[1] The remains were largely a skull fragment,[2] which was missing its jaw, but with soft tissue and hair attached.
[1] The bog body of Lindow I was discovered on 13 May 1983 by commercial peat cutters, Andy Mould and Stephen Dooley.
After they removed the adhesive remains of peat, they realized they had found an incomplete preserved human head with attached remnants of soft tissue, brain, eye, optic nerve, and hair.
[1][4] For over two decades, a local 57-year-old man Peter Reyn-Bardt, had been under suspicion of murdering his estranged wife, Malika de Fernandez, and of disposing of her body.
[6] Because the rest of remains could not be found, Detective Inspector George Abbott sent the head to Oxford University for further study.
After the origins of the head were revealed, Reyn-Bardt withdrew his confession;[6] despite this and the fact that no trace of Fernandez' body was found,[1] he was brought to trial at Chester Crown Court in December 1983.
[1] Sphagnum moss affects the chemistry of nearby water, which becomes highly acidic relative to a more natural environment (a pH of roughly 3.3–4.5).
Dying moss forms layers of sediment and releases sugars and humic acids that consume oxygen.