They were fairies. The thinking goes that Tollund Man’s tomb may have been meant to
ensure a kind of soggy immortality for the sacrificial object
. “When he was found in 1950,” says Nielsen, “they made an X-ray of his body and his head, so you can see the brain is quite well-preserved.
Why was Tollund Man in a bog?
The acid in the peat, needed for the preservation of a human body, is caused by a bryophyte named Sphagnum. … It is likely that the body had shrunk in the
bog
. On the initial autopsy report in 1950, doctors concluded that
Tollund Man
died by hanging rather than strangulation.
How was the Tollund Man preserved in the bog?
Tollund Man
had been hanged and placed in a sleeping position in a peat pit
— an “extraordinary treatment” given that most dead people from that time and place were cremated and buried on dry land, the researchers wrote in the study.
When did the Tollund Man get hung?
A 30- to 40-year-old man at the time of his death, Tollund Man was hanged
between 405 and 380 B.C.E.
, per Laura Geggel of Live Science. (The leather noose is still wrapped around his neck.) Someone then carefully placed his body in a sleeping position in a peat-cutting pit.
Why were the bog bodies killed?
In his popular book The Bog People, Glob proposes that many bodies were brutally sacrificed in
ritual killings to appease a fertility goddess
. He and other experts speculate that the people of the Iron Age saw bogs as gateways to the spiritual world.
What was Tollund Man’s last meal?
The results show that Tollund Man’s last meal consisted of
a porridge with barley, flax, wild weed seeds, and some fish
—fairly standard fare for bog bodies based on earlier analysis of 12 European Iron Age victims, who ate grain-based meals, sometimes with meat and berries.
What was Lindow Man’s last meal?
Examinations of Lindow Man showed he was in his 20s, of average height, well-built and in good health. Closer inspections have shown he suffered from intestinal parasites and his last meal was
unleavened bread
. Radiocarbon dating has put his death, which was extremely violent, as being sometime in the 1st Century AD.
What happens if you fall in a bog?
The bog is called a quaking bog to indicate
the instability of the surface
, which will sink slightly beneath a weight. It is even possible to break through the vegetation into the water beneath. Both people and animals have drowned this way. Nonfloating bogs may also quake if the peat is thick and spongy.
Who killed the Tollund Man?
Tollund man died because he was murdered
by being hanged
. He was buried with a rope around his neck. This shows that it was a violent act and not an accident. It is most likely that Tollund man was killed by hanging.
How old is the Tollund Man’s body?
Over the past few centuries, men harvesting peat in European bogs have discovered the preserved remains of hundreds of human corpses called “bog bodies”. Some of them are as old as 10,000 years.
Why is the tollund man so special?
Carbon dating confirmed that — placing the man’s death somewhere between 375 B.C. and 210 B.C. The extraordinarily well-preserved state of what became known as the Tollund Man was
due to the unique chemistry of the bog
, with its lack of oxygen, cool temperatures and bacteria-unfriendly acidic environment.
What was Tollund Man wearing when he died?
History of Tolland Man
The investigation into the Tollund Man showed that he had died a violent death. He was
nude except for a pointed skin cap of sheepskin and wool and a belt tied around his waist
. There was also a noose wound tight around his neck.
Was the Tollund Man healthy?
A series of post-excavation examinations indicate that the Tollund Man was forty to fifty years old and
in good health except for the occurrence of whipworms
. He had eaten a purely vegetarian meal twelve to fourteen hours before his death.
Why do bodies not decompose in peat bogs?
While the skin is well-preserved, the bones are generally not,
due to the dissolution of the calcium phosphate of bone by the peat’s acidity
. The acidic conditions of these bogs allow for the preservation of materials such as skin, hair, nails, wool and leather which all contain the protein keratin.
Who found the Tollund Man?
John Kauslund
was 11 years old when Tollund Man was discovered in 1950. He is the son of Grethe Højgaard who, along with her husband and his brother, discovered Tollund Man.
What did Tollund Man look like?
The head was almost shockingly well-preserved.
The eyes were closed
and so was the mouth – the look on his face was peaceful and solemn as if he was just sleeping. The hair was cut short, 1-3 cm long – the red colour of his hair is due to the influence of the bog water. We don’t know his original hair colour.
