Life in the Iron Age may have been nasty, brutish and short but people still found time to style their hair and polish their fingernails -- and that was just the men.Very, very metal indeed.
One of the bodies, churned up by a peat-cutting machine at Clonycavan near Dublin in 2003, had raised Mohawk-style hair, held in place with gel imported from abroad.Fashion advice from beyond the grave.
The other, unearthed three months later and 25 miles away in Oldcroghan by workmen digging a ditch, had perfectly manicured fingernails.
...the hair product used by Clonycavan Man was a gel made of plant oil and pine resin imported from southwestern France or Spain...I might have to try the pine resin trick.
Find out more from Irish bog bodies help unlock secrets of Iron Age.
1 comment:
Jake,
A couple of observations from the article:
"Both Clonycavan Man and Oldcroghan Man -- who were in their 20s when they died -- met grisly ends, the latter in particular bearing the scars of horrific torture, including having his nipples cut almost through."
Possibly failed early nipple piercings were the cause of death!
"Manicured fingernails and evidence of good diet -- not to mention Clonycavan Man's taste for imported cosmetics -- seem to indicate that many of those who ended up in the bogs were from the upper classes."
Possibly these early folks actually practiced the saying "eat the rich." After all, if the rich had the healthy diet it would have made nutritional sense to eat them.
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