17-century human bones found accidentally

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –

An accidental incident occurred in the disclosure of a murder case photographer named Malika Maria de Fernandez.

The court was actually shocked by the report that the pieces of the corpse which was initially suspected by Malika were actually pieces of human bones which are estimated to be around 1,600 years old, came from Roman England.

Malika Maria de Fernandez was previously reported to have been killed by her husband, an airline employee named Peter Reyn-Bardt in 1961. In the investigation, Reyn-Bardt confessed to killing and mutilating Malika before dumping her at Lindow Moss, the name for a swamp in the Cheshire region of England.

The human remains, which are thought to be 17 centuries old or known as the Lindow Man, were first discovered several years after Malika’s death. Lindow Man was discovered by project workers named Andy Mold and Stephen Dooley on May 13, 1983.

Initially, the two of them thought as joking that the lump they found was a dinosaur egg. However, they were surprised that the lump turned out to be a human skull after washing it.

Launch Science History, when found, the skull lacked jaws but still had skin, a little hair, and an eyeball.

After the discovery, the police conducted an investigation and concluded that it was Malika’s body. The frensic team reported the head from a woman between the ages of 30 and 50.

The police also continued to search for the body parts at the location of the discovery, but they did not produce any results until in the end they still brought Reyn-Bardt to court.

However, Detective Inspector George Abbott who was involved in uncovering the murder case was curious and sent the piece of the head to the University of Oxford for further study.

At the trial, the professor from the Oxford University archeology department testified that the head did not belong to Fernandez. Radiocarbon dating shows the head to be from Roman England.

Several years later Andy Mold made a second gruesome discovery at the same location. On August 1, 1984, while standing again at the factory conveyor, Mold picked up a piece of wood which he thought was swamp wood.

“We cleaned it a little bit, then we looked at the toenails,” Mold said in a 2008 interview with the Manchester Museum.

The researchers linked sphagnum moss to a role in the preservation of the bodies. Sphagnum moss changes the chemistry of the surrounding water bodies, making them extremely acidic for the natural environment (pH around 3.3 to 4.5) and very low in dissolved minerals.

When the floating moss dies, they build up a layer at the bottom of the marsh. The rotting moss releases sugar and humic acid into the water, which consume oxygen as it breaks down. With the surface blocked by live moss, water becomes anaerobic.

In this condition, human tissue does not rot. Instead they become brown like skin. The skin turns brown, hair turns red, and objects in or around the body dissolve, as do most clothes.

Launch IFL Science, Malika’s body hasn’t been found until today. Prosecutor Martin Thomas also said the skull had nothing to do with Malika. But the judge found Reyn-Bardt guilty on the basis of a confession during the investigation.

During the inquest, Reyn-Bardt said he dismembered Malika’s body with an ax, before trying to set her on fire. When that didn’t work, he took her to a nearby swamp and threw him inside.

(jps / DAL)

[Gambas:Video CNN]

– .