Bog Bodies!

April 12, 2012

Bog bodies can be defined as human burials, which some were likely sacrificed and placed in peat bogs and naturally mummified. Since peat is highly acidic, it acts as an extraordinary preservative which leaves the clothing and skin intact and creates an emotional and memorable image of people from the past. When a body is submerged into a bog, the cold water will insect activity and hinders putrefaction. Bog bodies have been discovered in not only Ireland, but also in Britain, Germany, Holland and Denmark.  The total number of bodies discovered in European bogs is unknown because it is estimated between 200 to 700 bodies have been pulled from bogs. 

 

Picture from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/tolland-man.html

Bod Body Story: The Tollund Man

            On May 8^th, 1950 near the village of Tollund in Denmark, two brothers and their families were cutting peat when they discovered a man in the bog and thought it was a modern murder victim because the body was so well preserved. These brothers quickly notified the Silkeborg police which were aware of an ancient body that was discovered 2 days earlier in a bog close to Bjaeldskovdal, which is only 10 kilometres west of Silkeborg. The police took the body to the Silkeborg Museum  for a very detailed examination. A number of radiologistics, paleobotanists, forensic scientists, archeologists and dentists studied the body and later learned that the man people thought was a recent murder victim was actually 2,400 years old! The Tollund Man is on display at the National Museum of Denmark.

 Picture from: http://www.tollundman.dk/udseende.asp

Work Cited:  

Lewis, S. K. (2006, February 7). The Tollund Man. Retrieved April 11, 2012, from Nova: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/tolland-man.html

Silkeborg Museum. (2004). A Face of Prehistoric Denmark. Retrieved April 11, 2012, from The Tollund Man: http://www.tollundman.dk/liget.asp