Old Croghan Man

Old Croghan Man is a well-preserved Iron Age bog body discovered in June 2003 during commercial peat cutting near Croghan Hill, County Offaly, Ireland.

The discovery came only a few months after another Iron Age bog body, Clonycavan Man, was found by peat workers in a different bog in County Meath.

During the excavation, archaeologists also recovered a cluster of fingernails and a small piece of hazel branch from the wall of the drainage ditch.

Old Croghan Man then lay preserved in the peat bog for more than 2,000 years. The bog's cold, wet, acidic and oxygen-poor conditions slowed decomposition, allowing large areas of his skin to survive, along with his upper arms, shoulders, stomach and lungs. Because his stomach was preserved, researchers were later able to examine its contents as part of the investigation into his final meal, while his lungs were examined for evidence of disease. Tearing and compression around the surviving edges of his torso reflect both the original dismemberment of his body and the later disturbance caused by drainage work and commercial peat cutting. According to Louise Mumford of the National Museum, the leather ring was made with two strands of leather joined through numerous small slits.

The hazel found near the fingernails may come from a hoop, stake or binding that was once used when the body was placed in the bog, but its original role is not clear. The arm-ring and the sparse set of associated finds are often mentioned in support of interpretations that see Old Croghan Man as a high-status individual whose killing and burial formed part of an Iron Age ritual landscape focused on Croghan Hill.

Scientific study Old Croghan Man is believed to have lived during the Irish Iron Age. Radiocarbon analysis places his death between about 362 BC and 175 BC, making him more than 2,000 years old. and tall,

His last meal (analysed from the contents in his stomach) was believed to have been wheat and buttermilk. However, he was shown to have had a meat-rich diet for at least the four months prior to his death. Scars on his lungs suggest he may have suffered from pleurisy.

Old Croghan Man was also struck in the neck, decapitated and cut in half below the chest. Because only his torso and arms survive, researchers cannot reconstruct the exact order in which all of these injuries were inflicted. Nevertheless, the extent and variety of the wounds have been described as evidence of deliberate overkill.

Conservation and exhibition

After his discovery in June 2003, Old Croghan Man was recovered by archaeologists and taken to the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin for conservation and study. His leather arm-ring was removed so it could be treated separately. Conservators cleaned away peat deposits before soaking the waterlogged leather in a 20% solution of glycerol and de-ionised water for two weeks. Once it had dried, the bronze fittings were chemically treated to prevent corrosion, and the arm-ring was returned to the body for display. Related mythology Croghan Hill is known as Bri Eile in Irish myth. In "The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn", it is told "At that time there was a very beautiful maiden in Bri Ele, that is to say, in the fairy-knoll of Bri Ele, and the name of that maiden was Ele. The men of Ireland were at feud about that maiden. One man after another went to woo her. Every year on Samain the wooing used to take place; for the fairy-mounds of Ireland were always open about Samain; for on Samain nothing could ever be hidden in the fairy-mounds. To each man that went to woo her this used to happen: one of his people was slain. This was done to mark the occasion, nor was it ever found out who did it."