“Bog Bodies Uncovered: Solving Europe’s Ancient Mystery.” By Miranda Aldhouse-Green. Thames & Hudson. 224 pages. $29.95

Some 2,000 years ago, certain unfortunate individuals were violently killed and buried not in graves but in bogs. What was a tragedy for the victims has proved an archaeologist’s dream, for the peculiar and acidic properties of the bog have preserved the bodies so that their skin, hair, soft tissue, and internal organs – even their brains – survive. They were almost certainly murder victims and, as such, their bodies and their burial places can be treated as crime scenes. The cases are cold, but this book explores the extraordinary information they reveal about our prehistoric past.