European Bog Bodies: From the Iron Age Peat Bog to the 21st Century

Well preserved bodies dating from the prehistoric era to the 19th century have been found across northwestern Europe; specifically in the peat bogs of Ireland, Great Britain and Denmark. These discoveries were especially prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when mass peat extraction was at its height. Many of these finds have been dated to the Iron Age and have previously been attributed to patterns of ritual violence. This paper focuses on three finds from the Iron Age: Graubelle man, Tollund man, and the Weerdinge couple. This project intends to exhibit the types of information which have been and can be gleaned from the European bog bodies, and by doing so illustrate that Archaeologists have a responsibility to examine these individuals.