In 2006 Irish murder detectives were summoned to a peat moss bog in central Ireland where someone reported finding a body in the muck. When the police officers arrived they did in fact find a murder case – but the trail had already been cold for two thousand years.

I bet he was a Social Distortian fan.

Known as Conycavan man, the body was an ancient Irishman from between 200 and 400 B.C. who had not only been killed, but tortured. Anthropologists estimate he was in his twenties when someone struck him three times in the head with a stone axe, once in the chest, and then disemboweled. Someone went through a lot of trouble to make sure this man died in agony.

What is remarkable, however, is that Conycavan man sports the oldest known example of a mohawk haircut, making him the oldest punk to date. His black hair was shaved on the sides, leaving only a strip from his scalp to the back of his crown. When chemical analysis of the hair was done it was discovered that Conycavan man used a combination of pine resin and vegetable oil to keep his hair standing straight up. Researchers guess it might be an attempt to make the diminutive 5’2″ ancient Irishman look taller. Although people were on average smaller during this period of time, ancient Ireland was apparently rife with relative giants. Only a few miles from Conycavan man another body was found, also brutally murdered, from around the same time period. This other body, known as Oldcroghan man, stood a mighty 6’6″.

One of the more interesting facts is that the pine resin in Conycavan man’s hair is from either Spain or France. Fancy imported hair gel? I’ll say. It was only the Iron Age, and wooden ships were crude at best. Perhaps he got in too much debt from paying extra to have his primitive mousse brought in from abroad, and his loan shark decided he was just as useful alive as dead.

Whatever the reason Conycavan man ended up with his blood spilled across the Irish bogs, one thing is for sure. Not even actual death can kill a real punk rocker, and his body will continue to speak to anthropologists long after his vocal chords rotted out of his neck.

For more on mohawk haircuts and their history, check out How To Look Like A Punk Vol. 2 – History of Mohawks