Osterby Man

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Osterby Man

Osterby Man or the Osterby Head is a bog body of which only the skull and hair survived. It was discovered in 1948 by peat cutters to the southeast of Osterby, Germany. The hair is tied in a Suebian knot. The head is at the State Archaeological Museum at Gottorf Castle in Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein.

Discovery

The head was discovered on 26 May 1948 by Otto and Max Müller of Osterby, who were cutting peat on their father's land, at 54°26′51″N 09°46′09″E / 54.44750°N 9.76917°E / 54.44750; 9.76917.[1] It was found approximately 65 to 70 centimetres (2 ft 2 in to 2 ft 4 in) beneath the current ground level. The head was wrapped in fragments of a deerskin cape, which Max Müller noticed protruding from the peat. The find was reported to the museum in Schleswig; despite intensive searching by the brothers and others, no more of the body has been found.[2]

Description and analysis

The skull was wrapped in fragments of a deerskin cape and had been damaged by being struck with a blunt object before it was sunk in the bog.

Anthropology

The skull had been broken into several pieces. The acids in the bog have decalcified the bone, which has shrunk somewhat and is dark brown. The hair and small sections of scalp are well preserved,

cervical vertebra show that the head was cut off.[4] The skull was stabilised for exhibition by filling with gypsum
.

The hair is thin and slightly wavy, 28 centimetres (11 in) long. It has been coloured a reddish brown by the acids in the bog; microscopic analysis showed that it had been dark blond and that the man had had some white hairs.

head lice, unusual for the time.[7]

Side view showing Suebian knot

Hairstyle

The hair is unusually well preserved and is tied above the right temple in a

Dätgen Man (who wore his on the back of his head).[9] Osterby has featured the Suebian knot on its coat of arms since 1998.[10]

Skin cape

The skull was wrapped in fragments of a garment, measuring approximately 40 by 53 centimetres (16 by 21 in), consisting of

Jührdenerfeld Man
.

Treatment

Peter Löhr performed the anthropological analysis, which determined that the skull had shrunk while immersed in the bog. For his doctoral dissertation, he performed experiments on it involving repeated soaking and drying and detailed measurements; in his view, soaking caused it to swell to almost its original dimensions.[11] Löhr's data included markedly shrunk teeth and the complete lower jaw associated with the skull, which has a protruding chin. However, more recent analysis has shown that in his original preparation of the skull for exhibition, Karl Schlabow added an unrelated lower jaw.[12]

Dating

The Suebian knot indicates the man died in the Late Iron Age or the Roman period, and radiocarbon dating likewise indicates a date between 75 and 130 CE;[13][14] however, the hair sample used was taken from Alfred Dieck's private collection and may thus be unreliable.[15]

Analysis

Other Iron Age bog bodies have also been beheaded;[4] the body of Dätgen Man, who also had a Suebian knot, was found several metres from his head. The beheading together with the fractured skull indicates deliberate execution by multiple methods. It is impossible to determine whether Osterby Man was sunk in the bog as a judicial punishment or a sacrifice, or whether his body was also deposited in the bog; but it has been suggested that his relatively advanced age may indicate an honorable death.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ Karl Kersten, "Ein Moorleichenfund von Osterby bei Eckernförde", Offa. Berichte und Mitteilungen zur Urgeschichte, Frühgeschichte und Mittelalterarchäologie 8 (1949) 1–2, p. 1, Fig. 1 (in German)
  2. ISBN 9781590170908, p. 116
    .
  3. ISBN 9780395857847, n.p.
  4. ^
    ISBN 9789067074186
    , p. 159.
  5. Nova
    , retrieved 5 November 2013.
  6. ^ Glob, p. 117.
  7. ISBN 9780494122594
    .
  8. ISBN 9781405137560, p. 112
    .
  9. ^ Van der Sanden, Through Nature to Eternity, p. 145; diagram of how it was tied, Ill. 202, p. 146.
  10. ^ Gemeinde Osterby, Kreis Rendsburg-Eckernförde Archived 2013-11-08 at the Wayback Machine, Kommunale Wappenrolle, State of Schleswig-Holstein State Archives (in German), retrieved 5 November 2013.
  11. ^ Peter Löhr, "Die Moorleiche von Osterby. Die experimentelle Schrumpfung von Schädeln", Anthropologisches Institut der Universität Kiel, 1950 (PhD dissertation) (in German)
  12. ^ Thomas Brock, "Windeby: Geheimnis der Moorleichen gelüftet", Der Spiegel, 17 February 2007 (in German)
  13. ^ Van der Sanden, Through Nature to Eternity, p. 81.
  14. ^ Johannes van der Plicht, Wijnand van der Sanden, A. T. Aerts and H. J. Streurman, "Dating bog bodies by means of 14C-AMS" Archived 2011-09-17 at the Wayback Machine, Journal of Archaeological Science 31.4, 2004, pp. 471–91, p. 480.
  15. ^ Wijnand van der Sanden, "C14-Datierungen von Moorleichen aus Niedersachsen und Schleswig-Holstein", Die Kunde N.F. 46 (1995), 137–55 (in German)
  16. ^ Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 69–70 (2003) p. 302.

Further reading

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