0:00:02 > 0:00:10This programme contains some violent scenes.
0:00:10 > 0:00:124,000 years ago. The dawn of European civilisation
0:00:12 > 0:00:15and the birth of a macabre and brutal ritual.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18Today. Hundreds of prehistoric bodies
0:00:18 > 0:00:22unearthed from the boglands of Northern Europe.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27Their deaths intrigue historians.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31Were they all murdered? And why?
0:00:33 > 0:00:36Now, a brand-new find could hold the key.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38It's another ancient body.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41Found preserved in an Irish peat bog.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45The skeleton is distorted.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47The muscle and skin badly torn.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52An international team of experts face a challenge
0:00:52 > 0:00:54as they seek to solve an ancient mystery.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59The horrific killing of hundreds of our ancestors,
0:00:59 > 0:01:03in one of prehistory's darkest eras.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06Who were these victims?
0:01:06 > 0:01:08And why did they die?
0:01:10 > 0:01:15This is 4,000-Year-Old Cold Case:
0:01:15 > 0:01:16The Body In The Bog.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21A bog in Ireland's midlands.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25Where heavy machinery is used to industrially harvest peat -
0:01:25 > 0:01:28a fossil fuel used in Irish homes and power stations.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33In August 2011, a heavy-equipment operator
0:01:33 > 0:01:37spotted something sticking from the bog in front of him.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40When he stopped his machinery,
0:01:40 > 0:01:45he realised it was the remains of a human body -
0:01:45 > 0:01:47flattened and distorted.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57One thing was clear - this was NOT a modern corpse.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02Since the year 2003, peat-harvesting in Ireland
0:02:02 > 0:02:05has uncovered six other bog bodies like this one.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09Bringing the total number of Irish finds to over 100.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13These mysterious corpses have captured the imagination
0:02:13 > 0:02:17of the Irish public, fascinating young and old alike.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21And today peat workers are trained to recognise them -
0:02:21 > 0:02:24and follow carefully developed protocol.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28So, immediately a call went out to archaeologists
0:02:28 > 0:02:30at the National Museum of Ireland.
0:02:30 > 0:02:36Within days, their excavations had revealed the body of a man.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38What secrets will his corpse reveal?
0:02:40 > 0:02:42The body is brought to a lab
0:02:42 > 0:02:45at the National Museum in Dublin for forensic investigation.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51Leading the team of archaeologists and scientists is Ned Kelly.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54He's spent a lifetime studying
0:02:54 > 0:02:56ancient Irish history and archaeology,
0:02:56 > 0:03:00and has investigated the other Irish bog bodies.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03They're part of an ancient legacy -
0:03:03 > 0:03:04the 300 preserved corpses
0:03:04 > 0:03:08found in boglands across north-west Europe.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13To historians, these finds offer the chance
0:03:13 > 0:03:16to look our prehistoric ancestors in the face.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Forensic science offers experts clues
0:03:19 > 0:03:22to diet, lifestyle, and social status
0:03:22 > 0:03:27and shines precious light on a dark era for which there are few records.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32This is a very, very, very important find.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36And it's a big responsibility to make sure
0:03:36 > 0:03:40that we get the maximum information from this body.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45We owe it to the man lying on the table, to tell his story for him.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Ned Kelly has named him Cashel Man -
0:03:48 > 0:03:51after the townland where the body was found.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55Now, he and the team must solve the mystery of Cashel Man -
0:03:55 > 0:03:57and explain why he died.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Their first task is to decipher
0:03:59 > 0:04:03the confusing mass of bone and soft tissue.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05The body was in a very unusual position
0:04:05 > 0:04:08and it took a while to work out what was what.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14The head is missing - destroyed by the peat harvester.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17The body is compressed and misshapen by millennia in the bog.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20And badly damaged by the heavy harvesting machinery
0:04:20 > 0:04:22when it was discovered.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25- That looks like the front face of the vertebrae.- It does.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28Despite the mangled condition, it could contain
0:04:28 > 0:04:31a wealth of clues about Irish prehistory
0:04:31 > 0:04:33that could also explain the mystery
0:04:33 > 0:04:36of the entire European bog body tradition,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38IF the team can decipher the evidence.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42The first questions to answer are -
0:04:42 > 0:04:45how did this person end up in the bog?
0:04:45 > 0:04:48And what was the cause of death?
0:04:48 > 0:04:53Investigations into previous bog bodies revealed they were murdered.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55Could this also be true of Cashel Man?
0:04:55 > 0:04:58State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy
0:04:58 > 0:05:00is joining the team to find out.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03There's a good bit of tissue. There's an organ there.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05It's either lung or heart.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08That definitely has to be lung.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10There's all the ribs there,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13and that looks as if that could well be the heart.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15That's the heart. Brilliant.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17Professor Cassidy is on her way
0:05:17 > 0:05:21to investigate the scene where Cashel Man was found.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24She's more used to solving modern homicides.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28But the intensity of industrial peat-harvesting in Ireland
0:05:28 > 0:05:31means bog-body finds are a phenomenon
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Professor Cassidy has become familiar with.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39All of the bog bodies that we've had
0:05:39 > 0:05:41have turned out to be ancient remains.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46The typical features would be the peaty discolouration of the skin.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49You can't miss that. Very often, they're squashed or compacted
0:05:49 > 0:05:51because of the weight of the peat they're under.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53You don't see that with modern bodies.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Even though the body is likely to be ancient,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Professor Cassidy treats this like a modern investigation.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02As forensic pathologists,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05our training is to go one step at a time, really.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08You start off with the body being found,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10what information is available.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14Her first step is to speak to the person who found the body,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18Jason Phelan, a milling machine operator who works on Cashel Bog.
0:06:18 > 0:06:19I turn at the right time
0:06:19 > 0:06:22and look on the left-hand side, and I saw this piece,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24and it was probably maybe six inches triangular.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26And was it sticking up above the surface then?
0:06:26 > 0:06:29It was penetrating maybe this high, just above the surface
0:06:29 > 0:06:30in a triangular shape.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33I got out and I checked it, and I went over, and caught it like this,
0:06:33 > 0:06:37gently, and gave it a bit of a tug, and when I gave it a tug,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41two legs came up, gently out of the bog, which were crossed.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46Professor Cassidy also examines the peat-milling machine.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48Its sharp spinning blades were responsible
0:06:48 > 0:06:51for tearing into the body's chest.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55What it means is that there is a tearing motion.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58And that would account for the damage that you see
0:06:58 > 0:07:02on the body as it was photographed at the scene.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05Because the surface skin had gone,
0:07:05 > 0:07:09and you are now looking into the guts, if you like, of the body.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Professor Cassidy's investigations will help her assess which injuries
0:07:13 > 0:07:16were caused by a 21st-century milling machine,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19and which could have been caused in a prehistoric attack.
0:07:23 > 0:07:28Next, the team subject Cashel Man's remains to a CT scan.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32It reveals details of the bone and soft tissue
0:07:32 > 0:07:35and sheds light on who this man really was.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38So, you've got humerus, radius, ulna...
0:07:38 > 0:07:40This is a young person's spine.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42How young do you think?
0:07:43 > 0:07:46- Probably 20-25.- Yeah...
