Most Bog Bodies Died Violent Deaths
With very few exceptions, the bog bodies of northern Europe, whether male, female or child died violently. Often their bodies were abused before death and some show signs of multiple methods of execution. Killing methods varied but garroting, hanging, stabbing, bludgeoning, throat-cutting and decapitation were all common causes of death.
Strangulation is the most common method. Initially, the finders of Haraldskaer Woman believed she was drowned in situ because she was pinned down in the bog. However, an autopsy carried out in 2000 found a narrow ligature line around her neck showing someone garroted her. Yde Girl suffered the same fate- and was discovered with the fabric that killed her around the neck of her partially clothed body.
It seems to have been common to leave nooses attached to their victims, as Tollund Man was sent to his grave naked except for a belt, a sheepskin hat- and the platted rope, which was used to kill him. However, whoever killed Tollund Man did not garrot him; they hung him. A CT scan identified a scar at the back of his neck, caused by the weight of his body, which pulled the noose up into a V shape.
There were, however, other ways to die. Grauballe man had his throat slashed so violently that he was almost decapitated. German bog neighbors Osterby Man and Datgen Man lost their heads. In Osterby Man’s case, it is all that survives of him, found in a bag staked to the bottom of the bog minus his body.
Some of the victims seem to have fought back before they died. Kayhausen boy and Old Croghan Man both have slash marks on their left arms, indicating an attempt to ward off blows. Others seem to have been abused before death. Graubelle Man suffered a massive blow to the leg pre mortum that would undoubtedly have undermined him. Clonycavan man was subjected to a barrage of ax blows to his head and upper body before he was eventually killed and disemboweled.
However, some bodies have multiple potential causes of death. Old Croghan Man seems to have been stabbed in the left lung and then decapitated. However, the clearest example of ‘overkill’ is Lindow Man from the Northwest of England. Not only was his skull fractured by one of several blows to his head, but his attackers then garroted him and cut his throat before finally pushing him face down into the bog where he took his final breath.
Whatever the method of death, why were these men, women, and children all so violently killed? There is more than one theory.