Cashel Man

Cashel Man is the preserved remains of a young adult male discovered in 2011 in Cashel Bog, near Cashel in County Laois, Ireland. Radiocarbon dating places his death between 2141 and 1960 BCE, during the Early Bronze Age. The exceptionally early date makes Cashel Man one of the oldest bog bodies known from Europe and the earliest discovered in Ireland with preserved soft tissue. Osteological analysis identified the individual as a male aged approximately 20 to 25 years at the time of death. Fragments of the head preserved closely cut hair, indicating that his hair was short when he died. The body was discovered by Jason Phelan during peat milling and was partially damaged by harvesting machinery before archaeologists from the National Museum of Ireland recovered the remains and documented the find site. The man had been placed in the bog in a tightly crouched position, with his legs drawn to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. Wooden hazel rods found nearby and evidence of violent injury have led some researchers to suggest that his death may have been a deliberate killing connected with ritual activity in wetlands during the Bronze Age.