Tollund Man: A glimpse into the past through the world's most famous 'bog body'

Two brothers, Viggo and Emil Højgaard, discovered the body on 6 May 1950 as they dug peat near the village of Tollund in the Bjældskovdal bog.

Peat cutting was still a common practice in rural Denmark at the time, and they intended to collect fuel for household use.

As they removed layers of organic material, they uncovered what they believed to be a recent murder victim.

The discovery site featured the head and upper body of a man who appeared to have died recently, his skin darkened by centuries of bog conditions.

The body lay approximately two and a half metres below the surface in an area rich with archaeological interest, as other bog bodies, such as the Elling Woman and the Grauballe Man, were found in nearby sites within the same Jutland region. 

Viggo's wife, Grethe, immediately contacted the local police because she believed that the body had been buried in the last few years.

When authorities arrived, they halted further digging and summoned the National Museum in Copenhagen.

Archaeologists arrived the next day and quickly recognised that the find was not a modern crime scene.

Instead, the body belonged to the prehistoric past. The peat, made of partly decayed plants in a low-oxygen, acidic environment, had prevented bacteria from decomposing the tissue and had tanned the skin like leather.

Chemical compounds from sphagnum moss, including sphagnan itself, slowed microbial activity and contributed to the remarkable preservation of his features. 

Although his head and torso were intact, the lower body had suffered damage during the initial discovery.

Specialists carefully photographed the find in place and recorded the exact layers of the peat that surrounded him.

He wore a pointed leather cap made from sheepskin and fastened with a thong under the chin and a smooth hide belt around his waist.

A braided noose made of animal hide lay tightly around his neck. The absence of other grave goods added to the mystery of who he was and how he died, and the lack of clothing other than the cap and belt raised questions about ritual nudity in sacrificial practices. 

Investigators prioritised determining how Tollund Man had died. The noose around his neck offered an immediate clue, as the body did not show signs of other wounds, and the peaceful appearance of his face suggested that his death had not been violent in the traditional sense.

The possibility of execution or sacrifice soon came up. At first, some thought he might have been hanged for a crime, but this theory raised questions.

Iron Age communities in the region did not bury executed criminals with such clear care.

His careful placement and the preservation of his clothing was more likely done for a ritual purpose. 

The National Museum commissioned a forensic examination of the body during which experts concluded that he died by hanging.

The noose had left marks consistent with suspension, and his tongue may have appeared swollen, which some researchers interpreted as a possible sign of strangulation, though later studies questioned this due to the distortion caused by bog preservation.

However, his neck bones were not broken. In modern executions by hanging, the sudden drop typically breaks the neck, but in ritualised or less forceful hangings, this would not always occur.

His skin had contracted due to the bog’s chemistry, which made it harder to find signs of injury.

Professor P.V. Glob, one of Denmark’s leading archaeologists, helped lead the investigation and later published important studies on ritual sacrifice and bog bodies. 

Medical specialists also examined his organs, which were very well preserved. His stomach and intestines contained a final meal of porridge made from barley, flax, and other seeds.

The absence of meat in his diet, combined with the composition of the porridge, allowed scientists to date his last meal to winter or early spring.

Palaeobotanists identified knotgrass, pale persicaria, and bristlegrass seeds, some of which came from field weeds not usually eaten.

Furthermore, the lack of food residues in his upper gut suggested he died between 12 and 24 hours after eating. 

Danish archaeologists conducted initial examinations in the 1950s, and they used the best available techniques of the time, including radiocarbon dating.

Radiocarbon analysis placed his death during the pre-Roman Iron Age in Northern Europe.

Improved dating methods narrowed the date range to approximately 405–380 BCE.

The dating process used samples from soft tissue and intestinal contents, and labs estimated a margin of error within a few decades. 

From the 2000s onward, CT scans allowed researchers to study the skull and soft tissue without causing damage.

Detailed scans revealed the internal structure of his brain, which had shrunk but not disappeared.

His hair and skin contained chemical traces of sphagnum moss acids, and this confirmed that the peat bog’s natural environment was responsible for the preservation process.

More recently, stable isotope analysis helped researchers identify his diet over a longer period.

These studies showed a mainly plant-based diet, with occasional fish and meat, which pointed to the fact that he belonged to a farming community with access to limited protein sources.

Researchers also compared these results to other bog bodies and skeletons from the region to build a wider picture of Iron Age nutrition. 

DNA study has been harder because the genetic material broke down in bog environments.

While researchers have recovered some fragments of genetic information, they have not been able to build a full genome.

However, the partial results were too limited to draw firm conclusions about his regional genetic background, though they did not contradict his likely origin in Iron Age Denmark.

Further attempts at genome sequencing may be possible as methods improve. 

During the 4th century BCE, people who lived in what is now Denmark belonged to small agricultural communities scattered across forests and wetlands.

Their world consisted of family-based settlements with thatched wooden houses, small fields, and herds of livestock.

Iron tools had become more common in farming and household activities, though bronze was still in use for certain tasks.

They farmed mainly for their own use and added to their diets with hunting, fishing, and foraging. 

Archaeological evidence from this period includes wooden figures placed in bogs, weapons bent or broken and thrown into lakes, and human remains with signs of sacrifice.

People likely made offerings to the gods in response to natural problems, such as poor harvests, disease, or changes in weather.

Tollund Man’s careful placement in the bog, his closed eyes, and the absence of burial goods suggest that his death formed part of a religious offering rather than a murder.

Other finds, such as the Gundestrup Cauldron and the Nydam Bog offerings, show that Iron Age communities regularly used waterlogged environments for religious offerings.

Climate conditions during his lifetime fluctuated, since pollen analysis from peat cores showed periods of cooler and wetter weather, which must have affected harvests and food supplies.

Communities under stress may have turned to religious acts in hopes of restoring balance.

Tollund Man may have been a volunteer, a chosen victim, or a punished person given as an offering to the gods during such a time.

Today, he is housed at the Silkeborg Museum, where he continues to inform researchers and fascinate the public.