Land of mummies

PITTSBURGH - The seven mummies on display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History are nowhere near as famous as King Tut, but they’re just as intriguing.

Take the 2,000-year-old body of a teenager found in the Netherlands. Who was she? Who killed her and why?

The remains of a cord used to strangle “Yde Girl” are still visible around her neck a century after she was found in a peat bog. Was the killing punishment? Ritual?

The exhibit “The Mysterious Bog People” makes the case for ritualistic sacrifice as it delves into the early history of northwestern European life around bogs through archaeology and forensic sleuthing befitting a “CSI” episode.

In fact, part of the exhibit enables visitors to investigate four hypothetical bog bodies.

Visitors can examine bones, skull and teeth (don’t worry; they’re fake) to determine the gender and likely age, the manner of death, the era in which the person lived — even whether the victim was a hunter-gatherer or a farmer through examination of the stomach contents.

Peat bogs are marshy areas of dead vegetation and sphagnum moss. The water’s high iron content, tannic acid and lack of oxygen act as preservatives. Remarkably well-preserved bodies have been found in bogs, many by bog cutters who harvest peat bogs for fuel, although nowadays machines are used more often and bodies are sometimes damaged, says Sandra Olsen, the museum’s curator of anthropology.

A picture of one mummy, not on display, shows perhaps the best-preserved body, “Tollund man,” named for the place he was found in Denmark 55 years ago. The man in the picture has silver-gray skin and looks as if he were carved from pencil lead. Stubble sprouts from his chin.

The bodies on display are among several dozen known specimens. They are dried out because proper steps weren’t taken to keep them preserved, so they look leathery.

They intrigue nevertheless.

“Red Franz” has red hair, a beard and a gaping slit across his neck. Two mummies, believed to be about 2,000 years old, are displayed together, as they were found. They initially were presumed to be a man and a woman, but it has since been determined that they are both males. One has a hole in his chest.

“Maybe people are only interested in the grisly aspect, but I hope [they] will have a better understanding of ancient Europeans,” Miss Olsen says.

Scientists have determined the diet and health of bog people from stomach contents and soft-tissue analysis — far more than can be learned from skeletal remains.

Though some bog people were likely murder victims or criminals, the exhibit argues that the abundance of other items found buried in bogs makes it likely that many were sacrificed. More than 300 such items, including coins, jewelry, ceremonial musical instruments and weaponry, are on display.

Ancient Europeans made offerings to their gods in natural settings, Miss Olsen says. Watery places such as rivers, lakes and bogs were seen as conduits to the gods, she adds.

“The bogs are considered special places because there’s an aura of danger there,” Miss Olsen says. It’s easy to imagine getting lost or drowning in dark, fog-covered bogs, which were believed to be inhabited by the gods.

Offerings would have been made to appease gods so livestock and crops would thrive and for fertility, Miss Olsen says. They also would be made to keep gods from becoming angry and delivering famine, drought or other devastation.

The exhibit will continue at the Carnegie until Jan. 23 and will travel later to Los Angeles.