An Army Sacrificed in a Bog [ Alken, Denmark, 2K ago ]

Past Horizons Archaeology ^ | July 2012 | Aarhus University

[SunkenCiv]

The unique discovery at the east end of Lake Mossø of a slaughtered army dating to around two thousand years ago, was revealed by Danish archaeologists in 2009.

They had found skeletal material from up to 200 warriors, who may have all come from the same battle. Cuts and slashes on the skeletons showed they had died violently but nothing is as yet known about the identity of the killers, or their victims.

In February this year it was announced that the Carlsberg Foundation has granted 1.5 million DKK for further research and excavations in Alken Wetlands. Archaeologists and other experts from Skanderborg Museum, Moesgård Museum and Aarhus University hope to answer some of their research questions this summer when a major excavation will take place near Alken, a small town outside Skanderborg on the Jutland peninsula.

The remains are from the beginning of the Roman Iron Age, though Roman armies never reached so far north, only as far as modern day Germany, a few hundred kilometres to the south of the Danish site. However, this conflict could have been a consequence of the Roman expansion and this discovery could shed new light on what happened in those centuries beyond the borders of the Roman Empire...

It is thought many more bodies will be unearthed over the course of July and August... The remains are so well preserved that experts will be able to analyse their DNA and preliminary tests have been carried out at a laboratory on six teeth and two femur bones. If successful it will inform the researchers whether the skeletons represent a local grouping or one from outside the region.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Renfield.

A survey in 2009 confirmed the good preservation conditions. Image: Skanderborg Museum

Archaeologists hope that the excavation will solve the many mysteries about the circumstances behind the sacrifice of several hundred warriors. Image: Aarhus University

Within the deposited peat layers in roughly the same horizon as the human remains, a discovery was made of three iron lance-heads and a wooden shield. Image: Skanderborg Museum

[Smokin' Joe]

Sacrifices?

Killed captives?

KIA burial?

Budget cuts/downsizing?

Maybe DNA will shed some light on that...

[Little Bill]

Battle Field sanitation, keeps the smell down, not to mention flies.

[Nakota]

Danish “Fast & Furious”?

[BRL]

Clearly that guy did not floss daily

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks Renfield. Report: Ancient Roman graveyard found in suburban Copenhagen Crystal Amulet Poses Question On Early Christianity (Denmark - 100AD) Graves Hint At Contact With Romans (Sweden) Buddha statue from 6th c found in Viking hoard in Helgo, Sweden "Frankenstein" Bog Mummies Discovered in Scotland To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[TPOOH]

Bush’s fault.

[Hugin]

“Sacrifided”? Nothing in the article I saw explains using that word. Bad translation?

[SunkenCiv]

;’)

[Hugin]

“Sacrificed”? Nothing in the article I saw explains using that word. Bad translation?

[SunkenCiv]

;’)

Could be, they were sacrifided after they fighted in the bog.

[bigheadfred]

Clearly that guy did not floss daily

Who worries about flossing when you are all bogged down???

[Redcitizen]

Someone sowed Dragon’s teeth and still lost the battle.

[SunkenCiv]

Ah, ha!

Thanks again Renfield.

http://www.heritagedaily.com/2012/08/macabre-finds-in-the-bog-at-alken-enge/

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 07/11/2012. Just a little re-ping.

• Bone trove in Denmark tells story of 'Barbarian' battle
• Report: Ancient Roman graveyard found in suburban Copenhagen
• Roman drunkard found on Danish island
• New finds suggest Romans won big North Germany battle [ Maximinus Thrax ]
• German battlefield yields Roman surprises
• Ancient Roman Military Camp Unearthed in Eastern Germany
• Archaeologist: We have evidence of the presence of Roman legionaries in Poland
• Graves Hint At Contact With Romans (Sweden)
• Treasure trove reveals Iron Age town [Sweden]
• New Iron Age Sites Discovered in Finland [Roman era]
• Two Iron Age Sites Discovered in Finland

[21twelve]

“Ten thousand Swedes run through the weeds
chased by one Norwegian.”

[vannrox]

Great post. Very interesting.

[bert]

Santa Anna sacrificed his army in a bog

[Varda]

Thanks for the ping. I missed this posting the first time around.

Here’s some more about the skeletons. I don’t think it was an army but rather the men of a village all slaughtered. (probably by a German tribe)

“The deposited population is estimated to 380 individuals. The relative absence of traces of healed sharp force trauma suggests that they had relatively little previous battle experience”
http://www.pnas.org/content/115/23/5920

[litehaus]

In other news:
“Ancient Alien Experts” estimate 300,000 planets like ours have disappeared when the scientists got to making a Black Hole and immediately were GONE !