The Tollund Man. Wikipedia. Public Domain.
The Discovery of the Tollund Man in May 1950
The Tollund Man was discovered near Silkeborg, Jutland in Denmark by three unsuspecting Tollund residents named Viggo, Emil and Grethe Hojgaard on 6th May 1950. When the brothers dug down into the ground for peat to use as fuel, they found an almost perfectly preserved mummified corpse.
Grethe bravely touched the forehead. The male corpse had stubble on his chin, and his woollen cap, clothing and leather belt were still in tact. So too was the leather rope around his neck. His features were easy to discern and his eyes and mouth were closed as if he was asleep.
Despite the absence of any other signs of digging there, the Hojgaard's contacted the local police on 8th May fearing that their find was a murder victim because a schoolboy was missing in Copenhagen.
Investigations by the police led them to contact local experts and a leading archaeologist, Professor Glob from Copenhagen.
What Did the Tollund Man Look Like?
Radiocarbon testing has established with 95% accuracy that the Tollund Man was approximately 40 years old when he died between 405-380 B.C. That makes him a citizen of the pre-Roman Iron Age. There was nothing with him that could identify him.
He was probably named the Tollund Man by Professor Glob and he remains the most well preserved prehistoric body in the world. He wasn't alone. To date, over 500 "bog bodies" have been recovered from Danish peat bogs. His body and clothing were in tact because of the lack of minerals and oxygen in the peat bogs, the acid levels of the peat, the naturally occurring sphagnum moss and Denmark's natural coolness. He was essentially refrigerated. He didn't rot and his skin was discoloured, like a tan. His vital organs, nails and hair were remarkable after over 2 millennia in peat.
His last meal of gruel, grains and seeds was in his digestive system; he ate about 12 hours before he was slain. The food suggested a winter or spring death because there was no meat, perhaps gruel and grains were all he could find to eat.
His height was 5 feet 3 inches.
His facial expression was calm and the body had been carefully positioned for his burial. His neck bore the marks of the rope around it and they suggested that he was not strangled and that he was hung. The spine wasn't broken so his death may have resulted from suffocation caused by hanging.
Why Was the Tollund Man Buried In a Peat Bog?
The geographic area that the Tollund Man was discovered in was a place where the ancient dwellers communicated with the gods. A bog was deemed sacred and as an entry point to whatever lay beyond life as they knew it. The bogs were a mixture of earth and water and only a few intrepid trees blocked the view to the sky.
Experts from Silkeborg and the National Museum of Denmark concluded that the Tollund Man was a human sacrifice to the gods, either for fertility or as a sign of gratitude for the peat. The closed eyes and mouth and sleeping position of the Tollund Man lend themselves to this theory. An executed man wouldn't have received the attention or have appeared so tranquil.
Where Is the Tollund Man Today?
The 20th century experts tried to preserve the body away from the peat and they succeeded in shrinking him slightly. As his body started to decompose, only his head was preserved successfully while other body parts were discarded or taken home by the experts.
Today his head and a replica body are on display in the Silkeborg Museum.
In 2016 the Tollund Man's missing right big toe was discovered by the daughter of an expert from the original investigation. It matched his foot. The Silkeborg Museum staff are still searching for any other parts of their prize exhibit.
Poet Seamus Heaney was inspired to write The Tollund Man, please click here to read it.
Scientists are hopeful that as technology improves they will be able to get DNA information and learn more about the life of the mysterious Tollund Man.
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