Posted on 06/21/2006 4:58:55 PM PDT by blam
Bog bodies found were society's elite
19:45pm 20th June 2006
Research into Iron Age bog bodies discovered in the midlands of Ireland has revealed they were elite members of society who may have met violent deaths as part of kingship rituals.
As the bodies discovered in 2003 went on display at the National Museum of Ireland, Eamonn Kelly, the keeper of Irish antiquities, said they were placed along significant boundaries of ancient kingdoms linking them to sovereignty and kingship rituals during the Iron Age.
"The bodies fit in, in that they are also offerings, they are offerings to the territorial gods or goddesses but they may also at a practical level have represented the elimination of perhaps failed candidates for kingship or deposed kings," said Mr Kelly on the two bodies discovered in bogs at Oldcroghan, Co Offaly and Clonycavan, Co Meath.
Research has shown that many of the items discovered, such as kingly regalia, horse trappings and weapons, were connected with the inauguration rituals of kings which can be traced back to the Bronze Age.
"All of the bog bodies were members of the elite, Oldcroghan man had no wear on his hands, had manicured fingernails, Clonycavan man is able to afford expensive hair gel brought in from Spain. So these are members of the elite, they are not slaves, they are not prisoners of war.
"They might be royal hostages who have been killed to enforce the submission of subservient lords," Mr Kelly said at the launch of the exhibition 'Kingship and Sacrifice - An exhibition of bog bodies and related finds'.
Mr Kelly said it was common with all bog bodies discovered that they had suffered violent deaths.
"The nature of the killings is clearly ritualistic, there is a phased approach to the killing of these men, some of them may have died from the first blow they received, the rest of it is just going through the ritual of inflicting particular wounds for particular religious or ritual reasons," he said.
'Although cultures change, lifestyles change, people are people'
Researchers highlighted a significant feature on Clonycavan man - his distinctive hairstyle. On the back of his head, the hair was cut short, with the rest of the hair, around 20cm long, gathered into a bundle on the top of his head.
His hair was held in place by hair gel made from resin imported from France or Spain - suggesting he was a person of high status.
"The idea of somebody taking this sort of pride in their appearance, this sort of attention to detail, shows it is not a modern concept," Rolly Read, head of conservation at the museum, said. "Although cultures change, lifestyles change, people are people."
It was discovered Clonycavan man had died from a series of blows to his head, and a long cut to his abdomen suggesting he may have been disembowelled.
Oldcroghan man, who was over 25-years-old at the time of his death and about six feet four inches tall, was stabbed in the chest. He was decapitated, had his nipples cut and his thorax severed. The cutting of the nipples would have rendered Oldcroghan man ineligible for kingship.
Isabelle Mulhall, co-ordinator of the research, said it was a significant project involving many scientific techniques including finger printing, radiocarbon dating and dental analysis which yielded information about their diet and condition.
"We were able to talk about their last meals for example, one of the bodies had eaten cereals and buttermilk," she said.
"Both bodies were remarkably well preserved, they were incomplete, but nevertheless remarkably well deserved."
What did they do to the guys with mullets?
You’ve got to be kidding? Paris Hilton? Dictionary listing for Skank – see Paris Hilton.
Dude there’s not enough penicillin or a strong enough condom in the world to keep you safe on that date. Hope your hot tub has lots of chlorine. And as skinny as she is, the heat might dissolve her to nothing but bones as opposed to just skin and bones. Plus she’s as dumb as a box of hair. And when I look at her, I think she’s not even pretty – sort of horse faced I think but then I’m not a guy so hey – what ever floats your boat.
bttt
Hey, What can I say ---- My kind of Broad!!
I'll row my boat, you row yours!! LOL :>)
Quite a large forehead. Almost alien.
***Bog bodies found were society's elite***
did they have democrats toDwage class warefare?
And a chicken bone will be concluded as part of an index finger.
One couldn't be mutiliated and be king according to the old legends. If you lost a hand in combat, for example. But this is the first I'd heard about intentionally mutilating someone's nipples...
Love child, never meant to be....
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Interesting forehead. Very high and broad, signifying perhaps a capacity for higher thought, a characteristic of intellectual elites.
1)It all starts out as a harmless pre-pubescent Juvenile activity, titty twist....OUCH. Boys will be boys
2)Then in the post pubescent phase, it becomes a form of torture with feminine assistance...OOOOoooo! Boys and girls will be.
3)Then Aristocrats and nobles take it to the extreme by exclusion from peer groups via mutilation. Gaaaaaahhhhhh!
4)And if you really offend the King and his advisors: OFF WITH THEM!OOOOOoops! ( Depriving one of a crucial errogenous zone and the positive aspects of #2 above.)
****************** The modern version in a similar practise is exercised by the modern medical profession on behalf of patients who sometimes don't need it.
I'd like to see "several faces" done by different "artists" with no contact between them during the reconstruction. I bet they would be sooooooo different that you wouldn't even guess that they were using the same skull.
Her face looks like perhaps...."Alice, Through the Looking Glass". In fact, I think its darn close to what is depicted in a circa 1880 copy I have.
The folks that do these reconstructions are "artists" and they are influenced by their own "concepts".
She appears to have had a really high forehead in this pic but the bog body does not give the impression that her forehead was that high.
I though so too, but everything changes shape when a body is mummified, and bones shrink and shrivel like a died up prune. I have noticed foreheads of similar height. Take a look at Anne Coulters ! Perhaps she also is an "alien."( LOL)
Hopefully all scientific knowledge will not be lost by then, unless you are intimating that scientists today don't know the difference between chicken bones and phalanges.
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