The first known marsh mummy was discovered in 1791, in the Dutch village of Kibbelgaarn . Since then, hundreds of similar bodies have turned up in bogs and bogs in northern Europe, from Denmark to Ireland.
Most of these mummies are over 2,000 years old, and almost all show obvious signs of having suffered an extremely violent death . Sphagnum moss, which thrives in peat bogs, keeps corpses in a cold, acidic and oxygen-starved environment. These conditions prevent them from rotting, they conserve their skin, nails and hair surprisingly well – in that of some bodies there have been traces of plant fixatives – and on many occasions allow scientists to even know the diet they were eating or the exact causes of their death.
Thus, it has been found that the majority were probably victims of ritual sacrifices. Moreover, almost all the mummies in the swamps present injuries that, according to paleopathologists, correspond to different forms of torture that were practiced on them before being executed and thrown into the peat pits. Some experts maintain that these were offerings made to the fertility gods to assure the sovereigns of the area a fruitful mandate and abundant harvests.
The Grauballe Man, who was discovered in April 1952 in Denmark, probably met this fate. The body, belonging to a 30-year-old man who lived in the 1st century BC. C., presents a gash that crosses the throat from ear to ear. Its state of conservation is such that forensics have been able to take its fingerprints and know that its last meal consisted of barley and wheat porridge seasoned with 60 types of herbs. The mummy is on display in the Moesgard Museum of Prehistory, in the Danish city of Aarhus.
Image: Hombre de Grauballe. Photo: Sven Rosborn