0:07:46 > 0:07:49The images from the CT scan allow the team to identify
0:07:49 > 0:07:52the orientation of Cashel Man's skeleton.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55He is lying on his right side.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57His legs are drawn up to his chest
0:07:57 > 0:08:01and his hands clasped around them.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03But his head and left arm are missing,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05destroyed by the peat harvester.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10The CT scan also reveals a further detail.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14Cashel Man's right arm has been cleanly broken.
0:08:15 > 0:08:16For Marie Cassidy,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19it's the first clue to the cause of Cashel Man's death.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26There's good evidence that this person was injured,
0:08:26 > 0:08:28at and around the time of death.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31So, we've got an injury with the one arm remaining
0:08:31 > 0:08:34that we can identify and we can see the bones very clearly.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38This bone here, the bone that runs down towards your little finger,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41that's about midway... It's just been literally halved in two.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44And that shows an indication of a direct blow.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46What we would call probably a defensive injury.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48So, he's maybe been fighting with somebody,
0:08:48 > 0:08:52whatever weapon they'd been using, he's put up his arm to block a blow,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56and the impact's got him on the outer side of his arm
0:08:56 > 0:08:57and caused this fracture.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00So, that indicates major trauma.
0:09:00 > 0:09:01So, amazing! We can actually even...
0:09:01 > 0:09:04We're starting to recreate an incident
0:09:04 > 0:09:07that he could have been involved in.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11The CT scan also revealed two dramatic fractures
0:09:11 > 0:09:12to Cashel Man's spine
0:09:12 > 0:09:16where the vertebrae have been left severely out of alignment.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19- You can see, there, where the cord would be...- Hmm.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21- ..compromised there?- This is so bad.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24I'm just thinking in terms of trauma...
0:09:24 > 0:09:27The vertebrae appear to have been torn out of alignment.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30Is this a clue to a frenzied beating,
0:09:30 > 0:09:33a horrific murder or something else?
0:09:35 > 0:09:39At the National Museum, the team disagree.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43Ned Kelly is open to the idea of a violent attack.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47But Deputy Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis is not convinced.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50Is that the kind of thing that would result
0:09:50 > 0:09:52from being hit on the spine with a pickaxe handle,
0:09:52 > 0:09:56or from somebody jumping up and down on the small of your back?
0:09:56 > 0:09:59- They don't look to be fractured to me.- No, they're just mal-aligned.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03Mal-aligned, disarticulated, but they do not appear to be fractured.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06I don't like that for a blow with an implement.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10- No.- Right.- It doesn't look as if it's...a blow.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12So, that would have been more localised?
0:10:12 > 0:10:15Yeah, and you'd probably have a fracture as well.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17This is more dislocation.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22If Cashel Man's spine was not broken when he died, then what killed him?
0:10:23 > 0:10:26While the forensics team continues to scour the body for clues,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30Ned Kelly turns his attention to his area of expertise -
0:10:30 > 0:10:33Ireland's unique literary record.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38It offers a key to the past that's found nowhere else in Europe.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42Unlike other countries in Europe where bog bodies are found,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46in Ireland we have a relatively huge volume
0:10:46 > 0:10:51of very early literary and annalistic material -
0:10:51 > 0:10:53mythological material -
0:10:53 > 0:10:58that we can trawl through to see if it provides any information
0:10:58 > 0:11:00on the context of these bodies.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03As in most of prehistoric Europe,
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Ireland's ancient history was not written down.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10Instead, it was passed from generation to generation
0:11:10 > 0:11:12via the spoken word.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16But, uniquely, Ireland's oral history was finally recorded
0:11:16 > 0:11:20in a series of annals written by early Christian monks
0:11:20 > 0:11:24working between 1000 and 1600 AD.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29This is real history, this isn't speculation.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32It's a very good starting point to look back
0:11:32 > 0:11:34on what may have preceded it.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37Ned Kelly is hoping these sources will shed light
0:11:37 > 0:11:40on the mystery of Cashel Man.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43Could he also belong to the grim roll call
0:11:43 > 0:11:47of men, women and children brutally murdered, then buried in the bog?
0:11:52 > 0:11:57300 such bodies have been found across north-west Europe.
0:11:57 > 0:12:04They date mainly from 500 BC to 200 AD - Europe's Iron Age.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08Professor Miranda Green is an expert in the culture of this period -
0:12:08 > 0:12:10and its bog-body legacy.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14The thing which links them altogether is their bog deaths.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16But they were killed in different ways.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20Some by trauma, some by garrotting, some by drowning.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22They have suffered extreme violence.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24These are adult people,
0:12:24 > 0:12:27one woman and one man from Borremose in Denmark.
0:12:27 > 0:12:32The woman, particularly, had had a very savage end.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36She had been scalped, and her face taken off.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39And the man had been hit hard on the head
0:12:39 > 0:12:40and then garrotted with a rope
0:12:40 > 0:12:43that is still visible around the neck here.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46This is the body of a young girl
0:12:46 > 0:12:49from Yde in the northern Netherlands,
0:12:49 > 0:12:51she was put in the bog at the age of 12.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56Her hair was cut off and placed by her side.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58And then she was garrotted.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02So, this is the fate of this poor girl.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06The evidence is really quite special.
0:13:06 > 0:13:07We can see stomach contents,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10we know what people ate just before they were killed.
0:13:10 > 0:13:11We know how they met their deaths.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14We've even got looks of terror on people's faces.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18So, you've really got a freeze-framing of people
0:13:18 > 0:13:22who clamour for our attention as individuals.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26Over 2,000 years later,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29the reasons for these deaths are a mystery.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35But one thing common to all of the bodies is the bog.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42Dr Ben Gearey is a wetland archaeologist.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46He studies the history and formation of bogs.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50Bogs are incredible places. They have enormously long history.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53They have been part of the landscape for millennia.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56Bogs are made up of dead plants.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59But their unique chemical composition,
0:13:59 > 0:14:04which is highly acidic, kills the bacteria that cause decomposition.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09Meaning that organic matter is preserved, in a form known as peat.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11By cutting into the bog,
0:14:11 > 0:14:16Dr Gearey can expose the layers of preserved peat going back millennia.
0:14:16 > 0:14:21We've got around 2,500 years of peat accumulation
0:14:21 > 0:14:24in this section here. This is sphagnum moss.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27And you can see that, for a deposit that is
0:14:27 > 0:14:29perhaps 1,000-1,500 years old,
0:14:29 > 0:14:31the preservation is remarkable.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35Bogs are waterlogged, rainfall is collected and stored in the peat.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39This oxygen-poor environment offers ideal conditions
0:14:39 > 0:14:42for the preservation of organic matter.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47And that essentially equates to the slowing down -
0:14:47 > 0:14:49almost, the complete halting -
0:14:49 > 0:14:51of the usual processes of biological decay.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55As dead matter accumulates, the bog slowly expands -
0:14:55 > 0:14:58growing around one millimetre a year. Meaning that, today,
0:14:58 > 0:15:01a single metre of peat can contain a record
0:15:01 > 0:15:03of 1,000 years of history.
