Tollund Man
- By Susan K. Lewis
- Posted 02.07.06
- NOVA
He has become the face of Iron Age Europe. But in 1950, when men cutting peat near the village of Tollund, Denmark, stumbled upon him, they thought he was a modern murder victim. The police, aware of similar ancient bodies, contacted the Silkeborg Museum, and various specialists—archeologists, forensic scientists, radiologists, paleobotanists, even dentists—later studied his body. Here, learn about their findings and get an intimate view of the 2,400-year-old man.
Launch Interactive
This 2,400-year-old corpse is the world's most famous bog body. Learn how scientists reconstructed his final hours.
Hear Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney recite his poem "The Tollund Man." This feature originally appeared on the site for the NOVA program The Perfect Corpse.
Credits
Special Thanks
- Seamus Heaney
- Vincent van Vilsteren, Drents Museum
Photos
- (Tollund Man head, Tollund Man full)
- © Silkeborg Museum, Denmark
- (Seamus Heaney)
- © Norman McBeath/Courtesy Faber & Faber
Related Links
-
Bog Bodies of the Iron Age
On this map of Northwest Europe, see where preserved corpses have been discovered and examine a dozen spectacular finds.
-
10 Ways to Make a Mummy
How do corpses become mummies? See how natural forces and artificial techniques preserve bodies through the ages.
-
America's Bog People
In a peat pond down the road from Florida's Disney World, archeologists unearth an 8,000-year-old cemetery.
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