Iron Age people were savagely tortured

Archaeologists have discovered two Iron Age corpses buried in peat in Ireland. Both are men, living more than 2,000 years ago, and being victims of a barbaric sacrificial rite.

Mummies mixed in peat.

Like human bodies found in peat piles across northern Europe, these bodies show signs of torture before death.

The first body fell from a peat cutter in February 2003 in Clonycavan, near Dublin. The arms, hands and lower abdomen are lost, possibly due to the crushing machine. The second body was found in May 2003 in Croghan, 40 km from Clonycavan. This man lost his head and legs, discovered by a worker while clearing the sewer.

The analysis of radioactive carbon showed that both died at about the same time about 2,300 years ago. Hundreds of bodies were discovered in peat bogs across northern Europe . The special chemical properties of coal fields have helped preserve the body.

The Clonycavan man is a tall young man no more than 1.6 m tall. Under the hair there are still traces of a wound caused by heavy objects cut open to open the skull. The chemical analysis showed that he ate a lot of green vegetables before he died, indicating death in the summer. It also shows that he used a special Iron Age hair gel, a vegetable oil mixed with resin.

The Croghan man is also young, maybe 20 years old, but much higher, about 1.8 m. He was brutally tortured before he died. The tip of the head is cut and the body is stabbed much into the ribs. The wound on his arm showed that he tried to resist. This man was then beheaded and cut off his limbs.

The food left in his abdomen showed that he had drunk milk and cereal before he died. But the chemical analysis in nails showed that he ate more meat than the man at Clonycavan. This proves that he died in the cold season, when vegetables were scarce. It also explains why this mummy is more intact.

MT . (according to BBC)