We thought we knew the secrets of Europe s bog bodies We didn t nationalgeographic.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nationalgeographic.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
There’s a ghastly severed head in St Robert’s Roman Catholic church, just down the road from me in Catforth, northern England. Having read a brief guide to
bog body, any of several hundred variously preserved human remains found in natural peat bogs, mostly in northern and western Europe but also elsewhere. Such bogs are anaerobic (oxygen-free) environments, a condition that prevents decay. They are also heavy with tannins, a group of naturally occurring chemicals used in tanning leather. The tannins preserve organic materials such as human bodies, including the soft tissues and the contents of the digestive tract. Bog bodies have been variously found with cut throats, severed limbs, broken bones, ropes around the neck, entrails pulled through the skin, and other marks that suggest the possibility