Reinterpreting the latest research and discoveries, and featuring a ground-breaking study of Worsley Man, this book brings the bogs to life through both natural history and folklore, revealing them as places that were rich and fertile yet dangerous. It also reflects on the debate over whether bog bodies should be displayed at all.

The ‘bog bodies’ of north-western Europe have captured the imaginations of poets and archaeologists alike, allowing us to come face to face with individuals from the past. Their exceptional preservation makes it possible to examine minute details of their lives and deaths, making us reflect poignantly on our own mortality.

In this book, Melanie Giles advances discussion of these bodies by arguing that they must be situated within a turbulent world of endemic violence and change. Reinterpreting the latest continental research and new discoveries, she brings the bogs to life through both natural history and folklore, revealing them as places that were rich and fertile yet dangerous. At the heart of the book is a ground-breaking ‘cold case’ forensic study of Worsley Man, Manchester Museum’s ‘bog head’, which dates from the early Roman period of military occupation in the north. A victim of dramatic facial injury, garrotting and decapitation, Worsley Man provides the basis for a rich regional portrait that reinvigorates and changes the nature of bog body studies at an international level.

Giles also argues that these remains do not pose just practical conservation problems but also philosophical dilemmas, compounded by the critical debate on if – and how – they should be displayed. She thus presents for the first time the complete cycle of archaeological engagement: from discovery to conservation and analysis, interpretation, display and the cultural and creative legacy of the ancient dead.

The ‘bog bodies’ of north-western Europe have captured the imaginations of poets and archaeologists alike, allowing us to come face-to-face with individuals from the past. Their exceptional preservation permits us to examine minute details of their lives and deaths, making us reflect poignantly on our own mortality. But, as this book argues, the bodies must be resituated within a turbulent world of endemic violence and change. Reinterpreting the latest continental research and new discoveries, and featuring a ground-breaking ‘cold case’ forensic study of Worsley Man, Manchester Museum’s ‘bog head’, it brings the bogs to life through both natural history and folklore, revealing them as places that were rich and fertile yet dangerous. The book also argues that these remains do not just pose practical conservation problems but also philosophical dilemmas, compounded by the critical debate on if – and how – they should be displayed.