53 A Mystery Solved

During the 1950s Peter Glob, a Danish archaeologist, was responsible for unraveling the mystery of a centuries-old murder.

Several well-preserved, naked male bodies were discovered in Danish peat bogs. Upon examining these bodies, Glob found that they dated back to Denmark’s Iron Age, more than 1,600 years ago. The apparent fact that the men had died violently, by hanging or throat slitting, was the first clue to intrigue Glob. Several victims wore twisted hide thongs around their necks, and their hands and feet were soft, indicating that they had never done heavy labor. Autopsies revealed that the men’s last meal consisted of grains and seeds. Glob found the absence of meat puzzling, because during the Iron Age people were not vegetarians.

In search of further information, Glob turned to the writings of Tacitus, the ancient Roman historian who had written about the tribes of northwest Europe. Tacitus described rites of human sacrifice that were made to the Earth Goddess. The ancient tribes held these rites in early spring, to guarantee the fertility of their fields. From this information, Glob deduced that the dead men were priests or men of high rank, which would account for their soft hands, and that the victims had been fed a ritual meal of plant seeds before they were sacrificed. Glob further deduced that the victims’ leather neck thongs represented the metal ring that Tacitus had described as being a symbol for the Earth Goddess. Glob concluded that these bog men had been sacrificed to the very thing that preserved them—Mother Earth.

53 一桩谜案得解

20世纪50年代，丹麦考古学家彼得·格洛布负责解开一桩数百年前谋杀案的谜团。

在丹麦的泥炭沼泽中发现了几具保存完好的裸体男性尸体。通过检查这些尸体，格洛布发现它们可以追溯到1600多年前丹麦的铁器时代。这些人是被绞死或割喉而暴力致死的，这一明显事实是引起格洛布兴趣的第一条线索。几名受害者的脖子上缠着扭曲的兽皮绳，他们的手脚都很柔软，说明他们从未做过重活。尸检显示，这些人最后一餐吃的是谷物和种子。格洛布对餐食中没有肉感到困惑，因为在铁器时代，人们并不是素食者。

为了获取更多信息，格洛布查阅了古罗马历史学家塔西佗的著作，塔西佗曾记载过欧洲西北部的部落。塔西佗描述了向地母神献祭的人祭仪式。古代部落会在早春举行这些仪式，以保证农田的肥力。根据这些信息，格洛布推断，这些死者是祭司或地位较高的人（这也解释了他们柔软的双手），而且这些受害者在被献祭前，被喂食了由植物种子组成的仪式餐食。格洛布进一步推断，受害者脖子上的皮革绳代表着塔西佗所描述的地母神象征——金属环。格洛布得出结论：这些沼泽中的死者是献祭给了保存他们的事物——大地母亲。