They appeared around Halloween, as a fierce storm hit Northern Ireland’s wetlands and loosened its soil: human bones, sticking out of the tea-colored bog of Bellaghy, halfway between Derry and Belfast.
The skeletal remains were quite disturbing. Then the investigators saw the flesh.
“The skin was as pink as ours,” said Detective Inspector Nikki Deehan, of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
We now know that the remains – remarkably well preserved – belonged to a teenage Iron Age boy, held together for thousands of years by the preservative power of peat. But in the weeks before radiocarbon dating made the find an archaeological triumph, researchers wrestled with a more uncomfortable possibility: Was the body an echo of a not-so-distant history that the small island has yet to fully reckon with?
Such is the paleness of the gruesome discoveries in Northern Ireland. In them is an ominous reminder, one unique to the region’s fragile peace: Ghosts — and bodies — don’t stay buried forever.
Illustrations of this dark reality are everywhere, including recent, geographically close history. When Bellachy Swamp was first raised from the ground in October, researchers were scouring other bogs for other secrets in the Monaghan County Wetlands. There, a disturbing side story began when a long-awaited search for a different body was abandoned in mid-November.
Searchers had turned over the wet earth in search of the remains of Columba McVeigh, who was shot dead by the Irish Democratic Army and secretly buried in 1975. Mr McVeigh, who was 19 when he died, is believed to have been executed and dumped in the quiet bog near the Irish border.
He is one of the so-called Disappeared in Northern Ireland, 17 people killed and secretly buried by paramilitary groups during the Northern Irish Troubles, the guerrilla war that plagued the island’s six northern counties for nearly 30 years. In the years since the Good Friday Agreement officially ended that conflict in 1998, an independent commission has recovered 13 of the remains of the missing. For the remaining four, the investigation continues.
Other news outlets noted the geographic juxtaposition of the two searches, one resulting in a famous, ancient find and the other in crushing disappointment.
News organizations were not the only ones to count such coincidences. Detective Inspector Deehan, noting both the freshness of the body and its geographical location – close to the border of County Tyrone, a sectarian hot spot during the riots – said investigators had consulted the commission looking into missing persons cases when it was first discovered wears the body. They asked if the body might be Mr. McVeigh’s.
“They are very confident that their intelligence is leading them to Monaghan,” said Detective Inspector Deehan, and police were given the go-ahead to exhume Bellaghy’s remains.
It’s a delicate maneuver, especially in this area of evasive truths and elusive closure. The Commission on Missing Persons is not a legal entity and any information it receives is not admissible in court. Its aim, it is reported, is purely to help the families of missing Troubles victims with closure.
“It is very important that the police do not enter this area,” said the detective inspector.
As it turned out, there were no bereaved families or missing persons reports for Bellaghy’s body. After being carefully excavated in November, the remains were radiocarbon dated around Christmas by Queen’s University Belfast. The estimate made him about 2,300 years old.
“Imagine the resources devoted to this if radiocarbon didn’t work,” said Dr. Alastair Ruffell, a forensic geologist at Queen’s University Belfast, who helped with the excavation. Dr. Ruffell also initially believed that the body had reached a more recent death. If radiocarbon technology was unable to determine the age of the remains, he said, authorities could investigate a possible murder, unaware that any potential crime was centuries away.
The phenomenon of so-called bog bodies dates back to around the 17th century, when impressively preserved, mummified remains began to emerge—literally—from the various bogs of Northern Europe. It is quite common for corpses to be so well preserved that they are mistaken for a more recent victim – Tollund Man, perhaps the most famous of the species, was initially thought to be recently missing when he was found in Denmark in 1950. His body had kept so good thing the creases on his forehead were still easily discernible.
The body thrown from the Bellaghy bog is significant. Geographically, it is the most northerly part of a well-preserved bog yet discovered in Ireland, said Dr. Ruffell, and appeared in a little-understood strip of Celtic land lying between two ancient tribes. Among its best-preserved features: claws and fleshy kidney. Its pink skin oxidized during excavation and is now the familiar leathery brown associated with bog bodies that fill museums across Europe.
The discovery is being hailed as a historic find and the remains will be handled by the National Museums of Northern Ireland. For those, like Detective Inspector Deehan, who work closer to the modern dark corners of Northern Ireland, the archaeological holiday was a welcome break.
“When we get called, especially for a body recovery, you realize there’s a family there that’s going through trauma,” he said. “It’s amazing to be a part of something where you know there’s not a grieving family on the sidelines and you can share those stories.”
