Bodies from the Bog
Bodies from the Bog by James M. Deem. © 1998 Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-395-85784-8. Paperback. Children’s/Archaeology. 42 pages. $7.99 US. [ Purchase ] Source: local library
Bodies from the Bog opens up with the discovery of The Grauballe Man from Denmark in 1952. While the book focused mainly on bog bodies discovered on the continent, insular discoveries were mentioned as well.
Along with discussing the bodies themselves, in Chapter 3 we are also told about the life cycle of a bog and why these play such an important role in the preservation of these people. Of how a bog is born from sphagnum moss growing on layers of fen peat. This is what plays a pivotal role in the creation of bog bodies.
While fen peat alone allows for the growth of bacteria, and the eventual decay of human remains, sphagnan (a substance found in sphagnum moss) prevents the development of bacteria. It is sphagnan which preserves human remains, and even wood and leather objects from thousands of year ago, however, materials made from plants (i.e., linen) will decay. This is the reason bog bodies are most often nude, their clothes have deteriorated. It is also sphagnan which turns the bodies tan and leathery. So bodies become skeletal remains from fen peat and mummies from bog peat. Another topic covered briefly, and I do mean briefly, in this chapter is how special the meeting of land and water was to the ancient of Europe. Read more
