Clonycavan man

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Clonycavan man

The Clonycavan man is a bog corpse from the 4th or 3rd century BC, which was found in 2003 in a bog in the Irish townland Clonycavan ( Irish Cluain Uí Chaomháin ) in County Meath . The bog body achieved fame through its mohawk haircut and the proven use of an early hair gel . It is kept in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin .

Find

The Clonycavan man was found on February 21, 2003 in the overburden of a peat cutting machine. Location: 53 ° 31 ′ 29.4 ″  N , 7 ° 0 ′ 25.6 ″  W Coordinates: 53 ° 31 ′ 29.4 ″  N , 7 ° 0 ′ 25.6 ″  W

Finding

The Clonycavan man was in his early 20s when he died, he had a broken nose and crooked teeth. According to calculations based on the size of his long bones, he was about 157 cm tall during his lifetime. He had a delicate beard and the pores of his skin are still clearly visible. Examination of the body by coroners from the UK and Irish Police revealed that it was apparently murdered. His skull was split deeply on the top by a sharp object and parts of his brain were found in the wound. He has a deep wound on his face that extends from the bridge of his nose to under the right eye. Both wounds were apparently inflicted on him with the same weapon, most likely an ax. Examination of his intestines and hair provided a lot of information about his eating habits . His diet was particularly rich in vegetables and berries, suggesting that he died in the summer. A radiocarbon dating ( 14 C-dating) showed that the man in the period from 392 to 201 BC died..

hairstyle

Particularly noteworthy is the Clonycavan man's unusual hairstyle . He wore a mohawk that he had teased upright with a kind of hair gel. The hair was short on the sides and back, but about 8 inches long on the top of the head. This hairstyle is so far unique, because there are no comparative finds or historical written sources from the European Iron Age that mention such a hairstyle. Only the image of a captured barbarian on a Mainz column from the 1st century shows a similar hairstyle. The hair gel was made from a mixture of oils and pine - resins that came from Spain or France. The use of these cosmetics in times before the Roman occupation of Britain suggests that the Clonycavan man was particularly wealthy during his lifetime and could afford these imported raw materials.

Perhaps the man wore this unusual hairstyle in order to appear taller towards his fellow men.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.excavations.ie/Pages/Details.php?Year=2003&County=Meath&id=10186
  2. ↑ Thomas Brock: Moor corpses. Witnesses of past millennia . In: Archeology in Germany, special issue . Theiss, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-8062-2205-0 , pp. 74 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Clonycavan man
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Clonycavan man (English)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bog body with mohawk hairstyle
DATE OF BIRTH between 4th century BC BC and 3rd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH between 392 BC BC and 201 BC Chr.
Place of death at Clonycavan , Ireland