In peat bogs throughout Northern Europe - from Ireland to Poland - the dead, the so-called "swamp people", have been found over the years. They were all brutally murdered thousands of years ago, but they look like they died the other day. What terrible secrets of the past hide in the swamps, which have become the last refuge for thousands of dead people?
One day in the spring of 1950, brothers Viggo and Emil Heygaard from the small village of Tollund in Denmark, while mining peat in a local swamp, unearthed a dead man. It seemed that the man had died recently - fine wrinkles, stubble and even eyelashes in his eyes were visible on his face, and a thin leather cord was tightened around his neck. The brothers, frightened by the terrible find, called the police from the neighboring town of Silkeborg. But the police were unable to solve the riddle of this dead man.
The famous Danish archaeologist Peter Globe from the University of Aarhus organized the excavations - he removed a layer of peat along with the body and sent it to the Silkeborg Museum in a large wooden box. The results of the forensic examination shocked everyone - the contents of the dead man's stomach showed that he lived in the pre-Roman Iron Age (III century BC).
Later, this was confirmed by radiocarbon analysis, with the help of which the age of archaeological finds is determined. For more than two thousand years, the man now known as the "Tollund Man" spent at the bottom of the swamp. Meanwhile, the history of mankind was being made up above.
Beginning in the 18th century, hundreds of dead were found during peat mining in European swamps. The oldest of these dates back to 8000 BC. e. Many of the "swamp people", like the "man from Tollund", have been perfectly preserved to this day: time has hardly touched their skin, nails, hair, internal organs, stomach contents and even clothes.
At first it seemed that the dead had nothing in common - among them were men and women, adults and children, kings and commoners. Later it turned out that they were all brutally killed and it was not by chance that they found their last refuge in the bog.
Why have the bodies of swamp people survived to this day? The fault is peat bogs. Peat moss - sphagnum - contains the sphagnol substance, which reacts with the enzymes of putrefactive bacteria and prevents the bodies from decomposing. Thanks to the same sphagnol, calcium is washed out of the bones, and they become flexible like rubber, and sometimes completely dissolve.
Peat moss also contains humic acid, which gives the skin a bronze color. This is why the "swamp people" look like golems, coarsely molded from leather and dirt.
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Generations of scientists and writers fought over the mystery of mummies from the quagmire for many years. The works of the famous psychologist Carl Jung and the Irish poet Seamus Heaney are dedicated to them. In the 1st century A. D. e. the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus outlined one of the earliest versions of how the dead ended up in their swamp graves. In his ethnographic work "Germany", he argued that the Germanic tribes drowned in the swamps "cowards who blundered in battle" and adulterers.
Since then, many scholars have challenged Tacitus's assumption. But later archaeological finds, including a man from Tollund, confirm that it was no coincidence that the swamp people ended up in the peat bogs.
In his book Swamp People, Danish archaeologist Peter Glob suggests that ancient people were victims of ritual murders in honor of the goddess of fertility. According to him, in the Iron Age, swamps were considered the gateway to the spiritual world. Gifts intended for the gods were immersed in them: jewelry, armor, weapons and even oil in wooden churns, which has survived intact to this day.
And although more than a thousand ancient corpses were discovered in the peat bogs of Europe, scientists have carefully studied only a few hundred. We can only guess what terrible secrets of the past hide the swamps, where thousands of the dead found their last refuge.
The Hanged Man of Tollund (375-210 BC)
When he saw a man from Tollund for the first time,”archaeologist Peter Glob thought that the man had died in his sleep - his eyes were closed, and a slight smile seemed to play on his lips. However, the 40-year-old man did not die a natural death - he was hanged. A leather loop was tightened on the dead man's neck, and an X-ray showed that the man's tongue was swollen.
The man from Tollund.
Globe and other scholars believe the 40-year-old Dane was a valuable sacrifice. This is evidenced by how carefully the killers laid the man in the swamp - he was found lying on his side in a fetal position. Perhaps, such a sacrifice of the gods was asked for a generous harvest or thanked for the peat with which houses were heated in ancient times.
In those days, it was customary to burn the dead, so scientists assume that the "man from Tollund" had a special purpose. Perhaps he should have conveyed some message to the other world or become a servant of the gods.
King of Old Krogan (350-175 BC)
In 2003, workers clearing swamps near ancient Celtic settlements found the remains of a man in an excavator bucket. Although only the torso remained of the "man from Old Krogan" - the rest of the body was apparently destroyed by an excavator - forensic archaeologists were able to calculate the height of a man by the length of an arm. He was a sturdy man two meters tall.
