 They realised that they had found the well-preserved remains of a man killed nearly 2,000 years ago. The mysterious ancient Celtic priesthood of the Druids have long been associated with human sacrifice, yet outside of biased Roman sources such as Julius Caesar, there is little concrete evidence to prove that the Druids actually practised human sacrifice, or is there? On the 1st of August, 1984, Pete Cuttles were working in a bog in Cheshire, England, when a piece of wood got stuck in their shredding machine, one of the workers threw it away without a thought. His co-worker, however, noticed something odd about it, and after closer inspection, it turned out to be the remains of a human leg. The police were called, and after further examination, they realised that they had found the well-preserved remains of a man killed nearly 2,000 years ago. Today, he is known as the Lindow Man. The body was so well preserved, because the peep bog kept out oxygen, with the watery bog also being rich in iron and sulphur. This had meant that you can even still see the grim stubble on the man's chin. There are many fascinating features of this man's death that indicate that he may have been the willing victim of a Druid's sacrifice. Firstly, the stomach of the man contained mistletoe pollen, a substance that the Druids were known to use in their rituals. Secondly, there is no obvious signs of a struggle outside of the blows that killed him, leading to the theory that the man willingly participated in his own sacrifice. The way the man was killed also seemed to suggest he was sacrificed, probably to three Celtic gods, Tarnus, Esus and Tautatus. He was struck twice on the head and once in the back. He was then strangled by a thin cord around his neck. Finally, after death, his throat was cut and he was placed in a pool in the bog. Following examination of the body, it is believed that the man who was in his mid-20s to 30 years old was most likely a member of high class and stature in Celtic society. He had a lack of calluses on his hands and feet, meaning he had not worked in the fields, and his physique suggested good nutrition. This has led to the speculation that the man may even have been a Druid prince. Evidence from the man's stomach has sparked one theory that the man drew the short straw in an ancient Druid lottery that determined who would be sacrificed to the gods. After pathologists examined his digestive tract, a partially digested cake was found. It is believed that this was a bannock, a ground barley cake that the Druids used in the rituals, which was estimated to have been consumed 30 minutes prior to death. One side of the cake, or bannock, was allowed to be scorched when cooking. The Druid priests would then break the bannock into small pieces, place it in a bag and pass it around the group. The person who drew the scorched piece of bannock would be sacrificed to the gods, also the story goes at least. Determining for certain whether the lindo man was sacrificed by the Druids is an impossible task, yet all the evidence seems to point to this fact.