearing taller, perhaps to lend authority; 2) his wealth, to be able to buy something so costly; and 3) long-distance trade during the Iron Age. We know that Ireland was well connected at this time — the skull of a North African barbary ape was found at the Iron Age Navan Fort.
Clonycavan Man not only reveals secrets surrounding his death — further evidence for high-status individuals meeting their end in Europe’s murky peat bogs; he also reveals something about everyday life and trade. His hair-gel and distinctive hairstyle point to Iron Age fashions, preoccupations, and long-distance trade networks.
Both Clonycavan Man and Old Croghan Man have guitar compositions named after them, as part of a recording by Gerry O’Beirne called The Bog Bodies and Other Stories: Music for Guitar. They, along with other bodies in the Kingship and Sacrifice exhibition, can be visited for free at the National Museum of Ireland.
Other Items Found in Bogs
People in the Prehistoric Era and even recent past placed more than just bodies in the pools of their nearest peatlands. Down through the centuries, as peat has been dug up and dried for fuel, many different items have been found in incredible states of preservation. One of the most interesting might be bog butter. Originally thought to date to the 1st century CE and onwards, bog butter in Ireland at least dates back as far as 1700 BCE.
It is not clear why these wooden containers of butter or animal fat were placed in bogs. Perhaps to preserve it, to initiate a chemical process in the butter, to safeguard the commodity, or to give it as a religious offering. Perhaps all of these were valid reasons at one point or another.
Less everyday things found in bogs include weapons and war spoils. What is interesting about the swords, shields, and other items deposited en masse in bogs in Northwest Europe, is that they are generally bent or broken, sometimes in three places. This harks back to the triple death idea that has been suggested for Lindow Man and others and points to these objects being decommissioned, or having their use-life ended, just like the lives of the individuals discussed here.
This kind of practice and the belief systems behind it are well-documented and formed part of a broader cosmology that placed particular importance on watery places. Whether rivers, lakes, or bog pools, people in the Bronze Age and Iron Age used water as a point of connection and communication with their gods. This is significant in the context of the individuals discussed here, explaining why they might have been placed in bogs, rather than buried, cremated, or excarnated (exposed to the elements).
Ritual Sacrifice
Plenty of the evidence relating to bog bodies does point to ritual sacrifice. The methodical way some such as Lindow Man were killed; the triple-deaths; the careful way Tollund Man was laid to rest; the presence of mind-altering substances, either to calm or to cause hallucination; the final meals; the disembowelment of some bog bodies, described as a divination practice in historic sources; not to mention the historical documentation of human sacrifice in Northern Europe during the later Prehistoric Period.
Is it likely that such a similar practice could have existed across so much of Northwest Europe at this time? Certainly, the different groups had many cultural and religious similarities. But can ritual sacrifice be the only explanation for all bog bodies? Probably not. Beyond those presented here, there are countless other bog bodies with different stories to tell.
There is undoubtedly no singular and universal meaning behind the later prehistoric deposition of bodies in bogs. We have seen how these individuals varied from physically fit and potentially powerful men to teenage girls with physical impairments. We know that some faced a prolonged and violent death, while some, it seems, were granted a more swift end. We also know that some were deposited as whole bodies, others as decapitated heads, and some as bodies without heads.
It is possible that the Irish examples, having had their nipples cut, represent discontent with rulership and an ousting from power. Irish bog bodies have also been linked with the marking of territory, with several being found near what were once medieval boundaries, potentially consistent with earlier, prehistoric ones.
At the same time, Lindow and Tollund Man might have been the unfortunate sacrificial lambs in ceremonies hoped to appease one god or another, perhaps because of a change in climate, food shortages being brought on by a bad year, or continued poor weather conditions. Osterby Man’s head was likely an offering to the god of war, just like other battle spoils offered up during this time of heightened conflict. As mentioned above, those who were disemboweled could have been the victim of a soothsayer, who read their spilled guts like tea leaves.
Where might we imagine Yde Girl fits in? Was she scapegoated and sacrificed due to physical differences, because she was a powerful priestess who had failed her people, for infidelity as some have suggested, or for any other number of reasons? These are the bigger questions that may go unanswered. Or perhaps, little question after little question, piece by piece, maybe archeologists will be able to solve this puzzle for us.
