Lindow Manchester

The piece in The Breeze has a useful summary of what we know about Lindow Man. I can’t help disagreeing with the reporter about the poisonous effects of the mistletoe. Jody Joy at the British Museum got a quite laugh when he spoke at last November’s Lindow Man dayschool, saying that the amount of mistletoe was ‘well within current EU guidelines’. It’s on pg 31 of the newly published book on Lindow Man if you want to follow it up.

Reporter Ifra Naz makes similar claims for the effects of mistletoe. I’m also intrigued by reconstructions which have Lindow Man knocking his head on a stone in the bog. If the stone was big enough to cause that sort of injury wouldn’t it have sunk into the surface of the bog and disappeared?

Mehvish Faheem quoting Jim Clarke, head of archaeology in Britain, says it is unlikely someone would fracture their own skull twice. It’s a great quote but I’m rather suspicious of the source…

Reporter Wajiha Javid thinks Lindow Man was mugged and that is why he was found naked.  Wajiha speculates about a certain gold brooch Lindow Man is supposed to have been wearing but we have no evidence robbery was the motive.

Neelam Khan is convinced the death was accidental and blames the cut on Lindow Man’s throat on a careless peat digger. The poor digger is also blamed by Haider Waqas Ali.

For my money the reporter who probably comes closest to the truth is Paige Garth who says there’s o nly one thing we can be sure of and that is that the mystery of Lindow Man’s death will never be solved.

Well done to all the students concerned and thanks to their teacher, Pat Perciuch, who is the Asst. Head at Breeze Hill, for letting us feature the work on the Blog.

Only less than three weeks to go? What will I do for a Blog when the exhibition closes?  Answers on one of the beautiful new postcards from the Manchester Museum.