Bog Bodies

When I was in Dublin, I went to the National Museum of Ireland.  They have some bog bodies on display.  Bog bodies are bodies that were mummified naturally in peat bogs. Peat bogs are swampy areas where plants have rotted thousands of years ago making peat.  Peat bogs are in Europe and bog bodies have been found all over Europe.

Bog body whose face was really preserved.

In peat bogs, there is almost no oxygen and the peat is really acidic.  This means that peat bogs preserve things that fall in them, like people. One of the bog bodies had perfectly preserved fed hair that was in a braid.

This is a 2,000 year old wood basket that was found in a bog.

This is the hand of one of the bog bodies.  His fingernail and hand is very detailed.

I didn't take any pics of the actual bog bodies because it seemed disrespectful.  But, you can get right next to the bodies and look at them.  It was creepy but the bodies are about 2,000 years old so it is not like they just died.  Some scientist think that the people were executed as sacrifices to a god.