0:15:03 > 0:15:08Preserving plant life, ancient artefacts...and bodies.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13Within bogs, we essentially have this record,
0:15:13 > 0:15:15we have this memory of the past.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19The memory of past environments, past peoples and past landscapes.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23We just don't have that in any other environment on the Earth.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26The unique properties of the bog have preserved
0:15:26 > 0:15:29hundreds of bodies across north-western Europe.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31In Denmark alone,
0:15:31 > 0:15:36around 200 have been dug from the country's boglands.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Pauline Asingh is an archaeologist,
0:15:39 > 0:15:41and the curator of Moesgaard Museum,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45home to one of the most famous Danish bog bodies.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51Grauballe Man was discovered in 1952.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54He is around 2,300 years old.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58But he's been remarkably preserved by the bog.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01You stand face-to-face with a dead man
0:16:01 > 0:16:03from a period so far, far away
0:16:03 > 0:16:05and he looks like you.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09And his nails are very well preserved. His fingertips,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12you can still see the small lines in them.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16You could see his beard, when he was found.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20You could see the pores in his skin... It's fantastic.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24Grauballe Man's preserved remains clearly reveal
0:16:24 > 0:16:27that he too was viciously murdered.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30He had a deep cut from one ear to another.
0:16:32 > 0:16:33SHING!
0:16:33 > 0:16:35It's a savage wound.
0:16:35 > 0:16:36But there's more -
0:16:36 > 0:16:40a broken leg, and a fractured skull.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43More injuries than were necessary to kill him.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45It leaves historians asking, "Why?"
0:16:48 > 0:16:50Silkeborg. Less than 30 miles
0:16:50 > 0:16:54from where Grauballe Man was discovered
0:16:54 > 0:16:57and where the museum holds another famous body.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03In 1950, peat cutters working on a bog outside the town
0:17:03 > 0:17:06unearthed Tollund Man.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10He, too, lived around 2,300 years ago.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12He, too, was murdered.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15During excavation, it became very clear,
0:17:15 > 0:17:19very, very quickly, that he was hanged,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23because he still had a noose around his neck
0:17:23 > 0:17:25very, very, very tightly.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29And you can also see the furrows, here, groove around the neck,
0:17:29 > 0:17:32at a very high position that indicates that he was hanged.
0:17:32 > 0:17:38Tollund Man's head has been remarkably preserved by the bog.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43And his extraordinary remains still tantalise archaeologists.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Look, if you see his face, it's so fantastic,
0:17:46 > 0:17:48and you see his wrinkles.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51You see his stubbled chin
0:17:51 > 0:17:56and so it's almost like a CV - but we can't read it!
0:17:57 > 0:18:00One thing scientists HAVE been able to read
0:18:00 > 0:18:04is the contents of Tollund Man's gut.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09It showed he had eaten a porridge of barley and linseed the day he died.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12Similar to Grauballe Man, whose stomach was also preserved.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17This is some of his last meal, Grauballe Man's last meal.
0:18:19 > 0:18:24And it has been eaten more than 2,000 years ago.
0:18:24 > 0:18:29They found out there were seeds of 66 different herbs.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34It's not the best - it's animal food, or poor man's food.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37And it's interesting, because many of the other Danish bog bodies
0:18:37 > 0:18:41has the same last meal inside when they found them.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47Could Cashel Man's stomach reveal HIS final meal?
0:18:47 > 0:18:51The team in Ireland first need to locate the stomach.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55But identifying it in the jumble of soft tissue is not easy.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59They start by trying to locate his oesophagus.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01If he's got a trachea, behind it
0:19:01 > 0:19:03would be maybe his oesophagus behind it.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07In which case, you've got a portal of entry to his GI tract.
0:19:07 > 0:19:12You could core out a bit, like a little core biopsy or something.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14The only trouble is you're going down
0:19:14 > 0:19:17into what you can't see underneath.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19Yeah, but it would be minimally invasive.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Oh, yeah, but in some respects,
0:19:21 > 0:19:23it's probably better to treat this
0:19:23 > 0:19:27as an archaeological excavation almost.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30Professor Cassidy decides the safest way to look for the stomach
0:19:30 > 0:19:34is with a fingertip search of Cashel Man's internal organs.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36But her efforts are in vain.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39She finds the stomach has entirely decomposed.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44- The stomach...- The stomach's going to be in this area here.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46So, the stomach is all gone?
0:19:46 > 0:19:49There's just nothing there, this is all very ratty looking.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52It's a disappointment.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56Without the stomach, the team will never know Cashel Man's last meal.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01But carbon dating has revealed when he died.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04And the results are a shock to everyone on the team.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07The body is over 4,000 years old -
0:20:07 > 0:20:101,500 years older than the team expected.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14For Ned Kelly, it's a remarkable discovery.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17This body goes back to the early Bronze Age.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21It's much earlier than we anticipated.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24That's very, very exciting.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29It's probably the earliest fleshed bog body.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31Cashel Man walked these bogs in Ireland
0:20:31 > 0:20:35centuries before Tutankhamen lived in Egypt,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39making this the oldest fleshed bog body
0:20:39 > 0:20:42not just in Europe, but the world.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44It shows the bog-body tradition stretches right back
0:20:44 > 0:20:46into our darkest prehistory.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51But it's not just the body that holds the clues
0:20:51 > 0:20:54to Cashel Man's story. At the bog where the body was found,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58the layers of peat COULD also conceal ancient evidence.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04Archaeologist Dr Ellen O'Carroll has come here to look for it.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06She's taking a peat core sample
0:21:06 > 0:21:09and hoping the record of vegetation preserved within it
0:21:09 > 0:21:12will offer an insight into Cashel Man's world.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17This is our peat core.
0:21:18 > 0:21:2050 centimetres of peat
0:21:20 > 0:21:25which represents about 700 years of environmental history.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29At the bottom of this core, we have evidence of a marginal forest
0:21:29 > 0:21:31where alder trees were growing.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34You can see the wood remains in here,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38and you can see the reeds just poking out here.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42As you get up further, you can see eriophorum or bog cotton,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45which is the white cotton you see growing on the bogs.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48What you can't see with the naked eye,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51and what I analyse back in the lab as well, is pollen.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55You can fit 30 pollen grains on the top of a pin,
0:21:55 > 0:21:59and so they're so tiny you need the microscope to identify them.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03Dr O'Carroll hopes her analysis of the pollen grains
0:22:03 > 0:22:06will reveal what vegetation was most prominent
0:22:06 > 0:22:08around the time of Cashel Man's death.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15Now, that looks like ranunculus, I think...
0:22:16 > 0:22:18..which is a buttercup.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22It's kind of got a globular grain surface.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26There's a hazel pollen grain.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30The variety of species she detects may indicate
0:22:30 > 0:22:34the scale of human activity in the area where Cashel Man was buried.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37That looks like a...
