Bog voyage

There is a breakthrough about bog bodies to report! Researcher Karin Margarita Frei of the National Museum of Denmark has disproven the long-held assumption that, because many bog bodies were gravely wounded and were buried instead of cremated, they were sacrificed criminals, commoners, or slaves. Frei has applied new chemical analyses to 2 Danish bog bodies – Huldremose Woman and Haraldskær Woman (IMAGE ABOVE) – to show that they had traveled long distances before their deaths and wore clothing that was more elaborate than previously thought. For instance, when Huldremose Woman was discovered in 1879, she wore a skirt and scarf of sheep's wool and 2 leather capes. Frei examined the body microscopically and showed that the mummy had worn flaxen undergarments. Analyzing the strontium isotope in the dissolved fabric and the skirt and scarf indicated that the flax had not grown on the terrain where the bog body had been found, but in areas of northern Scandinavia. Frei says of the Huldremose Woman, "At first we thought this must be a witch—now we think she's a very fine lady with expensive jewelry and expensive clothes and underwear."

Posted with Blogsy