Archaeology Magazine - Bodies of the Bogs - Clothing and Hair Styles


Clothing and Hair Styles of the Bog People	"Bodies of the Bogs"

	Huldremose Woman, found in 1879, was accompanied by several pieces of clothing: two skin capes, and a woolen skirt, scarf, and hairband. Several years later a large woolen garment, or peplos (shown), was discovered near the place where the body was found. (National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen)
The remains of Emmer-Erfscheidenveen Man were found in 1938 in the southern part of Drenthe in the Netherlands. The body was poorly preserved, but the remains of his woolen undergarment survive. The textile is executed in a plain tabby weave and is decorated with embroidery along the hem. The man lived in the second half of the Bronze Age, sometime between 1310 and 1050 B.C. (Drents Museum of the Netherlands, Assen)
	In 1944 Søgårds Mose in Denmark yielded a bog body of which only the arms and legs were preserved. The legs were covered with woolen wrappings, woven in 2/2 twill. Analysis of these wrappings has shown that the cords were originally blue, having been dyed with woad. The find has never been dated, but might date between 360 B.C. and A.D. 240, the date of a body found nearby. (Skive Museum)
A well-preserved body was found on Grewelthorphe Moor, North Yorkshire in 1850. Dressed in bright woolen garments and a pair of shoes, it was reburied in the churchyard of Kirkby Mazeard. Fortunately a policeman managed to secure some bits and pieces: a nailed sole of the left shoe, a woolen insole, and a textile fragment of irregular shape which may have been part of a stocking. The unusual shoe sole is typical for the Roman period. (Yorkshire Museum, H 2053.1, H 2053.2)

« Back to Intro

See more articles on bog bodies.