0:22:37 > 0:22:40an ash pollen grain - Fraxinus.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45Ash and birch quickly grow after mature forest has been clear-felled.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49Pollen from these two species dominate the samples,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52indicating both ash and birch were widespread.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55It's a sign of intense human activity
0:22:55 > 0:22:58in the area where Cashel Man was buried.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03The presence of ash indicates that humans were around the area,
0:23:03 > 0:23:05they were cutting down the forest.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09Ash is used as an indicator of humans interacting with the woods
0:23:09 > 0:23:12and cutting them down. The rise of the ash and the birch curves
0:23:12 > 0:23:15and the exploitation of the woodland indicates that Cashel Man died
0:23:15 > 0:23:19within the vicinity of a community that was quite vibrant.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21Further analysis of the peat core
0:23:21 > 0:23:24reveals more evidence of human activity -
0:23:24 > 0:23:27microscopic traces of charcoal,
0:23:27 > 0:23:30indicating fires were burnt in the area.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34Confirmation that Cashel Man was buried close to a busy community.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39But what would this community have been like?
0:23:39 > 0:23:43Dr Billy MagFhlionn has studied Bronze Age archaeology.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47It's allowed him to recreate the technology of this vanished world.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50What I try to do is look at the originals
0:23:50 > 0:23:52and imagine how they would have been done,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55and using similar types of technology
0:23:55 > 0:23:57to what they had in the past.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Dr MagFhlionn has recreated an ancient method
0:24:00 > 0:24:02of casting objects from bronze.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06It shows the skills and scientific knowledge Cashel Man's tribe
0:24:06 > 0:24:10would have mastered to produce even an everyday object like an axe.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13What we are going to do is take these bits of scrap bronze
0:24:13 > 0:24:16and put them in the crucible here and heat up the whole thing.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19The idea is that the metal will melt and turn to liquid.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21To make a high-quality casting,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25the bronze needs to be heated to at least 2,000 degrees.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28To achieve this, prehistoric bronze-smiths
0:24:28 > 0:24:30figured out an ingenious system of bellows.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36You'd be starting the next stroke before the first one is finished.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39So, there's a constant flow forward of air.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43It looks simple enough, but it needs a little bit of coordination.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50Once the bronze is molten, it is poured into a clay mould.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53This method of casting gave Cashel Man's people
0:24:53 > 0:24:56the ability to mass-produce essential items
0:24:56 > 0:24:58like weapons and tools.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05It will clean up and polish very nicely
0:25:05 > 0:25:08and be able to hammer a sharp edge onto it.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11It is industrial production.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14What we saw here was the final step in a very long process
0:25:14 > 0:25:16where metal has to be produced.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19First, you have to prospect for the metal, find the ore,
0:25:19 > 0:25:21then you have to mine it,
0:25:21 > 0:25:25then extract the metal from the ore in the process of smelting.
0:25:25 > 0:25:30But what really comes across is how refined they had their skills.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34And, sure, their technology is at a more basic level than ours,
0:25:34 > 0:25:38but what they could do with what were, essentially,
0:25:38 > 0:25:43more limited conditions than what we have now was astonishing.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46But who were these ancient metalworkers,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49and what was their civilisation like?
0:25:49 > 0:25:52They left no written records.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55The accounts we do have come from the Romans
0:25:55 > 0:25:58as they expanded their empire across Europe.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02The writer Tacitus described tribes living in villages....
0:26:05 > 0:26:08..and who...
0:26:10 > 0:26:13To the Romans, there was one word for people like these -
0:26:13 > 0:26:16"barbarians".
0:26:16 > 0:26:20It goes back to a classical term - "barberoi".
0:26:20 > 0:26:22Meaning people who, in a sense,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25speak in languages which are incomprehensible
0:26:25 > 0:26:27to the classical world - "Bar, bar, bar..." -
0:26:27 > 0:26:28that's the origin of it.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32But, basically, it had come mean "people who are not like us",
0:26:32 > 0:26:36people who are different from us in the classical world,
0:26:36 > 0:26:37because they're not civilised,
0:26:37 > 0:26:39they don't write things down,
0:26:39 > 0:26:41they don't have organised laws,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43and they don't have organised structures,
0:26:43 > 0:26:46and so they're almost not quite human.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50But historians now believe these Roman accounts are highly subjective
0:26:50 > 0:26:54and don't reveal the true nature of Iron Age Europe.
0:26:54 > 0:27:00You have to look at the Romans as the imperialists that they were.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02And the Roman world-view
0:27:02 > 0:27:08was of course that the Roman way of doing things was THE best way.
0:27:08 > 0:27:13And, indeed, the only worthwhile way of doing business.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16Nearly two centuries of archaeology has revealed
0:27:16 > 0:27:20the truth about a complex European society -
0:27:20 > 0:27:24the Gauls, the Celts, the Germanii and the Goths.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27These were confederations of hundreds of diverse tribes,
0:27:27 > 0:27:32organised to protect their interests from the advance of Rome.
0:27:32 > 0:27:33The knowledge we have
0:27:33 > 0:27:37is of an immensely sophisticated group of people.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39We know of hierarchies of people...
0:27:39 > 0:27:43political leaders, religious leaders and other people.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46So, in fact, a highly stratified society.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49But one without writing, so it's largely silent
0:27:49 > 0:27:51and very difficult to get at.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53There would have been trading centres
0:27:53 > 0:27:56where you would have had something approaching an urban economy.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59So, the idea of international trade,
0:27:59 > 0:28:03and commerce and exchange, were not foreign concepts.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08But the backbone of the economy was probably agricultural production.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11To these farming people, the land was sacred.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15And studies of ancient European iconography shows that -
0:28:15 > 0:28:17as with the Greeks and Romans -
0:28:17 > 0:28:21fertility deities were central to their belief systems.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25And may be the key to explaining the bog-body phenomenon.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29Derryville, just 15 miles from Cashel Bog.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33A huge excavation is revealing prehistoric craftsmanship
0:28:33 > 0:28:36on a massive scale that may also unlock
0:28:36 > 0:28:39the ritual beliefs of the Iron Age.
0:28:39 > 0:28:44Archaeologists have uncovered a network of finely crafted trackways.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48They hint at the belief systems central to Cashel Man's culture.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53Dr Henry Chapman is an expert in interpreting wetland archaeology.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55Now, this one is beautiful.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57It's a wickerwork hurdle,
0:28:57 > 0:29:01so you can see it extending quite some way along here.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04Some Iron Age trackways in Europe may have been used
0:29:04 > 0:29:07as roads for taking cattle safely over bogland.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09But not all of them.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11At Derryville in Ireland,
0:29:11 > 0:29:15none of the trackways that have been found actually cross the entire bog.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20Instead, each ends right in the centre,
0:29:20 > 0:29:25where the topography indicates the marsh was at its wettest.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29Why? One clue could be the wealth of valuable objects
0:29:29 > 0:29:32found buried in boglands.
0:29:32 > 0:29:36The scale and locations of these hordes lead historians to believe
0:29:36 > 0:29:42they're not buried treasure, but votive offerings to ancient deities.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47A votive offering is simply a gift
0:29:47 > 0:29:50that is presented by people
0:29:50 > 0:29:52to a god or a goddess
0:29:52 > 0:29:56in return for some expected favour.
0:29:56 > 0:30:01It's an offering which has been made on behalf of the community.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04One such offering excavated from an Irish bog
0:30:04 > 0:30:06was a large pail of Iron Age butter,
0:30:06 > 0:30:10a valuable commodity 2,000 years ago.
