Lindow Woman facts for kids
Lindow Woman and Lindow I are the names given to the partial remains of a female bog body, discovered in a peat bog at Lindow Moss, near Wilmslow in Cheshire, England, on 13 May 1983 by commercial peat-cutters. The remains were largely a skull fragment, which was missing its jaw, but with soft tissue and hair attached. The remains were subsequently dated to the Roman period. The remains became more technically known as Lindow I after the discovery of other remains in the same bog, which were identified as Lindow Man or Lindow II in 1984 and Lindow III in 1987.
Discovery
The bog body of Lindow I was discovered on 13 May 1983 by commercial peat cutters, Andy Mould and Stephen Dooley. They first noticed an unusual item on the conveyor belt, which was similar in shape and size to a football. They took the object from the conveyor to examine it more closely. After they removed the adhesive remains of peat, they realized they had found an incomplete preserved human head with attached remnants of soft tissue, brain, eye, optic nerve, and hair.
Today, only the bony remains of the skull from the discovery exist because of the handling of evidence by the police. The remains of the skull were anthropologically identified as probably belonging to a 30–50-year-old woman. Recent studies have suggested doubt about the sex of the individual.
Another body was recovered in the area in 1987, and is referred to as Lindow III. It was headless and has a vestigial thumb.
Some scientists believe that this was the body of the Lindow Woman. A theory described the killings of both Lindow I and II as ritual sacrifice attributed to the Celtic enclaves.
Chemistry of bog bodies
The preservation of bog bodies is dependent on a set of specific chemical conditions, which can occur in peat bogs. A sphagnum moss bog must have a temperature lower than 4°C at the time of the deposition of the body. The subsequent average annual temperature must be lower than 10°C. Moisture must be stable in the bog year-round: it cannot dry out.
Sphagnum moss affects the chemistry of nearby water, which becomes highly acidic relative to a more natural environment (a pH of roughly 3.3 to 4.5). The concentration of dissolved minerals also tends to be low. Dying moss forms layers of sediment and releases sugars and humic acids that consume oxygen. Since the surface of the water is covered by living moss, water becomes anaerobic. As a result, human tissues buried in the bog tend to tan rather than decay.
See also
In Spanish: Mujer de Lindow para niños
