Oldest Bog Body

Top 10 Discoveries of 2013 January/February 2014

County Laois, Ireland
(Courtesy Eamonn Kelly)
SHARE:

When radiocarbon dating results came in on a body discovered by a peat cutter in the middle of Ireland’s Cashel Bog, they elicited surprise. “Cashel Man” is the oldest fleshed bog body in Europe, predating the former holder of that title by at least 600 years. Cashel Man lived in the Early Bronze Age, around 2000 B.C., and clearly died a violent death. CT scans revealed that his spine was shattered in two places, a sharp blow had broken his arm, and he had been struck multiple times in the back with an ax. Archaeologist Eamonn Kelly of the National Museum of Ireland believes that Cashel Man’s burial on an ancient regional border, and the nature of his injuries, are evidence that the practice of sacrificing young men—a ritual connected with kingship and sovereignty well known from the Iron Age (500 B.C. to A.D. 400)—is 1,500 years older than previously thought.

MORE FROM Top 10 Discoveries of 2013

  • Top 10 Discoveries of 2013 January/February 2014

    A Wari Matriarchy?

    Castillo de Huarmey, Peru

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Patrycja Przadka Giersz)
  • Top 10 Discoveries of 2013 January/February 2014

    North America’s Oldest Petroglyphs

    Winnemucca Lake, Nevada

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Larry Benson)
  • Features January/February 2014

    Stone Towns of the Swahili Coast

    Along 2,000 miles of the East African coast, the sophisticated trading centers of the medieval Swahili reveal their origins and influences

    Read Article
    (Samir S. Patel)
  • Letter from England January/February 2014

    The Scientist’s Garden

    Excavations in an English garden reveal the evolution of the nation's culture across thousands of years

    Read Article
    (Adam Stanford, Aerial-Cam)
  • Artifacts January/February 2014

    Limestone Eagle

    Read Article
    (Matthew Helmer)
  • Digs & Discoveries January/February 2014

    French Revolution Forgeries?

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Davide Pettener/Paolo Garagnani)