The Tollund Man was discovered in 1950 in the Bjældskovdal bog in Jutland, Denmark. His mummified body was found in a sleeping position with a leather cord around his neck—and scientists have been analyzing his remarkably well-preserved remains ever since.
When a family cutting peat for fuel unearthed a mysterious body in a Danish bog in 1950, they assumed the well-preserved corpse was a local murderer’s latest victim. In fact, he was anything but: Although the man had been killed, his body dated from the Iron Age about 2,400 years ago.
Now known only as the Tollund Man, his incredibly preserved face, stubbled and slightly smiling, has ensured him a place as one of the world’s most famous bog bodies—made even more mysterious by the fact he was the assumed victim of human sacrifice.
In the decades since his discovery, scientists have studied Tollund Man extensively and pieced together more details about his life and death. Here’s what to know about the naturally mummified man.
Who was Tollund Man?
The presence of wisdom teeth suggest the Tollund Man was at least 20 years old when he died in Denmark’s Bjældskovdal bog in Jutland, but researchers think he was actually between 30 and 40. Radiocarbon dating indicates he died at some point between 405 and 380 B.C.
(We thought we knew the secrets of Europe's bog bodies. We didn't.)
Standing at about 5 foot 3 inches, the Tollund Man was discovered in a sleeping position with a rope around his neck. An autopsy revealed he had died of hanging, noting his extremely well preserved head and face.
After his death, the acidity in the peat bog preserved Tollund Man’s bones and many of his soft tissues, including an intact yet shrunken brain and intestines complete with their contents. Tollund Man’s skin and nails had cured and blackened over thousands of years spent in the oxygen-free environment of the bog. But their full decomposition was blocked by the chemicals that are produced when sphagnum moss, the main moss that comprises peat, degrades.
Today, his body is preserved at the Silkeborg Museum, a Danish cultural heritage museum near the place of his discovery.
Who were his people?
Tollund Man lived during the early part of the Iron Age in the years before Rome conquered the majority of Europe. During the period, Jutland was well populated and home to villages and farms. The era’s farmers grew grain, kept animals, and engaged in religious rituals that involved leaving sacrifices—often food or weapons, but sometimes human bodies—in the local bogs.
Modern-day researchers suspect these bogs were seen as supernatural sites with connections to the gods and the afterlife. But since the Jutland dwellers left no writing behind, it’s unclear what actually drove their religious rituals.
