What's in a bog?

Bogs are primarily composed of water and peat (which is decaying plants). 

Bogs have different layers of peat. A cross section of a bog shows that the peat layers change color.  The lighter peat (weisstorf in German) is chunkier; the dead plants in it have decomposed less. This peat is called peat moss and is used primarily for gardening (though it has been used in animal pens since it's much more sanitary than straw). The darker peat (schwarztorf in German) is much denser and used for heat and fuel.

 

 

Peat is cut in chunks, called mumps. Mumps are stacked, sometimes in elaborate piles, to dry. When dry, the peat can be processed for industrial or medicinal purposes or burned. It is also used to produce charcoal.

In the past, the people of northern Europe (where many bogs were once found)  would go into the bogs to dig peat.  First, they would drain the upper level of water to a lower area. Then they used shovels and special peat saws to cut the peat and dry it for use. After the industrial revolution,  they might build a small rail track so that a larger number of mumps might be hauled at one time. Eventually, they began to use machines to help them cut.  Early machines were smaller; these were followed by huge machines that could cut a great deal of peat. Of course the more peat that was cut, the more bogs were destroyed.  Today very few bogs exist in northern Europe. In Germany, attempts have been made to regrow bogs, but this is a very slow process. A raised bog may grow a millimeter in one year's time. 

Sometimes, as people cut peat in bogs, they found things that had been placed there long ago. They found wonderful objects--necklaces, swords, or even silver cauldrons.  And sometimes they found the gruesome, preserved remains of human beings: men, women, and children.

Note: Preserved bodies have been found only in the bogs of northern Europe.