Doorways in Time, pt. 11: The Bog Bodies -- sec. 1: Something Isn’t Rotten in the State of Denmark

The most exhaustive survey that you will find of the “Bog Bodies” – the highly preserved human remains, often of ancient Iron-Age people whose lives were ended violently, that have been discovered in wetlands all across northern Europe, from Estonia to Ireland, over the past 250 years. We consider how, when, and why these often shockingly intact bodies have been found, what facts can be gleaned about who they were, and finally, when and where the practice of killing people and placing them into bogs originated (hint: it’s in the title). In the next installment, we will discuss the competing theories as to why these Iron Age people died violently, incuding murder, execution, and sacrifice. Please support this podcast at any level to hear the patron-only lectures, including the previous episode of “Doorways in Time,” examining Catalhoyuk, the oldest town site on Earth -- www.patreon.com/c/u5530632 Image: The right hand of Grauballe Man, 300s-200s B.C., discovered in Denmark, 1952 SOURCES: Books: Miranda Aldhouse-Green, “Bog Bodies Uncovered: Solving Europe’s Ancient Mystery”; Ross & Dobins, “The Life and Death of a Druid Prince: The Story of Lindow Man, an Archaeological Sensation”; Karin Sanders, “Bodies in the Bog and the Archaeological Imagination”; Stead, Bourke, & Brothwell, eds., “Lindow Man: the Body in the Bog”; Melanie Giles, “Bog Bodies: Face to Face with the Past”; Peter Glob, “The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved” Dick Kirby, “Missing, Presumed Murdered: The McKay Case and Other Convictions without a Corpse” MA Thesis: Solen Ruffy, “The Violent Deaths of Kings and Priests in Ireland and Britain: Case Study of the Iron Age Bog Mummies,” etc., 2023, Articles: Van Beek, et al, “Bogs, bones and bodies: the deposition of human remains in northern European mires,” Antiquity, Jan. 2023; R.C. Connolly, “Lindow Man: Britain’s Prehistoric Bog Body,” Anthropology Today, Oct. 1985; Dalya Alberge, “Lindow Man ‘was a simple murder victim,” The Times, March 22, 2004; Ronald Hutton, “What Did Happen to Lindow Man?”, Worthing Archaeological Society Journal, spring 2004 Lecture: Ronald Hutton, “Gods of Prehistoric Britain,” 2022, Podcast Series: “The Discovery Series: The Bog Bodies,”