Skeletons, Mummies, and Bodies of the Bog

As excitement grows for Halloween, the lines between living and dead grow thin. Lawns are covered in plastic skeletons, fabric ghosts, and foam graves. Though these are decorations based on the natural cycle of life, they are often labeled as haunting or disturbing.

While the living tells tales through their words, the dead can share theirs through remains. The mummified bodies found in Irish bogs tell macabre stories of life as early as the Bronze Ages of 2000 B.C.

The Irish peat bogs form when the dry land met a body of water, causing a layer of decaying moss to form. The cold waters of the bog and the lack of oxygen became the perfect environment to preserve the leathery skin and haunting expressions of the mummies they contained.

Unlike the skeletal remains found in tombs, the bog mummies were preserved with skin, nails, and clothing. The remains are named after the towns they were found in, revealing the dark history of ritualistic sacrifice and execution.

Beyond the ghostly shock of the dead, these mummies revealed pivotal information on the lives of early European life, including their diets, fashion, and lifestyles of their time.

“Yde Girl’s short life, she died at 16, was not a happy one, she suffered from scoliosis,” Carnegie Museums writer M.A. Jackson said. “(H)er woolen cape was threadbare and often mended.”

Jackson reports findings from Roman historian Tacitus of the early European culture of clothing, showed that Yde Girl was likely poor. The noose found preserved on her neck indicated she broke a societal norm, leading to her execution.

“Tollund Man had a pointed cap of sheepskin and wool fastened by a hide thong,” said Discovery Magazine writer Nathaniel Scharping on a body that was dated to the mid-Iron Ages of Ireland, around 350 B.C.

Wool and furs were rare and hard to obtain during this time. It is likely Tollund man was an elite member of society or potentially an unlucky human sacrifice.

Additionally, Scharping described the Huldremose Woman of 30 A.D. as, “wearing a wool skirt and shawl, and had two lambskin capes as well as a comb made from a horn.”

While not the typical mummy stereotype of the bodies bound by hoary bandage wraps, these mummies accurately presented the clothing across many classes found in Euro-Ireland.

Cambridge University press writer Nina H. Nielsen and her peers reported on a study conducted by K.E. Behre in 2008, when Tollund Man’s last meal was discovered. His gut contents were studied, revealing that he had ate 12-24 hours before he was killed.

“He ate a porridge containing barley, pale pericardia and flax, and probably some fish,” Nielsen and his colleagues wrote. “Proteins and eggs from intestinal worms indicate that he was infected with parasites.”

The modern era does not typically hold porridge in high regards, however, European folklore associated the contents of porridge with supernatural themes such as keeping out terrifying evil spirits and asking for healing and fertility through human sacrifice. Thus, making porridge a culturally favored dish.

A woman’s body, the Haraldskær Woman, reveals the roles that travel and trade played in Iron Ages. The body is dated to around fifth-century B.C. and was discovered to have travelled before she died.

“Her trip took her to present-day Germany, Austria, or France, based on strontium samples taken from her teeth. Additionally, some of her clothes were made from textiles sourced from far away,” said Scharping.

It is hard not to wonder if the woman’s grisly fate could have been avoided if she stayed somewhere else during her travels or wonder if the risk of her travels may have led to a less gruesome death.

The mummies paint lurid pictures of their lives, evoking ghastly imagery of their deaths and poor living conditions. Through the unfortunate events leading to their demise, archeologists can learn more about their time.

Though their appearance may be haunting, bodies found in the bogs are not monsters. Instead, they are people who suffered brutally during their life and were forgotten for millennia. Today they are a testament to death not being the end of a story, but possibly the beginning to another.