"A colony of moss does not experience emotions like fondness or intimacy, but if it did, it might say this - we held her. We kept her safe under the surface in our bath of Earth for many times her lifespan. That we give her up now may seem to be purely random, an accident of excavation. In fact, the hour of her service is at hand."
"I actually find these bodies and the idea of them really beautiful. I first saw a bog body in the British Museum, and I just thought, how amazing. This is a real person who lived and breathed thousands of years ago, and I can still see him. And we can learn so much about him and his life from his body and from studying him."
A body is discovered in a British bog and an American forensic anthropologist named Agnes is called to investigate. The remains are remarkably preserved and date to the Iron Age, more than two thousand years ago. A dedication frames the moss as keeper of the body, holding her safe beneath the surface for many lifespans. Visits to the bog reveal a degraded but biodiverse landscape. The preserved body yields details about the woman's life and the choices of the people who buried her, suggesting intentional preservation and a hope for future understanding across millennia.
Read at www.npr.org
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