When you see the body, the first thing that strikes you is just how much detail you can see.

The hair standing up on an arm, the dirty fingernails, the pull of the skin over the

knuckles, and has a way of making the body seem permanent and real.

Then it is real, don't get me wrong.

It's just that most bodies don't look this good after death, even when the relatively

fresh, which is what makes this particular body all the more amazing.

Yes, he was a man from County Leish in Ireland, and yes, there's no doubt he was dead.

It's just, well, he looks really good for his age.

The casual man, as they call him, is roughly 4,000 years old.

He's older than the Egyptian pharaoh Tutan Common by six centuries, and yet here he is,

making eye contact and showing off the pores of his skin, all thanks to the preserving

power of an Irish peat bog.

These bog bodies, as they're called, tend to be easy books to read, telling a clear

story to archaeologists, age, social status, even their occupation.

But the most important detail is how they died, and nearly all Irish bog bodies share one

common cause of death.

Human Sacrifice

Some were run through with the sword.

Others were clubbed over the head.

Some were even strangled with a length of rope.

The all of it, though, was to send a message to the gods.

Life was precious, so to willingly give up one of their own was a powerful way of making

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