0:30:10 > 0:30:14Ned Kelly believes it was an offering to the goddess of fertility.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17There was far too much of this butter
0:30:17 > 0:30:20for it to have been simply buried and overlooked.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23We're clearly dealing with material
0:30:23 > 0:30:26that has been deposited for a reason.
0:30:26 > 0:30:32That reason, I believe, was the protection of the cattle herds
0:30:32 > 0:30:36and to ensure continued supply of milk by the herds
0:30:36 > 0:30:39and proper food resources.
0:30:40 > 0:30:44It may sound extraordinary, but the evidence to support this theory
0:30:44 > 0:30:48can be found within living memory in modern Ireland.
0:30:48 > 0:30:55We know that butter continued to be deposited in a votive manner
0:30:55 > 0:30:58up into the middle of the 20th century at least.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01And we can trace that tradition back
0:31:01 > 0:31:04through the deposits in the bogs and in the lakes of Ireland.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08Other ancient artefacts associated with fertility
0:31:08 > 0:31:11have been excavated from Irish bogs.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14Cauldrons, feasting cups,
0:31:14 > 0:31:16millstones for grinding grain...
0:31:16 > 0:31:19and these are also thought to be offerings to the goddess.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24Sacrifices like these hint at the sacred nature
0:31:24 > 0:31:27of the boglands of Iron Age Europe.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30And, to Dr Chapman, this evidence shows
0:31:30 > 0:31:36the trackways at Derryville were not about economics, but ritual.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39If it doesn't make sense in any practical sort of world,
0:31:39 > 0:31:41then it's likely to be something which is...
0:31:41 > 0:31:44a different sort of practical, something about belief systems.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47It's allowing them to ask for things, to ask for help,
0:31:47 > 0:31:49or to ask for thanks.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52Those events which happen, either at times of conflict
0:31:52 > 0:31:55or at times when they require a good harvest.
0:31:55 > 0:31:56It's those sorts of events
0:31:56 > 0:31:59which are what these things are probably about.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02Trackways may have allowed Cashel Man and his tribe
0:32:02 > 0:32:06to access the bogs to commune with their deities.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09But why deposit a body in the peat?
0:32:09 > 0:32:12Archaeology has shown that, typically,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15these people did not bury their dead.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17Normal people were burned,
0:32:17 > 0:32:21cremated, and put in an urn or a pot
0:32:21 > 0:32:23or just a shallow pit.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26So, this is highly unusual.
0:32:26 > 0:32:31Could the bog bodies THEMSELVES have been offerings?
0:32:31 > 0:32:34Were these men, women and children deliberately murdered,
0:32:34 > 0:32:38then buried in the bog to appease the gods?
0:32:38 > 0:32:41The way that he was put to rest in the bog,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45lying in a sleeping position on the one side,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48somebody must have closed his eyes and his mouth,
0:32:48 > 0:32:53because you don't look this peaceful if you just hanged!
0:32:53 > 0:32:59I personally think that he was sacrificed to a god or goddess.
0:32:59 > 0:33:04Could our ancestors have practised ritual murder?
0:33:04 > 0:33:07Pauline Asingh has studied Grauballe Man's diet,
0:33:07 > 0:33:10his injuries and the local archaeology.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14She has used this evidence to piece together his final moments.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17It's led her to believe Grauballe Man died
0:33:17 > 0:33:20as part of a sacrificial execution -
0:33:20 > 0:33:24a ritual in which the whole community was involved.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28Then they walk through the old fields...
0:33:31 > 0:33:35..and then we reach the bog.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39Then, somebody hits him on his left shin bone.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44And then he fell on knee.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47And when he was laying on his knees,
0:33:47 > 0:33:50somebody cut him from ear to ear...
0:33:50 > 0:33:52very deep.
0:33:55 > 0:34:00And the blood will flow from his neck here to the bottom.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06So, they give a life from this world -
0:34:06 > 0:34:08from our world - to the underworld.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11Could the bog bodies really be evidence
0:34:11 > 0:34:14of the widespread practice of ritual murder?
0:34:16 > 0:34:18Could Cashel Man also have been sacrificed?
0:34:20 > 0:34:22Ned Kelly believes clues to this theory might be found
0:34:22 > 0:34:26on one of Europe's most precious prehistoric artefacts -
0:34:26 > 0:34:28the Gundestrup cauldron.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33This is a rather elaborate cauldron made of silver
0:34:33 > 0:34:38which was found in a bog at Gundestrup in Denmark.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44It dates to 200 BC, the same period as many of the bog bodies.
0:34:45 > 0:34:50The cauldron is decorated with panels depicting Iron Age deities.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52One image shows a ritual being performed
0:34:52 > 0:34:55in honour of the goddess of fertility.
0:34:56 > 0:35:01There is a figure who is holding a victim over a cauldron.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04This victim is either being drowned in the cauldron,
0:35:04 > 0:35:07or perhaps, he has had his throat cut,
0:35:07 > 0:35:10it's an image of ritual killing.
0:35:10 > 0:35:15And there are other images relating to ritual killing on this object.
0:35:15 > 0:35:20We have one image of a male deity holding aloft two human victims,
0:35:20 > 0:35:26who, in turn, are holding aloft two pigs who are also to be sacrificed.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29And on an image before me here,
0:35:29 > 0:35:32which shows the goddess,
0:35:32 > 0:35:35lying at her breast are a human victim
0:35:35 > 0:35:38and a pig who have been sacrificed.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42There are a number of references on this object to human sacrifice.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47For Ned Kelly, the Gundestrup cauldron
0:35:47 > 0:35:51offers an eyewitness account of human sacrifice
0:35:51 > 0:35:53straight from the Iron Age.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56And, for him, this crucial evidence
0:35:56 > 0:36:00helps explain the mystery of the bog-body murders.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04This cauldron shows the context within which those killings
0:36:04 > 0:36:08may have taken place in Ancient Ireland.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12Was Cashel Man ritually killed by his own people,
0:36:12 > 0:36:15as a sacrifice to the goddess of fertility?
0:36:17 > 0:36:20His extensive injuries may offer further evidence to support the idea
0:36:20 > 0:36:25and the macabre practice known to historians as "overkill".
0:36:27 > 0:36:29Very often that sacrifice is done
0:36:29 > 0:36:32with far more violence than is necessary actually to kill,
0:36:32 > 0:36:35as though the act itself
0:36:35 > 0:36:37conveys sacredness.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41The more violent, the more complex the killing,
0:36:41 > 0:36:43in a way, the more valuable the gift is.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47It's far more than just sending somebody over to the next world.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49It is highly ritualised.
0:36:49 > 0:36:51It's spectacle, it's theatre,
0:36:51 > 0:36:55it's a collective act involving collective responsibility.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02The conservation lab at the National Museum of Ireland.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05The forensics team is considering whether Cashel Man's injuries
0:37:05 > 0:37:08could be evidence of a ritual overkill.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10But there's still disagreement.
0:37:10 > 0:37:15Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis believes a weapon,
0:37:15 > 0:37:18such as an axe, could NOT have been responsible.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20Well, I find it hard to believe
0:37:20 > 0:37:23that it's displaced the vertebrae without fracturing them.
0:37:23 > 0:37:25If it's impacted them enough...
