Tollund Man

Tollund Man is the naturally preserved body of an Iron Age man found in a Danish peat bog in 1950. Radiocarbon dating places his death in the fourth century BCE.

Elling Woman: Elling Woman is an Iron Age body discovered in a Danish peat bog in 1938. Found in the same bog system, she shows that Tollund Man was not the area’s only preserved burial.
Peat bog: A peat bog is a waterlogged, acidic wetland where partially decomposed plant matter accumulates. Tollund Man’s burial environment supplied the conditions that preserved his soft tissues.
Radiocarbon dating: Radiocarbon dating estimates the age of organic material by measuring its remaining carbon-14. It places Tollund Man’s death in the fourth century BCE.
Human sacrifice: Human sacrifice is the ritual killing of a person as an offering or religious act. Tollund Man’s noose and careful deposition have prompted interpretations of ritual killing.
Silkeborg Museum: Museum Silkeborg is a Danish museum whose collections include Tollund Man. The museum preserves and presents the body as a central part of Denmark’s archaeological heritage.
Grauballe Man: Grauballe Man is an Iron Age body discovered in a Danish peat bog in 1952. His nearby discovery offers a second exceptionally preserved Danish bog body for comparison.
Sphagnum: Sphagnum is a genus of mosses that forms peat and acidifies bog water. Its chemistry contributes to the antimicrobial conditions that helped preserve the body.
Paleoanthropology: Paleoanthropology studies ancient humans through biological remains and archaeological evidence. Tollund Man’s body offers evidence about an individual from prehistoric Denmark.
Iron Age religion: Iron Age religion comprised the beliefs, rituals, and sacred practices of societies during the European Iron Age. Religious explanations for his deposition depend on what is known about contemporary ritual practices.
P. V. Glob: Peter Vilhelm Glob was a Danish archaeologist and museum director who wrote influentially about bog bodies. Glob’s book brought Tollund Man and other bog bodies to a broad international audience.

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MummyBroader topic: His remarkably preserved face illustrates the effects of bog conditions on human remains.