Röst Girl (200 BCE–80 CE, Germany), Wikipedia

bog bodies are a phenomena in which a (human) body is preserved in a bog, due to a series of chemical processes i don't entirely understand, but peat is heavily involved. most famously, they have been found in the marshes of ireland and other parts of northern europe, with a few exceptions (e.g. the Windover archaeological site in Florida, U.S., where 168 bodies were discovered dating back to around 6000–5000 BCE)

when i say i've been thinking about bog bodies, i mean to say that i've been thinking about all the time they spent alone. many of these people lived during the Iron Age (roughly 800 BCE-400 CE, thought some date back to the Neolithic) and were discovered thousands of years later in the 20 and 21st centuries. we remain unsure of how or why they died or were placed in their respective bogs. some chalk it up to sacrificial practices, like in the case of the Tollund Man (found in Denmark, c. 405–380 BCE), others could be ceremonial burials without nefarious intent. some of the people were decidedly murdered (like the Lindow Man in England, c. 2nd century CE, who had evidence of strangulation, blunt force trauma, and throat cutting), while others may have died from disease (though evidence is scarce, parasites such as whipworm and tapeworm have been found in preserved intestines, suggesting poor health, but no clear case of death solely from disease has been confirmed)

Tollund Man's Preserved Head, Wikipedia

there is no singular connection between these discoveries, save for the ways their bodies were preserved and the fact that they all spent unprecedented amounts of time undiscovered and forgotten. no grave markers to let us know the names of the deceased, nor any floral bouquets left behind to remember them.

in continuing to learn and talk about this phenomenon, we can give voice to the silence of the bog. though the names and stories of these individuals may never be fully recovered, the study of their remains allows us to reflect on mortality, ritual, and the ways humans have always wrestled with memory and loss. bog bodies are reminders that time does not erase existence but simply buries it, waiting for someone to look closely enough to see.

Further Reading:

Bogs, Bones and Bodies: The Deposition of Human Remains in Northern European Mires 9000 BC–1900 AD by R. van Beek

National Geographic Education: Bog Bodies

History.com: What Bog Bodies Reveal About Ancient Human Life

#diary

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