0:37:25 > 0:37:27I mean, it has to be the sharp edge.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31If the sharp edge has gone in sufficiently
0:37:31 > 0:37:34to displace the vertebrae, why are they not fractured?
0:37:34 > 0:37:38This trauma to the spine may not, in fact, be an injury at all.
0:37:38 > 0:37:40The theory of overkill was developed
0:37:40 > 0:37:44following the Danish bog-body discoveries in the 1950s.
0:37:46 > 0:37:51But modern research by forensic anthropologist Dr Niels Lynnerup
0:37:51 > 0:37:53is rewriting that theory.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55He's joining the team in Ireland
0:37:55 > 0:37:58and doesn't believe the injuries to Cashel Man's spine
0:37:58 > 0:38:01were caused by a weapon at the time of death.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04If that was an injury that was physically induced,
0:38:04 > 0:38:09what sort of damage would you expect to see on those vertebrae?
0:38:09 > 0:38:12There is no sign of trauma,
0:38:12 > 0:38:15in terms of fracturing of the vertebral bodies,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18- of fracturing of the posterior, aspects of that.- OK.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21- I cannot recall seeing... - It's a massive trauma.- Yeah.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24That's road-traffic accidents - falls from a height.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28Even for instance by kicking somebody in the back wouldn't...
0:38:28 > 0:38:30No, never, never.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33Dr Lynnerup has an entirely different explanation
0:38:33 > 0:38:38for the rupture to Cashel Man's spine - bog trauma.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42It all starts with the chemical composition of the bog.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44There are some substances in the bog
0:38:44 > 0:38:47which actually helps preserving the bog body.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51At the same time, there are other substances, acidic substances,
0:38:51 > 0:38:55which start degrading some of the tissues. For instance, the bones.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57The acidity can be so strong
0:38:57 > 0:39:00that the bones can become completely bendable.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03They get, basically, like wet cardboard.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07Dr Lynnerup's explanation is that the powerful acids in the bog
0:39:07 > 0:39:10where Cashel Man was found softened the ligaments
0:39:10 > 0:39:11holding his spine together.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14And that this effect was intensified
0:39:14 > 0:39:18by the increasing pressure on the body, as the bog grew above it.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20The bog is undergoing a continuous development.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23It may actually grow in height, at some point in time,
0:39:23 > 0:39:26it might even sink a bit.
0:39:26 > 0:39:27You get this active environment
0:39:27 > 0:39:30and this environment can directly, or indirectly,
0:39:30 > 0:39:34put a pressure on the bog body.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37Dr Lynnerup believes the weight of the bog is responsible
0:39:37 > 0:39:40for pushing the softened vertebrae in Cashel Man's spine
0:39:40 > 0:39:44out of alignment over thousands of years.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47We've seen something like that in Danish bog bodies.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51It's because when the ligaments degrade a bit,
0:39:51 > 0:39:54or get a bit more soft, then they can start,
0:39:54 > 0:39:57depending on how the body is lying, to come out of alignment.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00To me, it seems postmortem.
0:40:00 > 0:40:05Dr Lynnerup questions whether overkill was a real phenomenon.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09But Ned Kelly has led cutting-edge forensic investigations
0:40:09 > 0:40:12into two other mutilated bog bodies.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16And believes they offer compelling evidence to suggest that,
0:40:16 > 0:40:20in Ireland, overkill really did take place.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24The first was the body known as Clonycavan Man.
0:40:24 > 0:40:26A blow in the face broke his nose
0:40:26 > 0:40:30and he was then set upon around the head with an axe.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33This is Old Croghan Man.
0:40:33 > 0:40:38Modern forensics revealed that he was the victim of a gruesome murder.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42He died as a result of a stab wound to his heart...
0:40:43 > 0:40:45..probably with an Iron Age sword.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48WET, METALLIC SQUELCH
0:40:48 > 0:40:52He was decapitated and cut in half.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55The other parts of the body disposed of elsewhere.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57There's far more done to this body
0:40:57 > 0:40:59than needed to be done to kill the man.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04Ned believes the extensive injuries to these bodies
0:41:04 > 0:41:06are evidence of overkill.
0:41:07 > 0:41:09And that science backs him up.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12I would have to conclude, based on the evidence
0:41:12 > 0:41:13that I've been presented with
0:41:13 > 0:41:17by the pathologists in relation to the Irish bog bodies,
0:41:17 > 0:41:21is that these are bodies that have multiple injuries.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24So, we have to interpret that.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27Now, whether you call it "overkill",
0:41:27 > 0:41:30or what you call it, it's just a matter of semantics.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34Further evidence on Cashel Man's body
0:41:34 > 0:41:37may show he, too, suffered a violent death.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41The first clue is a long thin cut to his back.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45That was revealed by excavation.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48It was down in the peat, so I don't see how that particular cut
0:41:48 > 0:41:51could possibly have been caused by the milling machine.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54Oh, I agree, I agree. It's remote from it.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58If it's definitely not the milling machine, then it's something else.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02The thin cut suggests a slash with a very sharp blade.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06Meanwhile, the clean break to the arm is a definite defensive injury -
0:42:06 > 0:42:10typical of someone deflecting a blow.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14For Marie Cassidy, the evidence suggests
0:42:14 > 0:42:16Cashel Man's death was violent.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22- Your injury to your arm looks like a true injury.- Yeah.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25And if that's a true injury,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28then you have to think of a mechanism.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30The most likely mechanism, in those days,
0:42:30 > 0:42:35is you're in the middle of a fight with somebody wielding something.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38And, therefore, it's quite likely that the death is trauma.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44Forensic science has at last confirmed
0:42:44 > 0:42:47that Cashel Man was murdered.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52And it can also reveal how these men lived.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57Dr Andrew Wilson analysed hair samples
0:42:57 > 0:43:00taken from the bodies of Clonycavan Man and Old Croghan Man.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03Hair is quite a unique resource.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06It locks both physical information
0:43:06 > 0:43:08and biochemical information.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12We can tell something about the chemical information
0:43:12 > 0:43:15that perhaps tell us about that person's diet.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18By studying samples of hair,
0:43:18 > 0:43:20Dr Wilson is able to unlock
0:43:20 > 0:43:24the dietary record hidden within the structure of each strand.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26With hair, you've got that incremental growth,
0:43:26 > 0:43:29roughly a centimetre each month.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32And if you've got long enough hair surviving
0:43:32 > 0:43:34therefore you can build a complete timeline
0:43:34 > 0:43:38of the final months of the individual's life.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42Tests revealed both Clonycavan Man
0:43:42 > 0:43:46and Old Croghan Man enjoyed a diet rich in protein.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49This indicates both men may have been of high status.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54Cashel Man's head was destroyed by machinery.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57But the team did find his scalp,
0:43:57 > 0:43:59flung several yards away by the peat harvester.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04We've got samples from Cashel Man's scalp,
0:44:04 > 0:44:08roughly 18 to 20 millimetres in length,
0:44:08 > 0:44:13which, in itself, is representing roughly two months' hair growth.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16Dr Wilson places these prehistoric hair samples
0:44:16 > 0:44:19into a scanning electron microscope.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22The intense magnification reveals the structure of the hair,
0:44:22 > 0:44:26while isotope analysis deciphers the unique chemical signatures
0:44:26 > 0:44:29left in Cashel Man's hair by his diet.
