For decades it has been a man’s privilege to scoff at the lengths to which women will go to make themselves look beautiful. But go back a few thousand years and the male of the species went to extraordinary lengths to look good, it has been revealed.
Scientists examining prehistoric bodies found in the peat bogs of Ireland have discovered evidence of careful grooming on male corpses. One of the bodies, dug up in 2003 at Clonycavan, near Dublin, had Mohawk-style hair, held in place with a gel substance. The other, unearthed three months later 25 miles (40km) away in Oldcroghan by workmen, had perfectly manicured fingernails.
The findings on the bodies, which are 2,300 years old, suggest that despite living in the Iron Age, ancient man had some very modern concerns. “I think the message I’m getting is that although they were living in a different time, a different culture, eating different things, living in a different way, people are people — they’re the same in their thinking,” said Rolly Read, head of conservation at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
Mr Read, one of a team of scientists from the UK and Ireland to carry out the research, said that the examination of the bodies had provided valuable insights into life in the Iron Age. The hair product used, for example, was a gel made of plant oil and pine resin imported from southwestern France or Spain, showing that trade between Ireland and southern Europe was taking place almost 2,500 years ago.
Although hundreds of bodies have been found in bogs in northern Europe’s wetlands, where they were preserved by the peat’s chemical composition, many have until now been spared detailed examination, as techniques to preserve them further had not been perfected.
As well as having groomed nails and coiffered locks, the corpses reveal evidence of a good diet. While the males discovered may have been particular about their appearance, however, their fates were less than pretty. Both bodies, thought to be those of men in their twenties, betrayed signs of suffering painful deaths. As with several other bodies found in bogs, the man at Oldcroghan had been beheaded.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2293593,00.html
Something is not right. This message is just to keep things from messing up down the road