Windeby I

Windeby I

Upper body

Windeby I is the name given to the bog body found preserved in a peat bog near Windeby, Northern Germany, in 1952. Until recently, the body was also called the Windeby Girl, because an archeologist believed it to be the body of a 14-year old female due to its slight build. Prof. Heather Gill-Robinson, a Canadian anthropologist and pathologist, used DNA testing to show the body was actually that of a male.

The body was discovered by commercial peat cutters in 1952, and is now on display at The Landesmuseum at the Schloß Gottorf in Schleswig, Germany. Unfortunately, by the time the body was noticed by the peat cutters, and before the peat cutting machinery could be shut down, a hand, a foot and a leg had been severed from the body. Despite this damage, the body had been very well preserved by the peat, and it is still an important archaeological discovery. Shortly after the discovery of Windeby I, another bog body (an adult male) was found nearby and named Windeby II.

The body appears to have a half-shaven head and a woollen blindfold tied across the eyes. Recent examinations have however established that the hair over the half of the scalp was not shaven, but had rather decomposed due to being exposed to oxygen a little longer than the rest of the body. The "blindfold" is in fact a woollen band, made using the sprang technique, that was probably used to tie back the boy’s shoulder-length hair and which had slipped down over the face after the boy's death. The evidence from the body suggests that the boy had been murdered, possibly as a sacrifice or a punishment. This idea is supported by the fact that the body was discovered underneath logs and branches, which were presumably used to hold the body down.

Bones of Windeby I temporarily on display at Archäologisches Landesmuseum

Other notable bog bodies

(BC/AD dates given are radiocarbon dates.)

• Bocksten Man, a modern body from 1290-1430 AD, found 1936 in Varberg Municipality, Sweden.
• Borremose Bodies, from 400-700 BC, found 1940s in Himmerland, Denmark.
• Cladh Hallan mummies, from 1600-1300 BC, found on the island of South Uist, Scotland.
• Clonycavan Man, from 392-201 BC, found 2003 in County Meath, Ireland
• Girl of the Uchter Moor, found in 2000 in Uchte, Germany.
• Grauballe Man, from 290 BC, found 1952 in Jutland, Denmark.
• Haraldskær Woman, from 490 BC, found 1835 in Jutland, Denmark.
• Lindow Man, from 20-90 AD, found 1984 in in Cheshire, England.
• Old Croghan Man, from 362-175 BC, found in County Offaly, Ireland.

External links

• The mysterious bog people
• National Geographic September 2007: "Tales From the Bog"

Sources

• Gebühr, Michael (2002) Verein zur Förderung des Archäologischen Landesmuseums e.V. ed. (in German) Moorleichen in Schleswig-Holstein Neumünster: Wachholtz ISBN 3-529-01870-8 
• van der Sanden, Wijnand (1996). Through Nature to Eternity - The Bog Bodies of Northwest Europe. Amsterdam: Batavian Lion International. ISBN 90-6707-4187.