What are Bog Bodies?
Bog bodies are bodies, sometimes thousands of years old, that have been preserved from decay by the anoxic conditions of a peat bog and the humic acid in marsh water. These bodies are the most highly preserved window into people that lived in Iron Age Europe. The facial structures, skin, and internal organs of bog bodies are highly preserved, allowing close study, including what these people ate just before they died. Most bog bodies are from people that were killed violently, either as punishment for crimes or as a human sacrifice. The prevalence of human sacrifice in Iron Age Europe for successful crop yields and other reasons is well established. The oldest bog body, Koelbjerg woman from Denmark, dates to roughly 3500 BC, or 5500 years ago. This is so old that it predates the Bronze Age in Europe, instead being a rare artifact from Stone Age Europe. The most recent bog bodies date to the 16th century, including a woman from Ireland who was apparently buried in unhallowed ground (the
Dr. dig responds: Bog bodies are the remains of people preserved in wet, marshy places, called bogs. The best preserved bog bodies have been found in northern Europe, especially Denmark. Because of the special properties of a bog, bodies deposited there did not deteriorate. Even 2,000 years later, well-preserved bog bodies (with hair and skin and fingernails) have been discovered by peat cutters. Q2. Why do you think that people are so fascinated by them? Dr. dig responds: At the most basic level, people are fascinated by bog bodies in the same way that people slow down on the highway to rubberneck at an accident. People have a gruesome fascination with death. At a more academic level, bog bodies are interesting because they provide a particularly detailed glimpse into the lives of people who lived thousands of years ago. It is not very often that people of today can look in such detail into the lives and actual faces of people who lived thousands of years ago. To see a bog body in rea
