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Patrick Woodward and Megan Nollet talk about very unique discoveries and what they might reveal of ancient cultures.
Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Patrick Woodward.
Voice 2
And I’m Megan Nollet. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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Voice 1
On Monday May 8, 1950, the Højgaard family discovered the body of a man. They found him face down in the water. The body’s skin was brown and hard, like dried animal skin. And the body had a rope around its neck. The body seemed so fresh that the Højgaards believed he had just been killed. But when the police came, they understood that it was not a job for them. It was a job for historians. The body the Højgaards had found was over two thousand years old.
Voice 2
Soon, researchers gave this man a name: the Tollund Man. And as they studied him, he became more mysterious. It was clear that someone had killed him. They had hung him by the neck. He wore no clothes, except for his shoes and a small hat. But the way he had been buried seemed respectful. There was evidence that they had even closed his eyes. Researchers did not know why he had been killed.
Voice 1
People have discovered bodies like the Tollund Man’s all over Europe. There are even some in North America. Most of them are murder victims. And all of them were buried in special wetlands called bogs. Today’s Spotlight is on the mystery of these bog people.
Voice 2
We do not know much about the people who killed the Tollund Man. They lived in Denmark around 500 BCE. They had no written language. All we know of them is the things they left behind. But researchers believe that bogs were important to them. They may have been places of religious worship. Joshua Levine is a writer at Smithsonian Magazine. He explains:
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“To the people who put him there, a bog was a special place. Most of Northern Europe lay under a thick forest. But bogs did not. They were half earth, half water, and open to the sky. They must have seemed like doorways to another world.”
Voice 1
Bogs may have been important for another reason. They kept things fresh. Today, we know the reason. A special plant called sphagnum moss is found in bogs. Sphagnum contains chemicals called phenols. These natural chemicals slow down the decaying process. Bogs also have little oxygen in their water. Most bacteria cannot grow there. So objects placed in bogs rarely decay. Researchers in Ireland have even found butter, made from cows milk, in bogs. The butter was still safe to eat. It was almost two thousand years old!
Voice 2
The people who killed the Tollund Man probably knew that bogs could stop decay. They often placed other objects in bogs, like swords. These may have been sacrifices to their gods. Experts believe that the Tollund Man may have been a sacrifice as well. The people who buried him did so with special care. They put him in the bog in a sleeping position. This shows he had a special place in their society. Miranda Aldhouse-Green is a teacher at Cardiff University, in Wales. She told NBC News:
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“If you put a body in the bog, it would not decay. It would stay between the worlds of the living and the dead.”
Voice 1
Other bog bodies may have also been sacrifices. But the way they died was very different. Oldcroghan Man is the name of a body found in Ireland. He was probably a king or some kind of ruler. He was very tall for the time and had smooth hands.
Voice 2
The Oldcroghan Man died from a knife to his chest. His killers then cut off his head. They cut his body in half. They cut his chest in many places. Then they placed his body in the bog. Some researchers believe he was killed because he failed to provide for his people. The Oldcroghan Man may have angered these people’s gods. The people may have thought his death would help them.
Voice 1
Other bog bodies may not have been so important. Some may have been criminals, killed for their crimes. Tacitus was a writer who lived in the Roman Empire in the first century CE. He often wrote about history and other cultures. He discussed how some people in Northern Europe managed their criminals in his book Germania.
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“They hang cheats and deserters from trees. People who do not want to go to war and who practice unlawful sex are punished differently. They push these offenders into the wet ground of a bog. They hold the criminals down with large wooden fences.”
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Experts are not sure if Tacitus knew the truth. He wrote down what other people told him. He never visited Northern Europe. But his writings are some of the only texts that experts have on these traditions.
Voice 1
People have discovered bodies in bogs in Denmark, Ireland, Germany, England, The Netherlands, Poland, Norway, and Sweden. The National Museum of Ireland in Dublin hosts a display of some of these bodies. But Europe is not the only place where bog bodies exist. Some have been found in North America. But these bodies are very different from the ones found in Europe. Most of the people in these sites died peacefully. The people found there were ancient Native Americans. They may have buried their dead in water.
Voice 2
One place in Florida contained many skeletons. But the burial place was more like a modern burial ground. People there were buried with the things they had in life. There were adults, teenagers, and even children. The Native Americans may have also believed the bog was a special place. But they had a different relationship with it than ancient Europeans.
Voice 1
We may never fully know the stories of bog bodies. We may never know why people found in bogs died. Some may have been sacrifices. Some may have been criminals. Some may have simply fallen in the bog and died. It is also possible they were buried by the people who wanted to honor them. Perhaps these were places meant to preserve a record of life.
Voice 2
But whatever reason, these bodies save extremely important history. They are so fresh that experts can test their DNA. We can see what they ate on the day that they died. We can learn a lot from these small things. We can learn what the weather was like in one year. We can learn what kinds of plants were growing. We can even learn where these people traveled and the way they interacted with their dead. We may not have writing to explain their lives. We do not have their words to speak about their culture. But for experts, these ancient human bodies are like written records. Their study shines light that allows us to see into the unknown lives of the people who lived before us.
Voice 1
What do you make of these bodies? Why do you think they were killed? What do you want to know about their cultures? You can leave a comment on our website at www.spotlightenglish.com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and X. You can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
Voice 2
The writer and producer of this program was Dan Christmann. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. This program is called, ‘The Mystery of the Bog People’.
Voice 1
We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.
Question:
What do you make of these bodies? Why do you think they were killed? What do you want to know about their cultures?