Where is lindow man

Reyn-Bardt tried to recant his confession but was convicted of murder by a jury count of 11 to 1. He spent the rest of his life in prison. This sordid tale might have slipped away as just another gruesome historical anecdote. But a year later Andy Mould made a second morbid discovery in the peat.

Again the police were called. That day, Rick Turner , county archaeologist for Cheshire, received a tip-off from the local paper about the find. The results of that tip would link his name to what became one of the most famous archaeological finds in British history: Lindow Man.

And these remains in turn would wind up at the center of a scientific debate over a murder mystery nearly 2, years in the making. The head and leg found at Lindow Moss are examples of increasingly well-known phenomena called bog bodies.

Human remains have been turning up in the peat bogs of Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, northern Germany, and occasionally North America for hundreds of years. These bodies can be amazingly well preserved. Even 8,year-old bog bodies can be in much better condition than the carefully prepared mummies of ancient Egypt. The famous Tollund Man of Denmark, for instance, could almost pass for an old man peacefully asleep, with a hat still on his head, whiskers on his chin—and a leather garrote around his neck.

And the bog must stay wet all year. The best-preserved bodies have been found in colder bogs, particularly those closer to the sea. Sphagnum mosses change the chemistry of the bodies of water around them, making them highly acidic for a natural environment a pH of roughly 3. As the floating mosses die, they build up layers at the bottom of the bog. The decaying mosses release sugars and humic acids into the water, which consume oxygen as they break down.

With the surface blocked by the live moss, the water becomes anaerobic. Instead they tan like leather. Skin turns brown, hair turns red, and objects in or around the body dissolve away, as does most clothing. The first recorded bog body was found in at Schalkholz Fen in Germany. Since then hundreds of bodies have been found, primarily in northern Europe.

They often display signs of violence and so are presumed to be murder victims. For centuries, after a body was discovered, it was most often given Christian reburial, and the remains rotted away. But by the 19th century there was greater interest taken in the scientific aspects of the phenomenon, though the techniques and methods of preservation of the bodies were limited.

It worked, but the resulting dehydration caused the body to shrink. In the early s Danish researchers were able to preserve the head, feet, and a thumb from Tollund Man by replacing the bog water in the cells with liquid paraffin and then beeswax. Preservation protocols were much improved by , when Lindow Man was discovered. The day after the leg was found, Rick Turner went out to the site and found a flap of skin sticking out of the peat slab. The British Museum said there were no plans to permanently move Lindow Man back to the North, but given how his story has twisted so far, who knows what the future may hold for him.

Iron Age man's remains on display. Iron Age man leaves museum 'home'. Manchester Museum. Image source, Manchester museum. Lindow Man is the best preserved peat bog body to be found in Britain. Image source, Roger gittins. The bog body was found while peat was being cut from Lindow Moss. About 25 years old, 1. Religious sacrifice? Lindow Man has been to Manchester, near where he lay for two millennia, three times since his discovery.

The overwhelming majority of bog bodies date to the Iron Age and have been found in northwest European lands, particularly Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and Ireland. Such Iron Age bog bodies typically have several similarities, such as violent deaths and a lack of clothing.

Archaeologists believe that they were killed and deposited in the bogs as a part of a widespread cultural tradition of human sacrifice or the execution of criminals. A catalog has been created of over 1, bog bodies that he had counted starting from The human remains were found in by commercial peat-cutters. The owners of the land on which Lindow Man was found donated the body to the British Museum.

Lindow Woman was discovered the year before from the same area, and other body parts have also been recovered. After the discovery of Lindow Man, an archaeological excavation at Lindow Moss started in Over 70 pieces were found, with the last discovery was that of Lindow IV in Lindow Man suffered a violent death.

His injuries included a V-shaped, 3. A relatively blunt object caused the blow on top of the head. The Romans outlawed human sacrifice, but without a more precise date of death we cannot say for certain whether this was the most likely reason for him to be killed. Lindow Man could also have been the victim of a violent crime or an executed criminal. Why did Lindow Man last so long in the bog? He conditions in peat bogs mean that bog bodies such as Lindow Man have been well preserved.

Bogs are cold, acidic places lacking in oxygen, which makes them hostile environments for micro-organisms that break bodies down. Sphagnum mosses that grow in bogs also help preserve bog bodies. When the mosses die, they release a sugary substance that acts as a tanning agent. This turns skin, tendons, ligaments and muscle into leather. It also turns skin brown and hair red.

How has Lindow Man been conserved? Scientists at the British Museum had to find a suitable way of preserving Lindow Man. They wanted to prevent his remains from decaying after he had been removed from the bog.