Overview

More than 2,400 years ago, a war party crossed the sea toward a small Danish island. They never returned. When archaeologists excavated a bog in southern Denmark in the 1920s, they uncovered one of the most astonishing discoveries in European archaeology: a nearly 20-meter-long plank-built warship, deliberately sunk alongside a cache of weapons. The vessel-now known as the Hjortspring boat-would come to be recognized as the oldest preserved plank-built ship in Northern Europe, and a silent witness to a forgotten chapter of ancient warfare. But for more than a century, one question haunted researchers: Where did the warriors come from? The Army from the Bog tells the gripping true story of how modern science finally began to answer that question-using tools that didn't exist when the boat was first unearthed. Through advances in chemical analysis, radiocarbon dating, X-ray imaging, and forensic archaeology, researchers uncovered overlooked clues hidden in century-old museum archives: fragments of caulking, ancient cordage, and even a partial human fingerprint preserved in tar, left behind by one of the original seafarers. These discoveries rewrote what we know about Early Iron Age Scandinavia, revealing that long-distance seafaring, organized raiding, and naval strategy existed centuries before the Viking Age. Chemical evidence showing the use of pine pitch-absent in Denmark at the time-points toward origins along the Baltic Sea, suggesting the attack was planned, coordinated, and far-reaching. What was once thought to be a local conflict now appears to be part of a broader, interconnected maritime world. Blending archaeology, chemistry, maritime history, and human storytelling, this book brings readers inside the laboratories, museums, and muddy excavation sites where the past was patiently reexamined. It explores how forgotten artifacts can yield revolutionary insights, how modern science resurrects ancient voices, and how the sea shaped power, trade, and conflict in prehistoric Europe. Perfect for readers fascinated by ancient ships, Viking precursors, maritime archaeology, European prehistory, forensic science, and lost civilizations, The Army from the Bog is a compelling reminder that history is never finished-sometimes it only waits for the right tools to speak again. If you are drawn to archaeological mysteries, ancient warfare, early naval history, and discoveries that change what we thought we knew, this book will pull you deep into the bog where an army-and its secrets-lay hidden for two millennia. GET A COPY NOW!

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