Su'am Body
More actions
The Su'am Body is a corpse that was discovered in Hguomdyr during a bog draining. The body was dated to have been from approximately 5001 TT, and genetic testing found it was most closely related to the Tànàlgo, Verthi, and other east Deysachni ethnicities.
Discovery
The Su'am Body was discovered on 30-11 42 PC just outside the town of Su'am in Hguomdyr, Deysachin, during the draining of a local bog. Such drainings were common in the region following floods, however the particular patch of wetland the body was found in is not known to have been prior drained, due to lying in a lowlying uninhabited region. Local Adey myths claimed the bog to inhabited by vile spirits, known as Kuyshelshkaih, who drag any trespassers into the bog and drown them for 5001 years[1]. When the body was discovered, it was intially believed to be far more recent due to the highly perserved state, and immediatly reported to the authorities[2] as a murder or missing persons case. The local corroner could not identify the nature of the body, and as such it was transfered to the Elradial, then Provincial authorities.
Scientific Analysis
State of Body
At the time of the Su'am Body's death, he was of old age, estimated to be between his late fifties and early seventies. Several scars are visable on his body, including one in his abdoman that was initially believed to have been the cause of death, though testing found it to be healed over, suggesting it to have been several years old. The body was remarkably perserved, with skin and hair (bleached silver by the acid of the bog) as inact as a body in the earliest stages of decomposition, mummified by the natural conditions of the bog. This is a form a burial common in the region to this day, though this body predates any other known by the burial tradition by nearly 2000 years.
The cause of the man's death is unknown, though a minor blockage in the throat leaves choaking as the most likely culprit. Other theories include an infection of old wounds, and accidentally falling into the bog. The later is considered unlikely by experts, as the body was found stiff in a position resembling an intentional burial.
Forensic Analysis
Dating showed the body to have been over 5043 years old at time of discovery, belonging to an unknown prehistorical Deysachni culture. Genetic testing showed relation to modern Deysachni, though not to the native populace of the region of discovery, rather to a number of ethnic groups in the north and west of the continent, such as the Tànàlgo, Verthi, Oueapeans, Uebah, and Thuoa. This discovery has led to the controverisal Su'ami Hypothesis, that being that these ethnnolinguistic groups share a common ancestor culture, which resided in southern Deysachin before scattering northward and westward.
There has also been some evidence to suggest the people of La Rossa, and the lowland ethnicities of Okrit, to also be of genetic descent from the Su'am Body's culture, though this is hotly contested.