Bones dating to the Iron Age
(2,000 years ago) where found in a Bog in Denmark. These bones are believed to
belong to warriors of a Germanic tribe, out of reach of the Roman Empire. All
the bones seem to be disarticulated, all male, and found in a mass
grave, all bearing marks of battle. Archaeologist say all the battle caused the
death of all the warriors. "But the bones also bear strange marks of tampering after the
soldiers' death." said Stephanie Pappas.
Some of the tampering can be explained by animals gnawing on the human remains.
But afterwards, it seems, that the bones were collected, sorted
dismembered. Animal sacrifices and clay pots suggest a form
of ritual. The rituals were carried out then the bodies dumped into a lake. The
tampering was most likely caused by the victors of the war. Archaeologist
Holst states that: "there are examples
of ritual treatment of defeated enemies in what is now France, Switzerland and
England in the centuries prior to this find,”.
The author, Stephanie Pappas, writes about the archeological
finding with an enthusiastic and cheerful connotation, and with a healthy
curiosity. This can be seen as follows: “Formal excavation of the site finds it to be a mass grave dating back
about 2,000 years, to the transition from B.C. to A.D.” After all it is
not every day that bones
dating 2,000 year show up. Then there is the fact that the bones where tampered
with after the warriors were already dead. This for any archeologist and
curious person this can lead to an incredible insight onto the life of people
2,000 years ago. Altogether a fun read for anyone interested in science, bones,
archeology, or just an article.
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