He is now the face of Iron Age Europe and perhaps the most famous bog body in
the world. But in 1950, when brothers Viggo and Emil Hoejgaard stumbled upon
him as they were cutting peat near the village of Tollund in Aarhus,
Denmark, they thought he might be a modern murder victim. The local police,
aware of two other ancient bodies from the same bog, knew better and contacted
the Silkeborg Museum. There, and later at the National Museum of Copenhagen, a
wide range of specialists—archeologists, forensic scientists,
radiologists, paleobotanists, even dentists—studied his body. To learn
about their findings and get an intimate view of the 2,400-year-old Tollund
Man, click on the image at left. Tollund Man has not only captivated
scientists but also inspired a great poet. You can hear Nobel laureate Seamus
Heaney recite his poem "The Tollund Man."—Susan K. Lewis
