An Experimental Study of Lesions Observed in Bog Body Funerary Performances

Abstract

The analysis of sharp force trauma has usually been reserved for prehistoric osteological case studies. Bog bodies, on the other hand, due to the excellent preservation of the soft tissues, provide a unique example of visible lesions. This type of preservation of prehistoric soft tissue trauma that would otherwise be predominantly absent from osteological remains allows archaeologists to understand better the methods in which these individuals died and potentially the demographic for who performed these acts. Unfortunately, analysis of sharp force trauma in modern forensics is limited, lacking major revision for the last decade. Likewise, archaeological analysis of sharp force trauma is limited to osteological indicators (e.g., marks on bone and cartilage). Therefore, this experimental study performed in 2016 aimed to compare lesions observed on prehistoric bog bodies with those on a human proxy – pig carcases and create an assailant profile through correlating weapon type and volunteer body mass index (BMI). A Multivariate Kruskal-Wallis test (MKW) revealed that the wound areas created by two different weapons under study (a dagger or spear) could not significantly differentiate assailants based on their BMI with 95% confidence level. A binomial logistic regression model was used to predict further the likelihood that either a spear or a dagger caused the observed stab wounds on the individual bog bodies under investigation, given the specific wound lengths and unknown true BMI of the victims. This logistic model was approximately 92% accurate in classifying the weapon type given the exact wound length across different possible BMI values of an assailant (BMI range: 18.0-31.5 kg/m2).

Keywords

• weapon
• iron age