Ten thousand years ago, someone’s skull was bashed in and their body tossed in one of the boggy areas of Europe—and ten thousand years ago, much of Europe’s landscape were bogs. The oxygen-deficient bog waters prevented their body from being eaten by predators or insects, and the highly acidic atmosphere sucked the calcium from their bodies, leaving only organs, skin, and hair tanned to a perfect, leathery hue. There’s something pristine and beautiful about bog bodies.
The oldest bog bodies date back to around 8,000 BCE, with most being dated to around 3,000 years ago. They’re so well-preserved by the bog environment, they’ve been mistaken for fresh corpses and reburied in cemeteries as anonymous deaths. It’s also worth noting many of them were murdered or executed, showing clear wounds or even retaining their hangman’s noose, like in the case of the Tollund Man. They’re pretty awesome to behold, and nature made them. It actually makes sense for European museums to send back the royal mummies they’ve stolen from African nations and display their own criminal ones instead. These ones don’t come gilded, though.
Today I’ve put together some of my favorite bog bodies for you morbid people to enjoy. So, enjoy!
