Object in Focus: Lindow Man

This compact book, packed with glorious colour photography joins a series on the stand out holdings of the British Museum. It describes the discovery, conservation and analysis of the corpse of Lindow Man, Britain's best preserved bog body, dating to the late Iron Age.

Lindow Man was accidentally discovered by peat-cutters in Cheshire in the 1980s. He was first thought to be a modern murder victim, but scientific investigations soon proved that he had died in the first century AD, around the time of the Roman conquest of Britain. The environment of the peat bog had kept his body in a remarkable state of preservation, and he is still providing a wealth of information to researchers about the diet and health of people at that time. Many theories have been put forward about his death. He was (apparently) struck on the head, strangled, and his throat was cut, before he went into the marsh. Does this literal overkill indicate that he was a sacrificial victim? Experts are still trying to understand exactly how he died. Other bog bodies have been found in Ireland and Scandinavia – what are the possible connections? Jody Joy tells the gripping and gruesome story of the discovery, examination and Lindow Man, and explores the many unanswered questions which remain.