Bog Bodies

Abstract

In northern Europe during the Iron Age, many corpses were deposited in bogs. The cold, wet and anaerobic environment leads in many cases to the preservation of soft tissues, so that the bodies, when found and excavated several thousand years later, are remarkably intact. Since the 19th century the bog bodies have been studied using medical and natural scientific methods, and recently many bog bodies have been reexamined using especially modern, medical imaging techniques. Because of the preservation of soft tissue, especially the skin, it has been possible to determine lesions and trauma. Conversely, the preservation of bones is less good, as the mineral component has been leached out by the acidic bog. Together with water-logging of collagenous tissue, this means that if the bog body is simply left to dry out when found, as was the case pre19th century, the bones may literally warp and shrink, leading to potential pitfalls in paleopathological diagnostics. Bog bodies have in several instances been crucial in determining the last meal, as gut contents may be preserved, and thus augment our knowledge on pre-historic diet by adding to, for example, stable isotope analyses. This article presents an overview of our knowledge about the taphomic processes as well as the methods used in bog body research.

Becoming Bog Bodies Sacrifice and Politics of Exclusion, as Evidenced in the Deposition of Skeletal Remains in Wetlands Near Uppåkra

“…For example, the Grauballe Man has been understood as a noble person, as his fingers showed no signs of manual labor. Lynnerup (2015Lynnerup ( , 1011 has critiqued this and suggested that the smoothness of the hands may be due the agency of the bog, that would have dissolved the epidermal layers of the hands. Here, Lynnerup also points out that there are many uncertainties as to whom was selected for depositions in bogs and if these were in any way different from the general population in the Iron Age.…”

Is there anybody in there? Entomological evidence from a boat burial at Øksnes in Vesterålen, northern Norway

“…It has been assumed that peat acidity was sufficient to accelerate the process of decomposition, yet as the numerous bog bodies show [ 1 ], bogs are more likely to preserve than destroy. Whilst bone may be partially if not wholly dissolved [ 68 ], flesh and some internal organs are tanned and differentially preserved [ 69 ].…”

Endogenous Fluorescence Analysis: Preliminary Study Revealing the Potential of this Non‐invasive Method to Study Mummified Samples

“…This is, at least in part, explained by the fact that the Tollund Man is a bog body. Natural mummification in bogs led to a worse preservation of the skin structure and components (Chang et al ., ; Lynnerup, ). Different body regions showed different autofluorescence signal in previous works so it could be another reason to explain this variation (Na et al ., ).…”