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. Radiocarbon dating indicates that he died between 362 and 175 BC, when he was in his early twenties. Although only his torso and upper limbs survive, the exceptional preservation of his skin and internal organs has enabled extensive forensic and archaeological study.
Old Croghan Man died a violent death, sustaining multiple injuries including a stab wound to the chest, decapitation and dismemberment. His apparent high status, together with the location of his burial near the ceremonial landscape of Croghan Hill, has led some researchers to interpret his death as a possible ritual killing associated with Iron Age kingship, although this remains a hypothesis rather than an established fact.
Old Croghan Man is one of Ireland's best-known bog bodies and has been exhibited at the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology in Dublin since his conservation, alongside Clonycavan Man and other Iron Age bog bodies.
Discovery Old Croghan Man was discovered in June 2003 during commercial peat cutting in a raised bog near the base of Croghan Hill in County Offaly, in the Irish midlands. Peat cutters noticed the upper torso and arms in the freshly cut face of a drainage ditch, stopped work, and reported the find to the authorities.
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.
Preservation and condition
When Old Croghan Man was discovered, only his torso and upper limbs remained. His head and lower body were missing. Archaeologists later determined that he had been cut at the neck and waist during the Iron Age. Over the centuries that followed, drainage work and commercial peat cutting disturbed the bog and caused further damage to his remains.
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.
Associated objects and clothing Old Croghan Man was not wearing clothing when he was found, but he had a plaited leather arm-ring around his left arm. The arm-ring was made from waterlogged leather, strands of fibres and four bronze mounts. 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
Dating Old Croghan Man lived during the Early Iron Age in Ireland, more than 2,000 years ago. Radiocarbon dating of his remains and an associated wooden binding places him between the fourth and second centuries BCE.
In a study published in 2009, archaeologist Gill Plunkett and colleagues reported two measurements obtained using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), a technique that measures the remaining carbon-14 in organic material to estimate its age. A sample of internal body tissue produced a radiocarbon age of 2170 ± 30 years before present (BP), corresponding to a calibrated date range of 361–115 BCE. A fragment of the wooden binding, known as a withe, produced a result of 2189 ± 29 BP, corresponding to 362–175 BCE. In radiocarbon dating, "present" is conventionally defined as 1950.
The two date ranges overlap. The narrower range of 362–175 BCE, obtained from the withe, is frequently cited as the date of the find, although the measurement taken directly from his body extends to 115 BCE.
The researchers also examined peat from the discovery site at Clonearl Bog, County Offaly, to establish the chronology of the surrounding deposits and investigate the landscape in which his remains were found. Body and health Based on the condition of his bones and soft tissue, he was a young adult in his early twenties when he died.
The man is calculated (based on his arm span) to have stood approximately between and tall, which is considered to be exceptionally tall for the period when he lived. The man's apparently manicured nails led to speculation that he was not someone who engaged in manual labour, and possibly therefore of high status.
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.
The remains were examined as part of the National Museum of Ireland's Bog Bodies Research Project, established in 2003. The multidisciplinary investigation involved 35 specialists and included computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), dietary analysis, fingerprinting, histology and pathological examination. Cause of death
Old Croghan Man died a violent death when a sharp weapon cut through his upper left arm and entered his chest on a steep downward path. State Pathologist Marie Cassidy interpreted the arm injury as a possible defensive wound, sustained when he raised his arm against the attacker. She concluded that the chest wound probably cut a lung, may have reached the heart, and sliced through at least one rib, making it potentially fatal.
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.
Cuts were made through both of his upper arms and twisted hazel branches, known as withies, were threaded through the openings. Fragments of the withies remained embedded in the wounds. They may have been used to restrain him or to secure his body beneath the surface of the bog, but their precise purpose is unknown. Two small, roughly symmetrical cuts were also found where his nipples had been. Cassidy suggested that these injuries might indicate torture.
Archaeologist Eamonn Kelly of the National Museum of Ireland interpreted the nipple injuries as deliberate ritual mutilation. Drawing on early Irish traditions in which subjects expressed submission by touching or sucking a king's nipples, he proposed that their removal symbolically rendered Old Croghan Man unfit to rule. Kelly further argued that the man may have been a failed king or candidate for kingship who was ritually killed and deposited near Croghan Hill, an important ceremonial landscape in Iron Age Ireland. He based this interpretation on Old Croghan Man's apparent high status, the location of his burial, and comparisons with other Irish bog bodies. The identification of Old Croghan Man as a king and his death as a ritual sacrifice remain hypotheses rather than established facts. 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." Conservation and exhibition
After his discovery in June 2003, Old Croghan Man was taken to the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin for conservation and study. His leather arm-ring was removed for separate treatment. Conservators cleaned away peat deposits before soaking the waterlogged leather in a 20% solution of glycerol and de-ionised water for two weeks. After drying, the bronze fittings were chemically treated to prevent corrosion, and the arm-ring was returned to the body for display.
Old Croghan Man is on permanent display at the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology in Dublin as part of Kingship and Sacrifice, alongside other Irish bog bodies, including Clonycavan Man, Gallagh Man and Baronstown West Man. The exhibition examines Iron Age kingship and ritual through the bog bodies and other archaeological evidence. See also
List of bog bodies
References