0:44:29 > 0:44:33Those signatures tell us that we're dealing with an individual
0:44:33 > 0:44:35who had most of the food groups,
0:44:35 > 0:44:41dietary proteins in the form of meat and dairy, as well as cereals.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45That's not dissimilar to the bog bodies that we've looked at before -
0:44:45 > 0:44:47Old Croghan Man, Clonycavan Man.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49The evidence of a protein-rich diet
0:44:49 > 0:44:53suggests Cashel Man may have been of high social status,
0:44:53 > 0:44:56like the two other Irish bog bodies.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58So, who were they?
0:44:58 > 0:45:01Ned Kelly is at the National Library of Ireland,
0:45:01 > 0:45:03where he's searching through
0:45:03 > 0:45:06some of the country's oldest literary records.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08And he's found a clue.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11The Annals of the Four Masters
0:45:11 > 0:45:16was compiled by Christian scribes in the 1600s.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19But it records oral accounts of Irish history
0:45:19 > 0:45:22dating from as early as 2200 BC.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28One such account describes the excessive violence used
0:45:28 > 0:45:30to murder an ancient Irish king.
0:45:30 > 0:45:32OK, you have a reference here
0:45:32 > 0:45:38to the death of the High King of Ireland, Murchadeach MacAirch.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42According to the Annals, the king was...
0:45:47 > 0:45:52The king is killed in a number of ways. He's drowned.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54He's burned.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57And, in other references, he's stabbed as well.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01This is referred to as the "triple killing of kings".
0:46:01 > 0:46:03References to the triple killing of kings
0:46:03 > 0:46:06occur throughout Irish folklore.
0:46:06 > 0:46:08Could such a killing explain the extensive injuries
0:46:08 > 0:46:12to the Irish bog bodies - and show they were kings?
0:46:12 > 0:46:17If so, evidence from further annals may explain why they died.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21An account of an inauguration ceremony describes how the new king
0:46:21 > 0:46:25was symbolically wedded to the land over which he was to rule -
0:46:25 > 0:46:30in this case, the western province of Connacht.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34"And when Fedlimid mac Aeda meic Eogain had married
0:46:34 > 0:46:38"the Province of Connacht" - married the Province of Connacht -
0:46:38 > 0:46:41"..in the manner remembered by the old men
0:46:41 > 0:46:44"and recorded in the old books;
0:46:44 > 0:46:48"and this was the most splendid kingship-marriage
0:46:48 > 0:46:51"ever celebrated in Connacht down to that day."
0:46:51 > 0:46:55This symbolic marriage of the king to the land itself
0:46:55 > 0:46:59made him directly responsible for the success of the harvest.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02And came with potentially fatal consequences.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07If it fails, he will be held accountable
0:47:07 > 0:47:11for failing to keep the goddess in a benevolent frame of mind.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17And he will be replaced through his ritual killing.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19WET, METALLIC SQUELCH
0:47:19 > 0:47:23Could these fragments of history show Cashel Man was a murdered king?
0:47:24 > 0:47:28Evidence from the body of Old Croghan Man supports the idea
0:47:28 > 0:47:32and suggests to Ned this man was certainly of high status.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37His hands have been perfectly preserved.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40He has no calluses on his hands.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44This is a man who did not engage in any manual labour.
0:47:44 > 0:47:45He had an armlet.
0:47:46 > 0:47:51I believe that armlet signifies he was a person of rank.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53While Ned searches the literary record
0:47:53 > 0:47:55for clues to explain Cashel Man,
0:47:55 > 0:47:59science may be on the verge of a bold new theory
0:47:59 > 0:48:02to explain all 300 bog bodies -
0:48:02 > 0:48:04and reveal the powerful, larger force
0:48:04 > 0:48:07that spread across Iron Age Europe.
0:48:09 > 0:48:14The Derryville dig. Just 30 miles from where Cashel Man was found.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17And where ancient trackways led prehistoric tribes
0:48:17 > 0:48:21to the wet heart of the bog to practise their darkest rituals.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31Scientists working here have long known
0:48:31 > 0:48:35that rainfall feeds the bogs, causing them to grow.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39Now they're asking, could rainfall also be the key to ritual murder?
0:48:42 > 0:48:45The peat has preserved not just human remains,
0:48:45 > 0:48:48but also microscopic fossilised amoebae.
0:48:50 > 0:48:55And scientists believe these could throw light on the bog body murders.
0:48:55 > 0:48:57They're known as testate amoebae.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03Testates live on the bog surface.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07We know from modern studies of testate amoebae
0:49:07 > 0:49:10what moisture preferences different species have.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14We can use knowledge of the present as a key to the past.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16Modern science has revealed
0:49:16 > 0:49:19which testate species flourish when it's wet,
0:49:19 > 0:49:22and which ones thrive in dry conditions.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26Environmental archaeologists like Dr Ben Gearey now believe
0:49:26 > 0:49:28this fact could open the door
0:49:28 > 0:49:30to thousands of years of climate history.
0:49:30 > 0:49:36By analysing samples of peat, he is able to extract fossilised testates
0:49:36 > 0:49:39that lived thousands of years ago.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43As bogs grow and change over time
0:49:43 > 0:49:46depending on how wet or dry they are, of course,
0:49:46 > 0:49:48this will be reflected by the composition
0:49:48 > 0:49:52of the communities of testates that are living in the peat.
0:49:52 > 0:49:53Under the microscope,
0:49:53 > 0:49:57Dr Gearey is able to identify the different types of testate amoebae.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03This is another species of testate.
0:50:03 > 0:50:05It's called Arcella discoides.
0:50:05 > 0:50:10This is an indicator of generally rather wet conditions.
0:50:10 > 0:50:12This is Hyalosphenia subflava.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16This is an indicator of a comparatively dry conditions.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20By analysing peat samples, Dr Gearey is hoping to identify
0:50:20 > 0:50:24which species of testate - wet or dry - are most dominant.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28This work could reveal the weather patterns faced by ancient tribes
0:50:28 > 0:50:30thousands of years ago.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33And offer an insight into the challenges posed by climate
0:50:33 > 0:50:36to these prehistoric farming communities.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39Meanwhile, at the National Library,
0:50:39 > 0:50:44Ned Kelly has found another clue to help him explain Cashel Man's death.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46It's a medieval map.
0:50:47 > 0:50:49Like the annals,
0:50:49 > 0:50:53it records information from thousands of years earlier.
0:50:53 > 0:50:55In this case, the boundaries
0:50:55 > 0:50:58of Ireland's ancient kingdoms,
0:50:58 > 0:51:02and the inauguration hills on which tribal kings were crowned.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07The map shows Cashel Man and Old Croghan Man
0:51:07 > 0:51:11were buried in bogs at the foot of inauguration hills.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16Ned believes this is a sign both men were deposed kings -
0:51:16 > 0:51:19each buried in the shadow of the hilltop
0:51:19 > 0:51:21on which they had once been crowned.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25To find out more, he's exploring the hill
0:51:25 > 0:51:28overlooking where Cashel Man was found.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32There's a wonderful view back here across the bog...
