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This might be a little similar to an earlier post about bog bodies but this is perhaps a little more general. I am curious about preserved ancient bodies from this period, like bog bodies but not just them exclusively. The most famous case of this (ie. the only one I know about) is Ortiz the Iceman. I know this was in the early copper age in Switzerland but I am curious if similar cases have occurred in the later Iron Age, in and around Europe.
Bog bodies occur from the Bronze Age right until the Germanic Iron Age in Denmark (the Dark Ages for southern Europe). They tend to be a feature of Ireland, Britain, Germany and Denmark, as these regions have substantial peat bogs. A quick list of bog bodies can be found on Wikipedia however if you are looking for some serious literature which discusses the subject I would suggest P.V. Glob (1998) "The Bog People", C. Bryony (1999) "Bog bodies, sacred sites and wetland archaeology" W. A. B. van der Sanden (1996) "Through nature to eternity" or more recently K. Sanders (2012) "Bodies in the Bog and the Archaeological Imagination".
It was mentioned in the previous threads that most of these Bog Bodies are ritually sacrificed, and seems to to sacrificed for various deformities. Is there any suggestion that it could be either some kind of punishment or on the other end of the scale, an honour to be killed in this way? Perhaps to fallen warriors, if there are any weapons with the bodies? Apologies, If I'm going over similar ground, but this kind of stuff about archaeology I find quite interesting ~:) . Thanks in advance
Punishment is certainly a possibility, in Germania Tacitus describes how criminals are hung and some bog bodies do show signs of strangulation. It is highly doubtful that being killed in such a way was considered an honour. Most of the bodies recovered have been found with little clothing and are not associated with anything which would suggest that they were martial in some way. In the case of the Netherlands, Denmark and some parts of Britain we have graves which identify the occupants as warriors and these graves are very very different from what we find associated with bog bodies.
On a slightly more distant note, we also have the so called "Salt Men" of Iran. Bodies of men from the Parthian period who were buried in a salt mine, and their bodies and clothes preservd. In that case, it is not a matter of sacrifice or any particular ritual involved, but rather, it seems they may have been victims of cave-ins, etc. Still, the bodies and their clothing are very well preserved, giving us a good example of how people in the Iranian plateau dressed ca 2000 years ago.
Any pictures?
You can just google "salt men", "iranian", "parthia" "mummies", or some combinations thereof, and you'll probably find some pictures.
Here are a couple of examples:
A head, showing hairstyle and beard:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...50wRaaTB4XSKxo
Here can also be seen a leg with a very well preserved boot:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...2ZRT2sWCQjnrYa
One of the best preseved salt mummies is this:
http://www.payvand.com/news/08/jan/Saltman-Zanjan.jpg
Another shot of the same mummy. Note the shoes:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...altman_no4.jpg
besides the egyptian mummies (not sure if they remained up until this time but in deserts anyone who dies and gets covered by the sand is still an old time mummy ) there are also the terim basin mummies of what seems like keltic nomads that wandered themselfs into the midle of the old empires of the east
Interesting, care to elaborate? I have never heard about Kelts wandering soooooooo faaaaaaar East! :inquisitive:
The Tarim mummies belong to a group which we call the Tocharians. The Tocharian language (which is divided into Tocharian A and B) is a perplexing one as it displays features most commonly associated with Western Indo-European languages (Italic, Illyrian, Celtic) rather than Eastern Indo-European (everyone else apart from the Hittites). Furthermore the mummies discovered in the Tarim basin display many features found in European populations, such a s fair hair, blue eyes etc. However they are not Celts, linguistically or otherwise. Instead they represent a very early group of Indo-European speakers who managed to establish themselves in the far east. Celts did get very far east, there is evidence a few individuals managed to make it as far as Babylon, either with Alexander or in the service of the Seleucids.
As for the Tocharians it is unclear what happened to them. It is tempting to argue that the Tocharians are and the Yuezhi were the same group, thus some Tocharians may have migrated south an assisted in the establishment of the Kushan Empire. After the 8th century AD the Tocharian language is replaced by Turkic languages.
All this is very interesting stuff...
except for their european look and their woollen blankets and their attested bad bad higiene (if you live in a desert like place youre not going to waste water i say ... ) we dont know much about them some genetic researched had been done but all that is known is that they probably mixed away and eventually became integrated into the surrounding ethnic groups since the newest mummies shown alot of "melanging" with central asians hindus and chinese ethnic groups
i didnt knew they had been assined their own names or that their language was conected with the hatush people so kudos brennus today i learned something
quite a few conspiracy theories have already been made around them and according to some articles of such authors the chinese are refusing to divulge all the data (as for wich purposes it depends on the eyes of the beholder)
A genetic study from 2006 (if memory serves) showed that there was almost no genetic continuity between the mummies and present day Turkic groups from the area (Uighurs and Kazakhs) suggesting that the Tarim population moved en masse from the area or at least we denied the opportunity to contribute to the genetic stock of later population. Chinese sources which describe the migration of the Xiongnu to the area, who displaced the Yuezhi, paint a picture of mass upheaval (although contrast this with Pliny's description of Gallic invasions of Italy and you can see how dramatic licence overstates the facts). We do know that the campaigns of Genghis Khan resulted in a mass depletion of Iranian speaking pastoralists from the region at a later date.