Tuesday 20 August 2013

4,000-year-old ‘bog body’ found in Ireland believed to be world’s oldest, victim of ritual sacrifice

Mummified remains found to date to 2,000 B.C. have been hailed the world's oldest "bog body."

The 4,000-year-old remains of the young adult male found in a bog two years ago predate that of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen.

The body discovered in County Laois, Ireland, is believed to have met a gruesome end, the victim to some sort of ritual sacrifice.

According to The Irish Times, the mummy was excavated from the Cul na Mona bog about two years ago by a Bord na Mona worker.

Initially experts thought that the remains, which were found in a crouched position and covered in peat, dated from the Iron Age, which matched other bodies found in Irish bogs, and stretched from 500 B.C. to 400 A.D.

But radiocarbon tests revealed the body actually dates from the early Bronze Age 4,000 years ago.


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