Investigating the Ancient Past

Girl of the Uchter Moor

Nathan 70

Girl of the Uchter Moor Brief Description

The Uchter Moor Girl Iron Age bog body remains were discovered in 2000 in
the marshland near Uchte, Germany. Moora had died between 764 and 515
B.C. She is the oldest known bog body in Lower Saxony.

The hand belonging to "The

Girl of the Uchter Moor"

What do historians know and think about

your historical mystery?

The discovery of the girl from the Uchter Moor is the first discovery of a bog
body in Lower Saxony since 1955.

The recognized three-year research will provide new insights to the life
circumstances of the people at the end of theBronze Ageand the beginning
of the Iron Age.

What is your historical mystery all

about?

My Historical Mystery is about the remains of a young girl who lived in the preRomanIron Agearound 650 BC. It is the most recent discovery of a bog body in
Germany (as of about 2010) and it is the oldest known bog body in Lower Saxony.

A Torfabbaumaschine Peat extraction

machine.
Used to extract peat.

Where does your historical mystery fit into to

its society or where it comes from?

The bog body was discovered in the Great Moor Uchte district Darlaten.

The site is a bog area and was mined manually.

The discovery took place in two stages, with its historical significance was not
recognized until five years after the initial discovery.

Uchte Peat Bog Wetlands.

What is your historical mystery related

or connected to?

My Mystery is related to a person that lived in the pre-RomanIron Agearound

650 BC.

Using palaeoecological field investigations, the former landscape was

reconstructed into the lifetime of the girl.

There are also around 5,000 drilling activitys going on and all drilling profiles
were analysed for pollen and spores. Accordingly, the Uchter Moor was about
2,600 years ago.

Because of the lower peat thickness, There are towered crests of mineral soil
like islands from the bog.

The area was settled and it was used for grazing and grain farming operations.

My inquiry question Was this peat bog body

remain the only one found in this state?

No, another bog body was found in Lower Saxony, Red Franz (Robert Clark)
was discovered in Bourtanger Moor, near Neu Versen, Germany, in 1900.

Red Franz Bog

Body

Different Perspectives
Some historians and
archaeologists think that..

The body was initially believed to be that of a sixteen-year-old girl,

Elke Kerll, who had disappeared in 1969 after going to a dance club.

Was she fleeing from something?

Was she was just gathering birds' eggs?

The woman may have been some sort of a witch who used herbs to
practice her art and had ventured into the bogs to gather bilberries.
The blue fruits have an intoxicating effect, and were used as a drug by
the early Germanic tribes.

The Skeleton of the Girl.

Did the woman commit suicide?

Was she was killed as a sacrifice?

Sources

Sources have helped me with information, opinions about popular culture,

stay up-to-date information about current events and academic research that
I am trying to answer.

Source A
Name of source

How it is connected to my
topic

http://memim.com/girl-of-the-uchter-moor.html

My Brief Description, Historians know and think about your historical

mystery, Where does your historical mystery fit into to its society or
where it comes from? and What is your historical mystery related or
connected to.

Source B
Name of source

http://www.digitalmedievalist.com/2005/06/22/a-new-bog-body-the-gi
rl-of-the-uchter-moor
/

And Full Story: http://

www.dw.com/en/ancient-bog-body-unearthed-in-germany/a-1623939

How it is connected to my
topic

Different Perspectives