Bog Bodies

[Rex Somnorum]

I might be a bit of a dullard but... isn't it possible that bog bodies were victims of...criminal violence? Dragged off in a raid, or just way-laid going about their business by criminal bands? Murdered sadistically for kicks and then unceremoniously dumped in the bog. That's what 'overkill' says to me. Torture victims generally have multiple pre-morterm wounds after all.

Could that account for all the bog bodies, though? And shouldn't there be more signs of a struggle on the victims' bodies?

On another note, I find it strange that so little is known about early Ireland despite the vast swathes of peat. Perhaps the sparse archaeological record stems from a small populace. Are there any reliable data or estimates for the population of Iron Age Ireland? We should at least be able to infer a cap on population from the subsistence methods and available land.

[Ailfertes]

On another note, I find it strange that so little is known about early Ireland despite the vast swathes of peat. Perhaps the sparse archaeological record stems from a small populace. Are there any reliable data or estimates for the population of Iron Age Ireland? We should at least be able to infer a cap on population from the subsistence methods and available land.

Well the bodies that they do find are just lucky finds, don't forget that today they harvest peat mechanically and most of the time the body (or anything else) wouldn't be noticed. And there is quite some archaeological data, from the obvious spear points to wicker baskets.
Population estimates are very hard anyhow, if you are somewhat familiar with the diverse theories about the reasonably well-known Republican Roman Italy (well, mostly high and low count for the later Republic) you will notice that population counts are not that easy. Mostly they are based on comparative studies, or mere guesswork.

[Gaius Sempronius Gracchus]

Could that account for all the bog bodies, though? And shouldn't there be more signs of a struggle on the victims' bodies?

On another note, I find it strange that so little is known about early Ireland despite the vast swathes of peat. Perhaps the sparse archaeological record stems from a small populace. Are there any reliable data or estimates for the population of Iron Age Ireland? We should at least be able to infer a cap on population from the subsistence methods and available land.

By the same token..why spend the time, as a community, protecting someone with, for example, deformities - which would be very time consuming and then kill them? Presumably if it is believed that the killing is religious the dumping would be on the edge of a bog; as you say the bog would be a danger to those doing the dumping.

Perhaps the killers were from a near, or even from the same community, who despised/resented the individuals - so disposing of the body would make sense (unless we are to believe that there was no system of justice within these communities - which is hardly consistent with a community that we would believe to be capable of organised communal religious acts). Knowledge of such areas (bogs etc) would be an advantage to raiding 'brigands'.

It just seems odd that the idea of criminal, sadistic torture never seems to be addressed as a possibility. Its not as if such is unknown in human history.

[Gaius Sempronius Gracchus]

Sorry, just a little addendum to the above. Its not that I necessarily dismiss the idea of ritual sacrifice but, as far as I'm aware in the majority of cases the find of a body is isolated: In other words there is no other evidence for the area of their disposal being ritually important (if my understanding of this is in error then please correct me). When ritually sacrificed items are discovered the ritual nature of the deposits is usually emphasised by there being multiple finds within a given area.

The question that raises is, for me; why would an area of a bog become ritually important when hitherto it had not been?