Cashel Man

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As Cashel Man are the remains of an Early Bronze Age bog body referred to 2011 when peat in Cul na Móna - Moor near the Irish settlement Cashel in County Laois found.

Find

The Cashel Bog raised bog is located about five and a half kilometers south of Portlaoise in the central Irish county of Laois and is owned by the Bord na Móna . The border between the historic counties of Maryborough West and Cullenagh runs across the moor from northeast to southwest . The community closest to the site is Cashel. South of the moor rise the foothills of the Cullenagh Mountains, which dominate the landscape . The moor has been used for peat extraction for a long time, and several archaeological finds have come to light , including three copper axes and ax blanks from the early Neolithic . The body was discovered in the peat floor of the mining area after it had been partially cut out of the peat by the peat cutting machine . At first only the two legs were visible. Two hazel sticks were found on the body, stuck in the ground at an angle of 30 ° and 62 ° and most likely crossed over the body of the deceased. In a five-day excavation , the find was recovered by archaeologists from the National Museum of Ireland. The body is from the shoulders down condition , whereas his head, neck, parts of the chest and the left arm by the Torffräse the torso separately, chaffed and were very posterior. During subsequent excavations, numerous relocated parts of the head with the short-cut hair, teeth, skin, ribs, vertebrae and collarbones were recovered from the excavated peat. The find was brought to the Irish National Museum in Dublin for scientific processing and further conservation .

Location: 52 ° 58 ′ 37.8 ″  N , 7 ° 18 ′ 47.4 ″  W Coordinates: 52 ° 58 ′ 37.8 ″  N , 7 ° 18 ′ 47.4 ″  W

Findings

By the time the bog body was found, about two meters of peat had already been removed from above the body. The dead man lay with his legs bent very closely on his right side in a north-south direction, with his head facing south, with both arms below his body. The skin of the corpse was extremely well preserved and enclosed the more distant inner parts of the body like a sack. A few skull fragments and the lower jaw were found within the open skin covering of the open chest, filled with brown peat. Further anthropological research revealed that the corpse is the remains of a very likely male and young person. The man's back shows several wounds and the computed tomography examination revealed a double fracture of his spine and his right arm from a sharp object such as an ax. He must have sustained these injuries shortly before or during his death. The radiocarbon dating of samples from the body of the man gave a date of death in the period around 2141 to 1960 BC., Which could be confirmed by a sample from a hazel with an age 2033-1888 BC.. Samples from the block of peat surrounding the corpse showed a date of around 3500 BC on the underside, while the peat on the top was dated around 2000 BC, which further confirms the dating of the body.

interpretation

The circumstances and cause of death are currently still the subject of scientific research. Eamonn Kelly, curator of the Irish National Museum, assumes a violent death with a ritual background ( human sacrifice ) and a laying down of the body in the moor. He bases his theory on the location of the body in the mud, their injuries and the mitgefundenen willow poles which support the body in a Schlenke was kept under water. In addition, according to Kelly, the location of the body is on a historical rule border, which has also been observed in several other ritually laid bog bodies in Ireland. According to Kelly, the Cashel Man is the oldest bog corpse in Europe with soft tissue preservation and the well-groomed impression of his fingernails and hands leads Kelly to suspect that the man may be a local petty king or chief who was the victim of a ritual murder .

literature

  • Eamonn Kelly: The bog body from Cashel Bog, Co. Laois . In: Ossory, Laois and Leinster . No. 5 , 2012 (English).
  • Eamonn Kelly: New Find Supports Kingship and Sovereignty Theory: Bog Body from Cashel Bog . In: Archeology Ireland . tape 3 , no. 25 , 2011, ISSN  0790-892X , p. 4-6 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Eamonn Kelly: The bog body from Cashel Bog, Co. Laois . In: Ossory, Laois and Leinster . No. 5 , 2012 (English).
  2. ↑ Eamonn Kelly: The bog body from Cashel Bog, Co. Laois . In: Ossory, Laois and Leinster . No. 5 , 2012, p. 2 (English).
  3. ↑ Eamonn Kelly: New Find Supports Kingship and Sovereignty Theory: Bog Body from Cashel Bog . In: Archeology Ireland . tape 3 , no. 25 , 2011, ISSN  0790-892X , p. 4-6 (English).
  4. ↑ See article: Moor corpse , or list of moor corpses
personal data
SURNAME Cashel Man
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cashel bog corpse; Man from Cashel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bog corpse
DATE OF BIRTH between 22nd century BC BC and 19th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH between 22nd century BC BC and 19th century BC Chr.
Place of death near Cashel, County Laois , Ireland