A new look at more than 1,000 “bog bodies” — human remains preserved in low-oxygen places with wet and spongy soils — reveals that the tradition of leaving bodies in European mires spans millennia, from the Stone Age to modern times, and that these individuals often met violent ends.
However, all of these bodies didn’t end up buried in bogs for the same reason. Some are likely the remains of ritualistic sacrifices, like the exquisitely preserved 2,400-year-old Tollund Man in Denmark; some are probably burials of deviants or executed criminals; and others are likely the result of accidental deaths, such as drownings in these watery environments, according to the study, published Tuesday (Jan. 10) in the journal Antiquity (opens in new tab).
A few bog bodies, especially preserved mummies with skin and hair, get a lot of attention. But it would be a mistake to overlook human bones or partial human remains preserved in bogs, said study first author Roy van Beek (opens in new tab), an archaeologist and associate professor in the Department of Soil Geography and Landscape and the Department of Cultural Geography at Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands.
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