Why torture some poor schmuck you're sacrificing to the gods? Isn't it more likely these are trespassers, poachers, thieves, criminals, victims of feuds, wars, conflicts of various kinds, etc.? Just wondering about the ever pervasive explanation that seems to claim that almost every ancient corpse ever found was a person who was sacrificed to the gods... Surely, there were other causes of death back then, lol?
I agree. P.V. Glob's "The Bog People" has nice photos of some Iron Age carcasses in which the victim was strangled to death using (presumably) the rope still tied around the neck. Death by hanging?
I had the same thoughts. It is always a sacrifice when they find these bodies, as if they really have a clue as to why they were killed. Maybe they were just murdered and the bog was a good place to dump the bodies and get away with it.
Agree. I have never believed much in ritual sacrifice for fertility gods or other yokels...(Except maybe the Mesoamericans).