Lindow Man

This case holds the preserved upper body of an adult man. If you prefer to avoid human remains, you can pass this display. Hair and skin survive, along with a fur arm band and a cord at the neck. The body came from Lindow Moss and dates to around the beginning of the first millennium AD. Conditions in peat preserved soft tissue that usually disappears after burial. That survival allows researchers to examine a person’s body in ways that a skeleton alone would not permit. Injuries provide evidence about his death. The motives behind that violence are harder to establish. Ritual explanations are interpretations, rather than something the body can tell us directly. His name and much of his life remain unknown. The surviving remains were donated to the Museum by Blue Prince Mushrooms Ltd. They are displayed here as an individual person from the past. You do not need to inspect the injuries to understand the limits and value of that evidence.