It began in the late 1970's when the citizens of Ireland were unwittingly uncovering bodies of their predecessors. Almost perfectly preserved bodies of Irish peasants as old as 1,400 years ago. These bodies are not mummies dessicated in dry deserts of Egypt, instead, a different process pre, serves these remains almost indefinitely.

A mirror to the past

Out in the vast bogs of Ireland or the "Moors" as is often also used to describe the remote marshlands enveloped in mist and serving as the gloomy environment of Banchees, lie the bodies of our ancestors amazingly preserved. A series of news programs including "60 Minutes" ran stories on the often gruesome unearthing of these preserved bodies with incredible detail. It might be the wife working on her garden in the backyard who comes upon the body of a young woman replete with perfect features almost appearing as a work of art or even merely sleeping as in some cases even the color of the skin was incridibly intact!

Captured in time

Errosion in crop fields began exposing the bog people long covered by peat moss, the rotted vegetation that for thousands of years made for a moist soil, rich in tannic acid, the perfect leather making solution. As opposed to the dried skeletal mummies of Egypt or at the tops of mountains remains freeze dried by the elements in Scandinavia, the bogs have the just right conditions to keep the flesh of the dead from deteriorating while tannins kill the bacteria that would normally decompose a body in rapid time. Buried in peat, the human body survives like the leather masterpiece of taxidermist or the work of an artist though most of us wouldn't consider finding a bog person in our backyards.

What circumstances?

Whether at construction sites or intentional archaelogical digs, the startling imagery of humans much like ourselves come to us as evidence of medieval life and how hard it was. Murders of innocent people brutally decapitated, chilldren who might have been killed while working for some estate owner, or a public figiure taken out to the bogs to be assassinated by henchmen, the incredible likeness of Caucasian commoners or even nobles who were murdered are revealed. By viewing these well preserved remains we thinking of ourselves as being so civilized might recognize how little mankind has changed over the centuries!

Evidence of our past

Truly haunting, the bodies of people who lived as far back as the 1200's seem to come to life even with their clothing still attached to their bodies. We look back into a time when communication technology was virtually unknown, and people might have seen the published newspapers and first books thanks to the Geutenberg process. The perfectly preserved expressions on the faces in the throws of death, leading a harsh existence up to the end of their short lives might remind us just how lucky we are to benefit from modern inventions that make our lives easier allowing us leisure time to pursue hobbies or to educate ourselves.