police forensic scientists are occasionally called upon to inspect the bodies of murder victimsthat are decades old but in 1952 danish experts were asked to conduct an autopsy on a corpse well over a thousand years old perfectly preserved in an ancient peat bog. Searching the records, investigators discovered that over the years numerous other ancient bodies had been dug from peat bogs accross europe. The evidence pointed to hundreds perhaps thousands of ritual murders, taking place over centuries. Why and by whom were these people killed?.

Plain old murder ?
Ritual execution ?

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about about the above body they had this to say about it a cut on his throat which went from ear to ear, It lies high up the throat, and the edges are moderately smooth ... probably caused by several cuts inflicted by a second person." An examination of Grauballe man's hands and fingers- preserved so perfectly that fingerprints could be taken- showed: "... There is nothing unusual about the fingerprints obtained ... The hands of the Grauballe Man showed no sign of hard manual labour.." Radioactive-carbon tests carried out on the body dated Grauballe man at around 55 B.C., making him roughly a contemporary of Julius Caesar

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bog/iron-nf.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_people (caution!! apparently not all things on this website are accurate)

The Romans did not like the Druids or the Carthaginians for much the same reasons as I can tell. They were both very much into routine and plentiful human sacrifices. I know it is popular now to say the Druids were not this way, but all evidence to me suggests that they were. Even if everything else is danced around there is no getting around the fact that Druidic priests were in the front lines of their military conflicts.

Strabo:
'The Romans put a stop both to these customs and to the ones connected with sacrifice and divination, as they were in conflict with our own ways: for example, they would strike a man who had been consecrated for sacrifice in the back with a sword, and make prophecies based on his death-spasms; and they would not sacrifice without the presence of the Druids. Other kinds of human sacrifices have been reported as well: some men they would shoot dead with arrows and impale in the temples; or they would construct a huge figure of straw and wood, and having thrown cattle and all manner of wild animals and humans into it, they would make a burnt offering of the whole thing.'

Caesar:
'All the people of Gaul are completely devoted to religion, and for this reason those who are greatly affected by diseases and in the dangers of battle either sacrifice human victims or vow to do so using the Druids as administrators to these sacrifices, since it is judged that unless for a man's life a man's life is given back, the will of the immortal gods cannot be placated. In public affairs they have instituted the same kind of sacrifice. Others have effigies of great size interwoven with twigs, the limbs of which are filled up with living people which are set on fire from below, and the people are deprived of life surrounded by flames. It is judged that the punishment of those who participated in theft or brigandage or other crimes are more pleasing to the immortal gods; but when the supplies of this kind fail, they even go so low as to inflict punishment on the innocent.'

Tacitus:
'On the shore stood the opposing army with its dense array of armed warriors, while between the ranks dashed women, in black attire like the Furies, with hair dishevelled, waving brands. All around, the Druids, lifting up their hands to heaven, and pouring forth dreadful imprecations, scared our soldiers by the unfamiliar sight, so that, as if their limbs were paralysed, they stood motionless, and exposed to wounds. Then urged by their general's appeals and mutual encouragements not to quail before a troop of frenzied women, they bore the standards onwards, smote down all resistance, and wrapped the foe in the flames of his own brands. A force was next set over the conquered, and their groves, devoted to inhuman superstitions, were destroyed. They deemed it indeed a duty to cover their altars with the blood of captives and to consult their deities through human entrails.'
source

Hadn't realized so many have been found. Don't think it was some sort of ritual because of the different ways they were killed. Could be the human sacrifice of just wild means (no guidelines) or maybe raids on different villages and they disposed of the bodies in order to live in the area before moving on.

Mmmhm, Brings to mind the Irish poet Seamus Heaney and his poems of "The Tollund Man" and "The Bog Queen" - supposedly inspired by 'bog people'. Oh and he has also written one about the Grauballe man.

Alot of them have been found in the Boglands in Ireland. I reckon it was a form of execution, or maybe just plain accident in some cases.


The Tollund Man



A rather exstenive look at 'Bog Bodies' by the Archaelogical Institue of America.

And recently theer was an old religous document found in a bog in ireland,, it was on a forum here.

Lindow Man died a very violent death.

http://aolsearch.aol.co.uk/redir?urn=http:...ish######bog######man

The Druids,during certain times of the year would perform what some would call sacrifices.Most were for the good of the village.

The village,if it was getting too crowded,would ask for sacrificial victims.Usually it would be the old and infirm who could no longer help plant and reap the harvests or hunt,who would end up as a sacrifice.From some tales of the time,some considered it to be an honor to give their lives for the good of the village.One theory however,states that at some special times of the year,the villagers held a large party...where the victims would be chosen by a very strange "lottery".The sacrificial victims would be known by the way they went into convulsions,due to having eaten food that was tainted with mistletoe pollen.

The description by Caesar of the Druids burning people within a "Wicker Man" would most likely have been the burning of criminals,due to the fact that the Druids were usually called upon to be the Law,Judges,Juries...amd Executioners.

I think they were sacrifices to appease their Gods and insure Life went on Normally(Weather,Harvest ETC).

i would probably go along with that people were a lot more supersticious