Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific advances and more.
CNN
—
In 1984, Pete Cutter found a human remains in a swamp in Cheshire, England. They belonged to a man who was placed in a swamp after his brutal death some 2,100 years ago. Examination of the well-preserved mummy revealed a blow to the head, a possible stab wound, and a broken neck.Twisted muscle that remains coiled It may have been a garrot around his neck as well.
Lindow Mann’s remains are now in the British Museum in London. It is perhaps the best known of Europe’s 2,000 or so ‘swamps’. These are mummies and skeletons found in peatlands and marshes in Ireland, England, Holland, Germany, Scandinavia, Poland, and other parts of Eastern Europe.
The bodies, often exquisitely preserved by the cool, acidic conditions and organic compounds of the bogs, provide an exciting snapshot of the past.Archaeologists can use their skin, bones, clothing, belongings, and sometimes Even their last meal. Now, researchers have embarked on the first comprehensive survey of bog bodies. They believe this is a 7,000-year-old burial tradition. To build a complete picture of this phenomenon.
“We shouldn’t just focus on some spectacular finds. As an archaeologist, sometimes it’s very important to zoom out,” said an assistant professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and co-author of the study. says Roy Van Beek.
“Sometimes we have to be very careful not to jump to conclusions or jump to conclusions based on a very limited number of sites.”
Van Beek and his colleagues collated data on 1,000 swamp corpses found in 266 different locations and uncovered an intriguing discovery.
A swamp can be a dangerous place where it’s easy to get lost. This means that some swamp bodies likely died in accidents, but the team believes many deaths were deliberate and brutal, with bodies being dumped or placed in swamps after death. I found .
“Often, it’s no accident that these people end up in the swamp. Too often, violence is involved,” Van Beek said.
The team was able to determine the cause of 57 deaths, 45 of which involved violence. The two periods with the highest number of deaths from violence are from 5200 BC to 2800 BC and from 1000 BC to 1100 BC.
Bone arrowheads were found embedded in the skull and sternum of Porth Morse Mann, a swamp corpse found in Denmark. Similarly, Trundmann, also found in Danish peatlands, was hanged. Some historians believe he may have been a human sacrifice.
“People have always tended to interpret most of these as ritual sacrifices, meaning that people were killed deliberately as an offering to a higher power,” Van Beek explained.
Although ritual violence and human sacrifice did occur, van Beek There are likely many other explanations for how the bodies ended up in the swamp, he said.
“They may have been robbed and killed in some conflict. Another category could be individuals who crossed social boundaries of some kind. Or those who committed adultery.”
In this study, the swamp bodies were grouped into three categories. Bog skeleton, complete body, but only bones are preserved. The partial remains of a swamp mummy or skeleton.
Swamp mummies are usually found in raised swamps. This is not a blanket swamp that covers a large area, but a discrete patch of damp land several feet higher than the surrounding area. The organic components of plants, such as sphagnum moss, found in naturally acidic peatlands, can preserve human tissue.
“Human tissue survival also depends on how quickly the body is submerged, temperature and season, and the presence of insects and internal microbes,” the study said.
A study of three types of swamp corpses reveals that the burial of bodies in swamps is a deep-rooted tradition that dates back thousands of years. The phenomenon is thought to have originated in southern Scandinavia about 7,000 years ago and has gradually spread throughout Northern Europe.
The youngest finds from Ireland and Scotland show that the tradition continued from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. The Iron Age and Roman period, from 1200 BC to about 500 BC, was commonly recognized as showing the peak of the bog body phenomenon.
Although most sites contained only a single corpse, it was not uncommon to find corpse hotspots in swamps where multiple human remains were found, and sometimes even items of value. One exceptional site is Alken Enge near Skanerborg, Denmark This includes more than 380 people who died in violent conflict nearly 2,000 years ago and were left with their weapons in the swamp.
“These marshes and marshes are generally known for their natural qualities and high biodiversity. said Van Beek.
“But when you look at this kind of research, you can say that they are also very valuable cultural archives, providing very high quality evidence of human behavior over thousands of years.”