A man from Old Krogan.
As scientists assume, "the man from Old Krogan" was from a noble family. However, this did not save him from a brutal murder. First, a 20-year-old man was stabbed to death with a dagger, then gutted and beheaded. Judging by the wound on his left forearm, he fiercely resisted. However, the forces were unequal. The man was twisted, pierced through his forearms and passed through the wounds with flexible shoots of hazel, which tightened his arms.
Irish Swamp People expert Eamon Kelly believes that the Old Krogan Man was a king, a contender for the throne, or a royal hostage who was sacrificed to the goddess of fertility. Well-groomed nails, unaccustomed hands and the last meal, which consisted of cereals and sour milk, speak of the high social status of the dead.
In addition, Old Krogan's nipples were cut off, which also indicates a high position in society. According to Kelly, in the Middle Ages, it was a custom to kiss or suck on the ruler's nipples as a sign of obedience. And when the king was overthrown from the throne, the first thing he did was cut out his nipples. Other experts argue that this damage could have appeared over the years that the corpse lay in the swamp.
According to Irish mythology, the Celts performed ritual murders of kings - they were considered guides between the other world and the earthly world. After the sacrifice, the remains of the king were thrown into the swamps on the borders of the Celtic kingdoms, and gifts were left nearby - pots, weapons and golden collars, which symbolized power. According to Kelly, the Celts used a bloody ritual to mark the boundaries of the kingdom before the gods.
Ritual murder at Grobolla (290 BC – 310 AD)
Workers stumbled upon the body of the "Groboll Man" in 1952 while mining peat in a Danish swamp. The man seemed to be sitting in a peat bog and meditating. However, according to the serene face of the "man from Grobolla" you cannot tell how terrible his death was. Scientists believe he was executed - put on his knees, thrown back his head and slit his throat from ear to ear.
The Man from Groboll.
Unlike the Old Krogan, the Grobolla was not of a noble family: in the stomach of a 25-year-old man, they found the remains of the poor's food - coarsely ground cereal. Recent studies of the dead man's bones also showed that he had stunted growth (Harris lines were found - a sign of increased bone density). As a child, he may have experienced severe stress and malnutrition.
Archaeologists still do not agree on the circumstances under which the man died. In his stomach, traces of the hallucinogenic ergot mushroom were found - nowadays the drug LSD is synthesized from it. According to some scholars, this, along with terrible wounds, testifies to ritual murder. Others are skeptical - in their opinion, the ergot found in the stomach is not enough to cause hallucinations.
Boy from Kayhausen (500-100 BC)
In 1922, peat workers near Kayhausen found the remains of an eight-year-old boy in a German swamp. The body was wrapped in a woolen blanket and a calfskin cloak. The workers loaded the dead man onto a wheelbarrow and took him to the local natural history museum.
The "boy from Kayhausen" - one of the few children found in the peat bogs - died from several stabs in the neck with a dagger. The child tried to cover himself with his hand, as evidenced by the cuts on the hands. The killers tied the boy's hands behind his back and wrapped him in a calfskin cloak.
X-rays showed that the "boy from Kayhausen" could hardly walk without assistance - he had a broken hip. He also had stunted growth due to malnutrition or illness.
In his book Buried Soul, British anthropologist Timothy Taylor suggests that the Kayhausen boy was a foreteller of the future. In the Iron Age, cripples were believed to have supernatural powers, and they could hardly cope with other work. However, in those days harsh customs reigned. It is quite possible that the child paid with his life for an unfulfilled prediction.
Ida Girl (54 BC-128 AD)
The Dutch workers who discovered the Ida girl in 1897 were terrified of her fiery red hair. The men were sure: the devil himself appeared to them. They fled the swamp and have never returned there since. In fact, the girl from Ida was blonde, and there was nothing supernatural in her fiery red hair - it was colored by the tannin substance contained in the swamp water.
Girl from Ida.
After a while, archaeologists learned from the local newspaper about the terrible find and went to excavations. Experts at the Drents Museum, where the remains are kept, found that a 16-year-old girl was strangled with a cord woven of wool, and then stabbed in the left collarbone.
Scientists are still arguing about what caused her death. Like the boy from Caihausen, the girl from Ide could have been killed due to deformities - the tomography showed that the girl was lame, had a clubfoot on her right leg, and her spine was badly bent.
But there is another version. Shortly before her death, the girl lost half of the hair on her head - this is how infidelity was punished in the Middle Ages. It is possible that the Ida girl was executed for cheating on her husband.