In August 1984, archaeologists discovered Britain’s
Nicknamed ‘Pete Marsh’ or Lindow Man’ , the health, social status, last meal and cause of death of the man more properly known as ‘Lindow II’ have all been established. But why he died is a matter of debate.Was Lindow Man a Celtic ritual sacrifice? Or is he an Iron Age Murder victim?
What Did Lindow Man look like?
When archaeologists discovered him, Lindow Man’s body was incomplete. His lower abdomen and one leg were missing. However, archaeologists were able to easily establish his sex as male from the fact that he had a neatly trimmed beard , moustache and sideburns.
Lindow Man must have been a well built individual. By looking at the length of his upper arm bone, experts established his height as between 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches, making him taller than most men of his time. His weight was calculated as being 60-65 kg (132 pounds or nearly 10 stone).
Lindow Man’s Lifestyle
Despite showing signs of slight osteoarthritis, Lindow Man was in good health for the period he lived in. His teeth, although stripped of enamel by the acid environment of the peat were healthy with no cavities. He was suffering from a severe case of whip worm and maw worm but this would probably have passed unnoticed.
In fact, his overall standard of living appeared to have been good, if his personal grooming was anything to go by. Electron microscopy revealed that his hair follicles were stepped, leading archaeologists to conclude that his hair was trimmed not long before his death with scissors or shears. These implements were not common items at the time, and this coupled with his manicured nails and smooth hands led to speculation that Lindow Man had been a high ranking member of society.
Yet despite these indications of privelege, Lindow Man was buried with no trappings of rank. Instead, he appeared to have been sent to his grave naked but for a fox fur armband.
Lindow Man’s Last Meal
Lindow Man’s stomach had not decayed, allowing for the analysis of his partly digested last meal. Scientists examined this under a microscope, to discover that Lindow Man’s final food was little more than a snack composed of chaff and bran. Electron spin resonance was used to establish the maximum cooking temperature of the meal, how long it was cooked for and the method used. It seemed that Lindow Man had eaten a type of griddle cake, cooked on a flat surface at 200 degrees centigrade for about half an hour. During this process, it had burnt.
The griddle cake was not all that was found in the stomach. Traces of small quantities of mistletoe pollen present. While insignificant in itself, it does suggest Lindow Man died in around March or April
Lindow Man’s Age
Lindow Man was between 20-25 when he died. However his exact date of death is harder to pinpoint. While the peat around the body was radiocarbon dated to around 300BC, the body itself was much younger, dating to 2BC and 119AD.
Archaeologist P C Buckland believes that the discrepancy in the dates, plus the fact that Lindow Man was found in layers of peat whose stratigraphy was undisturbed, suggests his body was deposited in an established pool on the moss. However, geographer K E Barber believes that the peat could have been peeled back and placed back over the body.
Lindow Man’s Death.
Lindow Man’s end was violent. At some point, someone kneed him in the back, breaking one of his ribs. This however was not the worst of the violence Lindow Man suffered. For his assailant also hit him twice on the head. One of the blows was made by a blunt object that left a V shaped wound on the skull. This blow was hard enough to drive a splinter of bone into Lindow Man’s brain which would have rendered him unconscious if it did not kill him outright. Archaeologists also found a1.5 mm thick thong of animal sinew around Lindow Man’s neck. Expersts have assumed was used to strangle him as two of his neck vertebrae were broken. If all of these injuries did not finish off the unfortunate man, the final one did. For a gash on the side of Lindow Man’s neck would have severed the jugular, causing him to bleed to death. Experst believe however that this wound was post mortem, and inflicted deliberatly before Lindow Man’s body was dropped face down into the bog pool.
Murder Victim, Criminal or Sacrifice?
Many experts believe the wounds to Lindow Man’s body suggest a complex, ritual death. The blow to the head, followed by garrotting and finally bleeding suggest a ceremonial ‘Triple Death’ according to Anne Ross, an expert on Iron Age religion.
What would be the reason for such a death? Lindow Man’s body is possibly contemporary with the Claudian Roman invasion of Britain so he may have been an important member of a local tribe who was chosen or volunteered to die to protect his people from the invaders. Alternatively, he may have been a sacrifice to ensure a good harvest or safe winter.
No one can know for certain. However there is a growing belief amongst some academics that Lindow Man was not sacrificed at all. R C Connolly, senior lecturer in physical anthropology at the University of Liverpool believes Lindow man was simply ‘clubbed to death’and dismisses the interpretation of ritual features as an ‘archaeological fettish’. To Connolly the sinew about the neck was the remains of a necklace rather than a garrot and that the neck wound in fact post mortem rupturing rather than a slash.
Lindow Moss: A Grisly Place to Die.
But as Neil Faulkner notes in his article for Current Archaeology “Who killed Lindow Man ?”‘Lindow Man is not an isolated case, but one of a type.’ Bog bodies from throughout Europe all have similar characteristics: violent deaths typified by strangulation, head wounds and naked burial in marginal, watery places- places of ritual significance to Iron Age peoples.
Perhaps in the case of Lindow man, the deciding factor is Lindow Moss itself. As Jody Joy, Curator of Euopean iron age collections at the British Museum stated: stated: ‘Lindow was a very remote place in those days, an unlikely place for an ambush or a murder”.
Yet this very remote place has yielded a surprising number of bodies all dating to the late Iron Age and early Roman Era. In addition to Lindow Man, in 1983, archaeologists uncovered a woman’s skull dating to between 90-440AD. Further male remains have also been found, dating to between 30BC and 225AD.
The debate on the reason for Lindow man’s death will no doubt continue. But with a range of bodies dating to the same narrow time band, it does seem something sinister was afoot on Lindow Moss during this transitional period of British history.
Sources
Lindow Man, The British Museum
Colin Renfrew and Paul Bahn, Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice.Thames and Hudson 1994.
Barber, K. E. (1995), “Two Views on Peat Stratigraphy and the Age of the Lindow Bodies. B: Peat Stratigraphy and the Lindow Bog Body: a Reconsideration of the Evidence”, Bog Bodies: New Discoveries and New Perspectives, British Museum Press, pp. 50–51B
Brothwell, Don, (1986), The Bogman and the Archaeology of People, British Museum Publications
Buckland, P. C. (1995), “Two Views on Peat Stratigraphy and the Age of the Lindow Bodies. A: Peat Stratigraphy and the Age of the Lindow Bodies”, Bog Bodies: New Discoveries and New Perspectives, British Museum Press
Connolly, R.C. (1985), “Lindow Man: Britain’s prehistoric bog body”, Anthropology Today(Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland)
Faulkner, N (2009) ‘Who Killed Lindow Man?’ Current Archaeology 233.
Joy, Jody (2009), Lindow Man, British Museum Press,
Turner, Rick C.; Scaife, R. G. (1995), “Preface”, Bog Bodies: New Discoveries and New Perspectives, British Museum Press, p. 8,
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