Who is the Lindow Man?
· Comments from and links to scientific experts as well as possible new theories and hypotheses.
Dr. Don Robins, a chemist who frequently analyzes material from mummies and other archeological objects, and Dr. Anne Ross, an archeologist specializing in Celtic history
Anne Ross’ theory revolves around Lindow Man being a sacrificial victim of the Beltain festival, in May 1 (explains pollen in stomach).
‘According to Ross, the Celts considered the number three holy. They had three gods: Taranis, the god of thunder; Esus, the god of the underworld; and Teutates, the god of the tribe. Each required a specific type of sacrifice. Ross explains:
'Taranis required prisoners of war to be burnt alive in giant wicker cages, while Esus was offered victims who were either hanged from sacred trees or stabbed to death or both. Teutates, however, took his sacrifices into a watery embrace in the sacred wells and pools that always figured very strongly among Celtic holy sites.’
‘The pathologists had meanwhile concluded that Lindow Man had eaten the cake about 30 minutes before his death, a time consistent with what is known of the sacrificial ritual. Honor to the Gods’
Brothwell points out that, after the blows to the head knocked the man unconscious, “blood [may have] been spilled…for symbolic reasons” (Brothwell 1986:29).
R C Connolly, senior lecturer in physical anthropology at the University of Liverpool believes Lindow man was simply ‘clubbed to death’ and dismisses the interpretation of ritual features as an ‘archaeological fetish’. To Connolly the sinew about the neck was the remains of a necklace rather than a garrotte and that the neck wound in fact post mortem rupturing rather than a slash.
Dr. Don Robins, a chemist who frequently analyzes material from mummies and other archeological objects, and Dr. Anne Ross, an archeologist specializing in Celtic history
Anne Ross’ theory revolves around Lindow Man being a sacrificial victim of the Beltain festival, in May 1 (explains pollen in stomach).
‘According to Ross, the Celts considered the number three holy. They had three gods: Taranis, the god of thunder; Esus, the god of the underworld; and Teutates, the god of the tribe. Each required a specific type of sacrifice. Ross explains:
'Taranis required prisoners of war to be burnt alive in giant wicker cages, while Esus was offered victims who were either hanged from sacred trees or stabbed to death or both. Teutates, however, took his sacrifices into a watery embrace in the sacred wells and pools that always figured very strongly among Celtic holy sites.’
‘The pathologists had meanwhile concluded that Lindow Man had eaten the cake about 30 minutes before his death, a time consistent with what is known of the sacrificial ritual. Honor to the Gods’
Brothwell points out that, after the blows to the head knocked the man unconscious, “blood [may have] been spilled…for symbolic reasons” (Brothwell 1986:29).
R C Connolly, senior lecturer in physical anthropology at the University of Liverpool believes Lindow man was simply ‘clubbed to death’ and dismisses the interpretation of ritual features as an ‘archaeological fetish’. To Connolly the sinew about the neck was the remains of a necklace rather than a garrotte and that the neck wound in fact post mortem rupturing rather than a slash.
Possible new theories
'2,000 year old bog mummy in England was a homosexual Druid who most likely offered himself as a human sacrifice against invading Romans to keep them (successfully) out of Ireland' - Donovan Connell |
Many scholars now agree that Tacitus misinterpreted this common practice of sacrificial bog burial due to his own Roman bias, mistakenly thinking that the cowards, pacifists, and homosexuals who were ritually sacrificed in the bogs, were actually being executed as criminals. All other material objects recovered from the bogs are clearly of a ceremonial and ritualistic nature, including massive gold cauldrons which were created, embossed with beautiful and intricate designs, never or hardly used but immediately dismantled, and carefully sacrificed by being buried in the bogs - that liminal space between the terra firma and chaotic open water. The ancients obviously knew by simple observation, as we do, that the swamps preserved even organic material intact for many centuries. Thus the bogs were a "magical" and mysterious place where offerings would have been placed to ensure their continued power for generations to come. Placing "disgraced" items in the bog makes no sense.
|