Site Event/Activity record ECH3244 - 1984 Excavation, Survey and Environmental Sampling at Lindow Moss following the discovery of Lindow Man (Lindow II)

Following the discovery of the Lindow I head in 1983 at Lindow Moss (CHER 1473/0/1), the remains of a second body were found in August 1984, prompting a rescue excavation. Firstly, a foot with skin of the lower leg attached, was found on the peat-processing elevator on 1st August 1984 by two workmen. The following day, R.Turner, Cheshire County Archaeologist, visited the site and observed a flap of skin protruding from an uncut section of peat adjacent to the peat stack which had produced the foot. After discussions with the police, a decision was made to lift the remains in a single day. On 6th August, having recorded the section containing the remains, they were lifted intact in a block of peat. Two peat monoliths were taken, one immediately adjacent to the body and the other 1.5m away. The archaeological work was coordinated by R.Turner with aid from the Department of Archaeology and Geography at Liverpool University and Velson Horie, a conservator from Manchester Museum. The coroner retained the body until radio-carbon dating by the Atomic Energy Research Laboratory, Harwell, confirmed it to be at least 1,000 years old. Three weeks after being lifted, the body was transported to the British Museum where an in-depth programme of conservation and research was coordinated by Ian Stead. (See sources 1-5 for accounts of the rescue excavation). Photographs taken at the time of the rescue excavation document the process of lifting the body (see Library linked images). Thirteen hand-written level sheets and sketch-plans, dating 3rd-4th September 1984, with a scheme name of 'Lindow Moss Archaeological Site', signed by Rick Turner and Chris Isles are thought to relate to the 1984 excavation of Lindow Man (Source 6). One of the levels sheets (sheet 7 of 13) mentions 'burial area', whilst one of the sketch plans (sheet 11 of 13) includes 'skeleton at peg C'. Another of the plans (sheet 12 of 13) depicts, in schematic form, position of peat faces, wooded area, trackway/railway and direction of peat depot, which correlate with features visible on air photographs dating to 1983-5 (source 7), also 1991-3 (Source 8), allowing the sketch to be approximately located to SJ 8209 8061, the area of the find of Lindow Man. Also recorded during the 1984 investigations was a ditch (see CHER 1474/0/1), located within a major drainage ditch, which bisects one of the two sand islands in this area of the moss. Comments made by Rick Turner in 1984 comprise:- 'Two partly peat covered sand islands survive in the present Lindow Moss and they are good candidates for settlements contemporary with the bog bodies. One is bisected by a major drainage ditch. At the given NGR (SJ 8189 8075), a ditch can be seen in section filled with grey sand and charcoal and covered by c.1m of peat. As the peat bog grew, then landscapes would become buried. Geophysical survey failed to locate any buried features.' (As recorded in a former SMR listing, source 9) A geophysical survey was undertaken by R.Wilson but no features were located, as per Turner's comment above; no specific report seems to have been produced. (See also source 9) A trench plan for the excavations undertaken in 1987 (ECH6985), instigated by the find of Lindow III, illustrates not only the three trenches excavated, but also the extent of the two sand islands and the general locations of the finds of Lindow I, II and III. It does not include Lindow IV, so presumably pre-dates this find being drafted in 1987. The plan is published in three sources dating to the 1990s as follows:- Turner 1993, Cheshire’s Past, Issue 2, p.10. Turner 1993, In Carver, M ed. In Search of Cult: Archaeological Investigations in honour of P Rahtz., p.11 Turner & Scaife 1995, Bog Bodies: New Discoveries and New Perspectives, p.15, Fig.5 In the Turner & Scaife 1995 volume, the plan is attributed to C.B.Sale. (see library linked images for plan) This plan has been rectified with the aim of producing improved locational information for the findspots of the bodies and 1987 trenches. First-hand account, by Velson Horie, the conservator from Manchester Museum, of the discovery and excavation of four sets of human remains (Lindow I-IV) from Lindow Moss in the years 1983–1988. (source 10) Discussion of radiocarbon dates produced by the Oxford laboratory for Lindow Man and the peat on which he lay. Also discusses dates produced by Harvard and British Museum. Concludes that the body dates to the period 2 BC – 119 AD (Oxford dates) and the peat between 200-760 BC (Oxford, British Museum and Harwell dates). (source 11) A potential sub-rectangular excavated area, measuring circa 10m by 6m and centred at SJ 8203 8057, is visible close to the recorded find of Lindow Man on Airviews Ltd vertical air photograph coverage produced between 1983-5. The specific date of the photograph is 02/06/1985 (source 12), circa 10 months after the excavation of the body. Reference to certain photographs taken of the rescue excavation in 1984 show aspects of the site, although exact shape/dimension of the excavated area is difficult to ascertain (See library linked images, also Stead et al, 1996, Fig.1, p.9). Remains of the body were first identified and recorded in a section of uncut peat, the body was then lifted in a block. One image in particular (1473_0_2d.jpg) shows that the site had been prepared so that the block was accessible from all sides. Air photographs dating to 1991-3 (source 8) also appear to show a rectangular excavation in approximately the same location. It is therefore possible that this could be the site of the rescue excavation of Lindow Man.