Meeting the Bog Bodies

Page 8 of 10

• 1. Discovering the bog bodies
• 2. National Museum of Ireland
• 3. Examining the bodies
• 4. Dramatising the past
• 5. Filming the reconstruction
• 6. The bodies in context
• 7. Unlocking secrets of the Iron Age
• 8. Preserving Oldcroghan Man
• 9. Clonycavan Man
• 10. Find out more
• Print entire article

Preserving Oldcroghan Man

As 2005 draws to a close, so does the Irish Bog Bodies Project. The bodies are soaked in a kind of liquid paraffin called Polyethylene Glycol or PEG. The PEG replaces the water in the bodies and helps in the preservation process when the bodies are freeze-dried - the museum's preferred method of preservation.

I am rapidly becoming a bit of a 'PEG bore' as last year I made a Timewatch on Henry VIII's Tudor warship, the Mary Rose, which is currently being sprayed with PEG. The ship will take a good deal longer to preserve than the bog bodies.

'The flesh is now even softer than it was when they were initially discovered'

After five weeks in PEG the Irish bog bodies have changed. They are much more supple. The flesh is now even softer than it was when they were initially discovered. The skin on Oldcroghan Man which had been tanned a deep brown by the bog, has now become much paler. The clear PEG solution in which he has been soaked has become the colour of strong tea and requires changing quite frequently.

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Published: 2006-01-12