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| Timewatch producer John Hayes Fisher describes the astonishing and important discovery of two rare preserved bodies in the peat bogs of Ireland. |  Experts Isabella Mulhall and Rolly Read with the bog body 'Oldcroghan Man'
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What's it they say about waiting for a bus? All of a sudden three come along at once. Well it's a bit like this with bog bodies - ancient human remains preserved by the unique chemical composition of peat bogs.
'A bog body find is an archaeological sensation...'
It has been 20 years since the last bog body was found, at Lindow Moss in Cheshire. Then in 2003, two turned up in Ireland within the space of three months.
A bog body find is an archaeological sensation, but Timewatch quickly secured exclusive access, preventing the news from leaking out to the wider world. It is with huge trepidation that I head off to the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin to meet the team into whose hands the two bog bodies have come.
Despite being exposed to the air, there is no smell whatsoever from either of the bodies. The much smaller Clonycavan Man is not in such good condition, although he has retained his head.
'It's weird looking into the face of a man you know has been dead for hundreds - if not thousands of years'
You can see his ears, eyes, mouth, a blackened tooth, coarse stubble on his top lip and a huge mass of peat-encrusted hair. It's weird looking into the face of a man you know has been dead for hundreds - if not thousands of years.
No-one knows the age of the bodies. There is a history of bog bodies coming from the Iron Age, but the museum also has one from the end of the 16th century in its collection. If at least one of the bodies was from the Iron Age, then this would be huge news for the Dublin team.
Understandably the museum team are very conscious of being filmed and are concerned that any mistakes could be recorded. I have to constantly reassure them that we want the film to look good, but that we also want to be with them on this voyage of discovery.
'We have this extraordinary access where we are with scientists from all over Europe working on the bodies. We can't reconstruct things later.'
We have this extraordinary access where we are with scientists from all over Europe working on the bodies. We can't reconstruct things later.
It's a brief window of opportunity, because in a few months time the bodies will be freeze dried to preserve them from further decay. The tests go well and we return to London to pick up the story at a later date.
It featured a reconstruction of the burial of an Iron Age man. Considering it was made over 50 years ago it's actually not that bad. At the end of the film the distinguished archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler says: 'Reconstructions such as these do bring the past to life as nothing else can.'
'What I really want is to show the brutal reality of these Iron Age killings - and I know that some viewers are not going to like it'
I strongly feel that half-a-century later we still need these reconstructions to bring this story alive, but I'm equally emphatic that I do not want to dramatise events, for which we have no hard evidence.
There will be no druid ceremonies, dancing sequences or similar flights of fancy. What I really want is to show the brutal reality of these Iron Age killings - and I know that some viewers are not going to like it.
We choose to film at night with flaming torches and would have liked rain to reflect the weather in Ireland, but the necessary machine would have cost several thousands of pounds to hire.
'I feel for the poor re-enactor who has to be 'dunked' in the stream as midnight approaches'
Luck is with us as a beautiful moonlit night clouds over and down comes torrential rain. I have never known rain like it and I feel for the poor re-enactor who has to be 'dunked' in the stream as midnight approaches.
Ned Kelly, keeper of Irish antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland, agrees that he will try and do this for our documentary.
'He now believes the Irish bodies are...human sacrifices...part of a 'kingship ritual''
Before long, an email comes back 'I'm pretty excited,' says Ned. Searching through old records at the museum, he has come across more than 30 instances of bog bodies or remains of bodies in Ireland being found on borders or boundaries.
He now believes the Irish bodies are not, as others have suggested, executions for crimes against their communities, but human sacrifices as a part of a 'kingship ritual'.
Furthermore, Ned has looked at Bronze Age practice and found a similar pattern of artefacts being placed on boundaries.
'What started as a relationship between the museum and Timewatch will end up having major international repercussions in the archaeology world'
'The work on the bog bodies has unlocked the secrets of the Iron Age in Ireland,' he says.
What started as a relationship between the museum and Timewatch will end up having major international repercussions in the archaeology world.
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.
The big difference though is Clonycavan Man. Since his discovery and for the period of the project, his head has been bent over and tucked into his chest. The team have now been able to move his head back and you can clearly see the face of this diminutive Celt.
'...you can clearly see the face of this diminutive Celt'
And then its all over. The bodies are out of the freeze driers and they are now hard. Clonycavan Man hair looks soft and fine - very different to the peaty mess it once was.
Books
The Bog Man and the Archaeology of People by Don Brothwell (Harvard University Press, 1987)
The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved by Peter Vilhelm Glob (Cornell University Press, 1969)
Buried Soul by Tim Taylor (Fourth Estate Ltd, 2003)
Dying for the Gods by Miranda Aldhouse Green (Tempus Publishing Ltd, 2002)
Through Nature to Eternity by Wijnand van der Sanden (Museum Boymans van Beuningen, 1998)
Archaeological Institute of America [http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/bog/]
British Museum [http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk]
Manchester Museum [http://www.manchester.ac.uk/museum]
National Museum of Ireland [http://www.museum.ie]
Published on BBC History: 2006-01-12
This article can be found on the Internet at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/timewatch/diary_bog_01.shtml
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