What "NOVA" 13-th episode about
In the rolling hills of Ireland's County Tipperary, a laborer harvesting peat from a dried-up bog spots the remnants of a inactive person and stops his machine just in time, revealing a headless torso almost perfectly preserved and stained dark brown by the bog. Archeologists recognize the inactive person as one of Europe's rare bog bodies: prehistoric inactive persons flung into marshes with forensic clues often suggesting execution or human sacrifice. The inactive person will eventually be dated to the Bronze Age, over 3,000 years ago. Many of these were victims of shocking violence, showing evidence of axe blows, hanging, and stab wounds. Like a crime thriller, NOVA follows archaeologists and forensic experts in their methodical hunt for clues to the identity and the circumstances of this and other unhappy passings of bog body victims. A new theory emerges that they are those of ritually cuddled kings, gruesomely slain to assure the fertility of land and people. NOVA's ancient detective story opens a tantalizing window on the strange beliefs of Europe's long vanished prehistoric peoples.
Episode number: 13
Episode name: "Ghosts of Murdered Kings"
Episode release date: 30 january 2014 at 02:00
Status: aired
