British Museum announces year long loan of Lindow Man to
Manchester
Lindow Man, the mid-first century AD bog body
seen by millions of visitors to the British Museum every year, will
travel on long-term loan to The Manchester Museum in 2008. He will
go on public display in a special exhibition Lindow Man: A Bog
Body Mystery from 19 April 2008 – 19 April 2009.
The loan was proposed by the British Museum to
The Manchester Museum as part of its Partnership UK scheme. The
scheme reflects an ongoing commitment to enabling as many people as
possible throughout the UK to see important parts of the national
collection. This will be the third time Lindow Man has been on
display in the region since his discovery at Lindow Moss, Cheshire
in 1984.
Neil MacGregor, Director of
the British Museum commented: ‘It is a major undertaking to
transport Lindow Man to Manchester for obvious conservation reasons
but I am delighted that people in the North West of England will
once again have the opportunity to meet this everyman of
pre-historic Britain at The Manchester Museum”.
Lindow Man: A Bog Body Mystery will
explore the different stories relating to Lindow Man, and look at
what he means to us today. Seven people with particular connections
to him have been interviewed for this exhibition. Their personal
experiences provide a unique insight into the impact that he has
had on their lives, and those of many others.
As the best preserved bog body to be found in
Britain, Lindow Man is a find of great European and international
significance. The preservation of his remains by British
Museum scientists and the collaboration of experts from across the
UK to study who he was and why he died, has considerably added to
our knowledge of the period and Iron Age ritual activities. He
continues to be the subject of new research and study. At the
British Museum he can be understood within the wider cultural
context of Britain and Europe at the time he lived, as part of the
Museum’s interpretation of civilisations around the world. His
arrival at The Manchester Museum will again provide visitors there
with the opportunity to understand him within the local context,
where his presence will have different and complementary
resonances.
For further information please contact:
Hannah Boulton at the British Museum +44 (0)20
7323 8522/hboulton@britishmuseum.org
Ros Helliwell at the Manchester Museum +44 (0)161 306
1583/Ros.Helliwell@manchester.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
- Lindow Man was previously on loan to the
Manchester Museum from April – December 1987 and then again between
25 March and 21 September 1991.
- Partnership UK is the strategic framework for
the British Museum’s programme of engagement with audiences
throughout the country. More about
Partnership UK
- When his well-preserved body was unearthed in
August 1984 at Lindow Moss near Wilmslow, Cheshire, Lindow Man as
he became known, caused a media sensation. It was one of the most
significant archaeological discoveries of the 1980’s. He was the
best preserved bog body to be discovered in Britain. Conserved for
nearly two thousand years by the acidic, anaerobic conditions of
Lindow Moss it was possible to make out his facial features, a
distinctive furrowed brow with close-cropped hair and beard. For
the first time it was possible to see the face of a person from
Britain’s prehistoric past. Like other well preserved bog bodies
found in Ireland, Denmark, Netherlands and Northern Germany, the
remains of Lindow Man offered many opportunities for scientific
discovery. When he died he was around 25 years old. He was
approximately 5ft 6 inches tall, well-built and in good general
health, although he did suffer from intestinal parasites. His last
meal was a piece of unleavened bread. Radiocarbon dating revealed
that Lindow Man died sometime in the 1st century AD, a
period of great social upheaval in Britain due to the influence of
Rome. He suffered a horrific death. Two blows to his skull rendered
him unconscious. A sinew found at his neck was probably used as a
garrotte and a there was a deep slit in his throat. His body was
left face down in a pool in Lindow Moss where it remained until its
discovery nearly 2,000 years later.
- For more information on Lindow Man visit the Explore section of the website
- For more information about The Manchester
Museum go to www.manchester.ac.uk/museum