HOW DO HISTORIANS AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND OUT ABOUT THE PAST?
Hair – some bog bodies used a hair gel
Age from teeth
and bones
Skull shows injuries
and disease
Teeth show disease
and nutrition
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Bones show injuries and disease and
determine height
Stomach shows what they ate
Pelvis – to determine the sex of the body
Pollen grains from plants tell archaeologists what plants were growing, when forests were cleared and when farming was spread
DNA
analysis to trace origins of skeletons
Bones can be used not only to date objects and sites, but also to tell us about sickness and death. Bog bodies, found in Ireland and other European countries and dating from the
Iron Age (500 BC–400 AD), reveal much historical information.
We will look at other aspects of the work of the archaeologist in later chapters.
