A new exhibition launching today (Wednesday, June 7) at Marischal Museum displays the bones of a young man who died around 1650 and whose body was discovered buried in a peat bog along with an extremely rare piece of clothing to have survived from this period.
The remains were discovered in Caithness with stones weighing down the body and a twisted rope at the man’s side and the Murder in the Mist exhibition explores whether the man was the victim of murder in this medieval ‘whodunit’.
Alongside his skeleton the doublet he was wearing – a close fitting jacket worn by European men between the 15th and 17th centuries - is also on show. This has been borrowed from the National Museums of Scotland where it has been carefully conserved and studied. It is one of very few doublets to survive from this period, preserved by the special conditions in the bog. It is of good woollen cloth and fashionable cut, suggesting that he may have come from a fairly wealthy family.
Neil Curtis, Senior Curator in Marischal Museum, said: “The doublet is one of a number of important items in the collection which have survived as a result of being in bogs. Also on display is the only prehistoric arrow with part of its wooden shaft to have survived in Britain and a unique Pictish deer trap.”
Meg Hutchison, Honorary Curatorial Assistant in Marischal Museum, said: “We have been excited by the prospect of bringing together this rare bog body from the University collections with the clothing he was found with.”
Preservation in peat bogs is also discussed in the exhibition and compared with the famous Tollund Man from Denmark.
Entry to the Murder in the Mist? exhibition, which is on display from today until September, is free. Marischal Museum is open free Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm, and Sunday 2-5pm.