If I could undertake any research topic of my choosing, and
had access to all the resources I needed, I would study bog bodies and their
burial grounds. For those unfamiliar with the term, a bog body, or bog person,
is a term given to human remains that have been naturally mummified in a peat
bog. A peat bog is a particular type of wetland environment that accumulates
dead plant material and basically functions as a carbon sink. As archaeologist
Henry Chapman notes, the unique stagnant and acidic conditions of peat
bogs “facilitate the long-term preservation of soft tissue including skin and
muscle, as well as internal organs and stomach contents” (Chapman, 109). I know
it’s a bit morbid, but I have always been fascinated by bog people because they
are human relics of the past. Having come from a historical research background
and understanding the temporality of the physical human condition, for some
strange reason I find it really interesting that these bodies, and others such
as Ötzi, have survived up to the presen, with clues of the culture they were once a part of, and that they
are given a kind of second life.
Because of the organic preservation of the bog bodies, a lot
of research has been conducted on the mummies themselves. Yet because of the focus on the body, little research has been conducted on the
bogs themselves and the spatial position of the body within the bog. Using research
methods and approaches found in landscape archaeology such as GIS and other
digital imaging tools, I want to look at the location of the person’s body in
the bog and how does the location affect our interpretation of the body itself
and our conclusions pertaining to the person’s death. For example, the Yde Girl
was found in a small hidden bog, while multiple bodies including the Weerdinge
Men and Neu Versen Man were found in the massive Bourtange Moor (Chapman, 110).
Some of my guiding questions for this research would include:
- What does the practice of burying the people in peat bogs say about the culture?
- What is the significance of the bodies’ spatial position in the bog?
- Could we find more bodies using GIS and spectral imaging technologies?
- Can we find cultural differences between groups who buried bodies in peat bogs based on the location of the bodies in the bogs?
This research would obviously be complicated by a changing
environment over time. Due to climate change and other factors, the peatland
landscape has evolved overtime and would have been much different to earlier societies. This
factor would have to be assisted with the use of palaeoenvironmental data in order
to model landscape changes over time. I believe studying location of the bog
bodies in the peat bogs reveals a society’s changing relationship with this
type of environment. Ancient societies used these bogs for a particular purpose,
and that purpose has changed over time, and presently we are using the land
differently, causing the bodies to appear.
Sources:
Chapman, Henry. "The Landscape Archaeology of Bog Bodies." Journal of Wetland Archaeology 15, no. 1 (Sept. 2015): 109-121.
Very cool, Elizabeth! I think that is a topic that has yet to be properly pursued with respect to the cultural landscape-related questions that you're asking. There's a fair bit of biogeochemistry research happening at McGill that is centred on the Mer Bleue bog site: see this: http://www.geog.mcgill.ca/faculty/moore/research_themes.html and
ReplyDeletehttp://www.geog.mcgill.ca/faculty/moore/Mer%20Bleue_Pubs_Sept%202014.pdf
As you can see the anthropological aspects have sort of been looked at through projects that explore methods of grave detection at bog site (these folks were very interested in the detection of clandestine grave in places like Rwanda where there had been genocide). But, there was not much into the cultural questions that are raised in relation to the existence of these sites... Perhaps you will fill the gap!
I am also fascinated with bog people. I remember seeing a poster for an exhibition at the Museum of Civilization (its name at the time) when I was in grade 8 and this sort of morbid fascination snuck in. This also reminds me of my interest in the Book of the Dead and ancient Egypt since having these preserved remains can tell us so much about a people, how they lived, their customs and culture, their general way of life. But in this case, there doesn't seem to be a lot of existing research out there (or at least it isn't as popularized) so this would be a very worthwhile 'artifact' of study to pursue. This could also bring together a variety of disciplines as you have inadvertently outlined here...perhaps you should consider another Master's! :)
ReplyDeleteReally interesting! I automatically thought back to reading about the Maori fight for their cultural landscapes. Learning about the current efforts in New Zealand (the Te Aranga Maori Cultural Landscape Strategy: http://www.tearanga.maori.nz/index.php?m=3) was the first time I learned about the concept of a cultural landscape in such a concrete way. I'd be really interested to learn more about this!
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