Alken Enge; mass grave at Lake Mossø

[Jona Lendering]

An entire army sacrificed in a bog

What exactly happened in the Danish village of Alken around the time of the birth of Christ? Who were the over 200 victims, and what events led to such an enormous sacrifice?

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[ParthianBow]

Very interesting, thank you, Jona. I look forward to more news about that dig.

[Vindex]

Thank you for the link in English.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

This is interesting! What is the evidence that makes them assign this to a sacrifice?
Could the ynot be the mass internment of battle casualties? Or is the term sacrifice
not being used with any religious signifigance?

[Robert Vermaat]

I don't think it's set in stone, but other remains (of sacrifices) would have made it possible that these remains, too, were of a sacrifice. But I don't know if a 'sacrifice' needs a victim to be dead or alive?

http://www.skanderborgmuseum.dk/Alken_En...-1070.aspx

[Vindex]

Sacrifice is an emotive word which grabs the headlines and fires the imagination.

Previous evidence of sacrificial offerings at the site cannot be denied but I think I'll keep my sceptical head on until more excavation has taken place.

There are several reasons for a bodies to be gathered in this manner and although groups of bodies have been found, I think 200 is rare (as long as there are 200 skulls and not just random body parts)

One theory behind this group here is that they were murdered hostages. On first look at the photograph there appears to be a lot more than ten bodies.

[Vindex]

Update here

[Sean Manning]

Article from 2018 in PNAS here https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721372115 The artifacts seem typologically earlier than the C14 date for the bodies from Alken Meadow (Alken Enge).