0:51:33 > 0:51:35..Cashel bog.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38That's the bog there in the middle of which Cashel Man is.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47The map shows that the hill and the bog mark the boundary
0:51:47 > 0:51:50of an ancient tribal kingdom,
0:51:50 > 0:51:53part of modern-day County Laois.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55We're just here -
0:51:55 > 0:51:57Crook Locha, I think.
0:51:57 > 0:52:02And the bog is over here, on this boundary.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05You can see there's a boundary running around here.
0:52:05 > 0:52:10The hill's wide, flat summit overlooking the kingdom
0:52:10 > 0:52:13made it a place of assembly for ancient tribes
0:52:13 > 0:52:15performing kingship ceremonies.
0:52:15 > 0:52:20Ned believes they came here to crown their kings
0:52:20 > 0:52:24AND to decommission them in murderous rituals.
0:52:24 > 0:52:30What I'm proposing is that the bog body down here in Cashel Bog
0:52:30 > 0:52:34is also associated with kingship ritual.
0:52:34 > 0:52:36He, in my view, is a king
0:52:36 > 0:52:40who was probably inaugurated here on this hilltop.
0:52:40 > 0:52:42And when his kingship failed
0:52:42 > 0:52:46he was ritually killed, and he's buried down there
0:52:46 > 0:52:49in the boundary surrounding this inauguration hill.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51It just cannot be coincidental.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58Ned's theory is that Cashel Man
0:52:58 > 0:53:01was a Bronze Age king
0:53:01 > 0:53:03faced with a failing harvest,
0:53:03 > 0:53:05murdered by his tribe
0:53:05 > 0:53:09and sacrificed to appease the goddess of fertility.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19This theory could at last explain
0:53:19 > 0:53:25the mystery of the prehistoric bodies buried in Irish bogs.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28But not those from the rest of Europe.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30It may for places like Ireland
0:53:30 > 0:53:33where you have this early medieval evidence.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36But it doesn't work for the majority of bog bodies found
0:53:36 > 0:53:39for example in Schleswig-Holstein in Denmark,
0:53:39 > 0:53:42and in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Britain.
0:53:42 > 0:53:47In Europe, archaeologists have found the bodies of men and women,
0:53:47 > 0:53:51boys and girls. Clearly, these can't all have been kings.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56Could a common theory ever explain them all?
0:53:56 > 0:53:59Experts have scrutinised archaeology,
0:53:59 > 0:54:03ancient history and the bodies.
0:54:03 > 0:54:08Now the bog itself may provide an answer
0:54:08 > 0:54:12and reveal the powerful force that grew the boglands,
0:54:12 > 0:54:15but rained chaos on ancient Europe.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19Dr Ben Gearey has spent years
0:54:19 > 0:54:22studying how bogs are formed and fed by rainfall.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25And how the record of this rainfall is preserved
0:54:25 > 0:54:28in the form of microscopic fossilised testate amoebae.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33If we are identifying a relatively large amount
0:54:33 > 0:54:36of the discoides in that sample,
0:54:36 > 0:54:39that indicates that that is a relatively wet environment
0:54:39 > 0:54:41represented by that sample.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44If we're seeing a greater proportion of the dry indicators,
0:54:44 > 0:54:47that shows the opposite. It shows a relatively dry surface.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52For 20 years, scientists have been collecting data
0:54:52 > 0:54:54from sites like Derryville.
0:54:54 > 0:54:58Their goal - to use testate amoebae to track changes
0:54:58 > 0:55:01in the wetness of these boglands
0:55:01 > 0:55:04and reveal prehistory's changing climate.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07There's been a huge amount of work done on different bogs,
0:55:07 > 0:55:11different sites, in Ireland and indeed in north-west Europe,
0:55:11 > 0:55:14attempting to track changes in bog-surface wetness over time,
0:55:14 > 0:55:18and then to relate that to climatic shifts, really over the last
0:55:18 > 0:55:215,000 years or so, or maybe even longer.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24This work is unlocking the climate record
0:55:24 > 0:55:27preserved in Europe's boglands.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30And the data has revealed an insight
0:55:30 > 0:55:33into the dramatic changes in climate faced
0:55:33 > 0:55:36by prehistoric tribes thousands of years ago.
0:55:36 > 0:55:39We tend to see that there is increasing evidence
0:55:39 > 0:55:40for a climatic shift,
0:55:40 > 0:55:43a shift probably to a wetter and colder environment
0:55:43 > 0:55:46around about the Bronze Age-Iron Age transition.
0:55:46 > 0:55:50Very broadly, around the time that we do get increasing evidence
0:55:50 > 0:55:53of bog bodies appearing in wetlands.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56This research reveals a dramatic fluctuation
0:55:56 > 0:56:00in Europe's climate around 750 BC -
0:56:00 > 0:56:04when rainfall increased and temperatures dropped.
0:56:04 > 0:56:06It lasted hundreds of years.
0:56:06 > 0:56:10Probably the most significant climatic event since the Ice Age.
0:56:12 > 0:56:17Could this evidence of a climate shift to a wetter colder Europe
0:56:17 > 0:56:19explain the bog bodies?
0:56:19 > 0:56:21If you imagine, in prehistory,
0:56:21 > 0:56:25when people don't have the advantage of satellite-based information,
0:56:25 > 0:56:27those sorts of things, they don't have that record.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29So, when things change,
0:56:29 > 0:56:32and they continue to get wetter and colder, they don't know why.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34But it's affecting their economics.
0:56:34 > 0:56:39European Iron Age tribes were dependent on farming.
0:56:39 > 0:56:41For a society like this,
0:56:41 > 0:56:45a colder climate with more rain could have meant disaster.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47Destroying their harvests
0:56:47 > 0:56:49and leaving them facing starvation.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53Those things are where people have to respond in some way.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56And the way you respond to that, when you feel impotent,
0:56:56 > 0:56:59you have to do something, that's when belief systems
0:56:59 > 0:57:02and ritual activities probably take place.
0:57:03 > 0:57:08Did The Iron Age tribes see their harvests devastated
0:57:08 > 0:57:13by climate chaos and interpret that as the work of angry deities?
0:57:14 > 0:57:17And was their solution to march living sacrifices
0:57:17 > 0:57:20into the soaking bogs of Europe
0:57:20 > 0:57:23to murder them and appease their gods?
0:57:23 > 0:57:26In terms of ceremonial prehistoric ones
0:57:26 > 0:57:29that we think are ritual killings,
0:57:29 > 0:57:31um, those ones... it's entirely possible
0:57:31 > 0:57:34that they are related to changes in the environment,
0:57:34 > 0:57:36people responding to the things which they can't control.
0:57:38 > 0:57:43Could this controversial theory answer prehistory's darkest mystery
0:57:43 > 0:57:47and explain the bog-body phenomenon across Europe?
0:57:49 > 0:57:52We know it was the rain that grew the bogs.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56But did the rain also drive our ancestors to commit murder,
0:57:56 > 0:58:00in order to ensure their own survival?
0:58:02 > 0:58:07Thousands of years later, are these bodies their unfortunate victims?
0:58:07 > 0:58:09All murdered.
0:58:09 > 0:58:11All sacrificed.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14All buried in the bog.
0:58:25 > 0:58:30Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd