Bog People Likely Offered as Part of a Ritual Sacrifice

PITTSBURGH —  The seven mummies on display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History are nowhere near as famous as King Tut, but they’re just as intriguing.

Take the 2,000-year-old body of a teenager, found in the Netherlands. Who was she? Who killed her and why?

The remains of a cord used to strangle “Yde Girl” are still visible around her neck a century after she was found in a peat bog. Was the killing murder, punishment, or ritual?

The exhibition, “The Mysterious Bog People,” makes the case for ritualistic sacrifice as it delves into the early history of northwestern European life around bogs through archeology and forensic sleuthing befitting a “CSI” episode.

In fact, part of the exhibition allows visitors to investigate four hypothetical bog bodies.

Visitors can examine bones, skull and teeth (don’t worry, they’re fake) to determine the sex and likely age, the manner of death, the era in which the person lived, even whether the victim was a hunter-gatherer or a farmer (through examination of the stomach contents).

Peat bogs are marshy areas of dead vegetation and sphagnum moss. The water’s high iron content, tannic acid and lack of oxygen act as a preservative. Remarkably well-preserved bodies have been found in bogs, many by bog cutters who harvest peat bog for fuel, although nowadays machines are used more often and bodies are sometimes damaged, said Sandra Olsen, the museum’s curator of anthropology.

A picture of one mummy, not on display, shows perhaps the best preserved body. “Tollund man,” named for the place he was found in Denmark 55 years ago, has silver-gray skin and seems as though he was carved from pencil lead. Stubble sprouts from his chin.

The bodies on display are among several dozen known specimens. They are dried out because proper steps weren’t taken to keep them preserved, so they look leathery.

But they still intrigue visitors.

“Red Franz” had red hair, a beard and a gaping slit across his neck. Two mummies, believed to be about 2,000 years old, were displayed together, as they were found. They were initially presumed to be a man and a woman, but it had since been determined they were both males. One had a hole in his chest.

“I think that maybe people are only interested in the grisly aspect, but I hope that people will have a better understanding of ancient Europeans,” Olsen said.

Scientists have determined diet and health of bog people from stomach contents and soft tissue analysis -- far more than can be learned from skeletal remains.

Although some bog people were probably murder victims or criminals, the exhibition argues the abundance of other items found buried in bogs makes it likely that many were sacrificed. More than 300 such items, including coins, jewelry, ceremonial musical instruments and weaponry, are on display.

Ancient Europeans made offerings to their gods in natural settings, Olsen said, and watery places such as rivers, lakes and bogs were seen as conduits to the gods.

“The bogs are considered special places because there’s an aura of danger there,” Olsen said. It’s easy to imagine getting lost or drowning in dark, fog-covered bogs.

Offerings would have been made to appease gods so livestock and crops would thrive and for fertility, Olsen said. They also would be made to keep gods from becoming angry and delivering famine, drought or other devastation.

The exhibition will run at the Carnegie until Jan. 23. In the spring, it will be at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.