Scientific Analysis
These five bog bodies, from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, and Ireland, illustrate the wealth of information that can be captured in the human body. As scientific analyses advance, so too does our understanding of these individuals and how they met their end.
One approach already giving us insights into their life histories is isotopic analysis. Isotopes are atoms with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. Stable isotopes (that don’t emit radiation) like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and strontium, are commonly used in the analysis of archeological samples. An isotopic signature is a specific ratio between isotopes in a sample and, depending on where the sample is from, the signature will be different. This means that a sample from a tooth laid down in youth could have a very different signature from a hair grown later in life. By this method, we can trace changes in diet, as well as movements from one area to another.
Isotope analysis has shown that Tollund Man was probably local to the area in which he was deposited but may have traveled more than 20 miles away in the months before he died. Analysis of Osterby Man’s hair showed that at least towards the end of his life he rarely ate meat and never seafood. This is a similar diet to that of both Tollund and Dätgen Man.
Clonycavan Man’s diet before he died was rich in both vegetables and proteins, and so he probably died during the summer months. Together, scientific analysis combined with information from the archeological context can help us reconstruct stories, both about a bog body’s past life, as well as the circumstances of death. It is yet to be seen whether further analysis will set the individual stories apart as distinct moments with unique meanings, or draw them together under some universal Celtic religious ritual. Some have already connected the bog bodies from Ireland with those from Denmark, drawing parallels, and citing the iconic imagery of human sacrifice on the Gundestrup cauldron.
Bog Bodies: In Conclusion
Human remains are fascinating to anyone with an interest in the past, whether they be stray bones, whole skeletons, or preserved mummies. But the exceptional preservation of bog bodies makes them some of the most fascinating, and some of the most revealing. An encounter with a bog body in a museum is something unforgettable, as few other situations offer us the chance to look directly at the styled hair, the manicured fingernails or indeed the frozen facial features of our 2000-year-old ancestors.
From the recent past up to today, bog bodies have commonly been viewed as novelties, morbidly fascinating or “creepy,” because of their lifelike faces and connection to human sacrifice. But beyond appearances, archeological investigations reveal even more beneath the surface, and this information helps us to understand who, not what, we are looking at. Whether health and hygiene, diet and disease, fashion and beauty, bog bodies are possibly the most abundant sources of information about not only individual lives, but also about past cultural practices and societal attitudes.
Perhaps what is most revealing is what bog bodies say about us modern-day humans. Like looking in a mirror, we might recognize a familiar likeness in the faces of Clonycavan or Tollund Man, we imagine lives filled with daily tasks much like ours today, we ponder the preoccupations of our predecessors (were we always so concerned with height?); but we are also confronted with the violent deaths of these individuals, perhaps project our own emotions onto past events for which we don’t have the full picture, contemplate the ideas and beliefs held by our not-too-distant ancestors, and ask ourselves whether they were so different from us today. We must also engage with the complexities of recent and modern attitudes to death, dead bodies, and their display, how these can differ greatly from one culture to another, and how we feel these individuals should be cared for and curated by museums.
Bog bodies are both fascinating and revealing, and the very human curiosity around them, their lives, and their deaths is reflected in public engagement with them. Whether it be young children in a museum transfixed and inspired by an encounter with the face of a distant ancestor; young adults considering past archeological investigations and a future archeological career; or a seasoned poet contemplating the timeless and universal: life, death, strife, sacrifice, belief, and a search for meaning.
Bibliography
All info was sourced from museum exhibits, the museum websites listed in the visitor information for each bog body, and from the following sources:
Giles M. 2009. Iron Age bog bodies of north-western Europe. Representing the dead. Archaeological Dialogues, 16 (1): 75-101.
Gill-Frerking, H. 2004. Bog Bodies on Display. Journal of Wetland Archaeology, 4. 111-116.
Løvschal, M. And Kähler Holst, M. 2018. Governing martial traditions: Post-conflict ritual sites in Iron Age Northern Europe (200 BC–AD 200). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 50: 27-39.
van Beek R, Quik C, Bergerbrant S, Huisman F, Kama P. 2023. Bogs, bones and bodies: the deposition of human remains in northern European mires (9000 BC–AD 1900). Antiquity, 97 (391): 120-140.
