Editing Tollund Man

{{Short description|Iron Age bog body from Denmark}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Tollund Man
| image              = Moorleiche von Tollund Jütland um 100 n Chr hingerichtet.jpg
| image_size         = 150px
| alt                = 
| caption            = The Tollund Man's preserved head
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{c.}} 445–420 BC
| birth_place        = 
| death_date         = {{c.}} 405–384 BC (aged ~40)
| death_place        = present-day Tollund, Denmark
| death_cause        = [[Hanging]] (presumably [[ritual sacrifice]])
| body_discovered    = {{start date and age|1950|05|08}}<br/>[[Silkeborg]], [[Denmark]]<br/>{{Coord|56|9|52|N|9|23|34|E|region:DK-82_type:event|display=title,inline}}
| other_names        = 
| known_for          = 
| height             = 161cm
}}

The '''Tollund Man''' (died 405–384 BC) is a naturally [[mummified corpse]] of a man who lived during the 5th century BC, during the period characterised in [[Scandinavia]] as the [[Pre-Roman Iron Age]].<ref name="pbs1">{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Susan K. |year=2006 |title=Tollund Man |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bog/tollund.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201118093624/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bog/tollund.html |archive-date=18 November 2020 |access-date=22 September 2007 |publisher=Public Broadcasting System – NOVA}}</ref> He was found in 1950, preserved as a [[bog body]] near [[Silkeborg]] on the [[Jutland]] peninsula in [[Denmark]].<ref name="bog">{{cite book |last=Glob |first=P. |author-link=Peter Glob |title=The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved |publisher=New York Review of Books |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-59017-090-8 |location=New York |pages=304}}</ref> The man's physical features were so well preserved that he was mistaken for a recent [[murder]] victim.<ref name="lib"/> Twelve years before his discovery, another bog body, [[Elling Woman]], was found in the same bog.<ref>[http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/bog/violence1.html "Violence in the Bogs"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118223713/http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/bog/violence1.html |date=18 November 2012 }}, Archaeological Institute of America</ref>

The cause of death has been determined to be by [[hanging]]. There is insufficient evidence to determine if the reason for the killing was a ritual sacrifice or a punitive execution.<ref name="GREEN"/><ref>[https://www.museumsilkeborg.dk/why-did-tollund-man-have-to-die Why did Tollund Man have to die?], [https://www.museumsilkeborg.dk/ Museum Silkeborg]</ref>

==Discovery==
[[File:Tollundmanden DO-10895 original.jpg|thumb|The remains of the Tollund Man shortly after his discovery in 1950]]

On 8 May 1950, [[peat]] cutters Viggo and Emil Hojgaard discovered a corpse in the peat layer of the Bjældskovdal peat bog, {{cvt|12|km|1}} west of [[Silkeborg]], [[Denmark]],<ref name="lib">{{Cite web |url=http://www.tollundman.dk/et-lig-dukker-op.asp |title=A Body Appears |work=The Tollund Man – A Face from Prehistoric Denmark |access-date=22 September 2007 |publisher=Silkeborg Public Library |year=2004 |author1=Silkeborg Public Library |author2=Silkeborg Museum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209034959/http://tollundman.dk/et-lig-dukker-op.asp |archive-date=9 December 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> which was so well preserved that they at first believed they had discovered a recent murder victim.

The Tollund Man lay {{cvt|60|m}} away from firm ground, buried under {{cvt|2.3|m}} of peat, his body arranged in a [[fetal position]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museumsilkeborg.dk/the-discovery-of-tollund-man |title=The discovery of Tollund Man |publisher=Museum Silkeborg |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=28 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128162723/http://www.museumsilkeborg.dk/the-discovery-of-tollund-man |url-status=live }}</ref> He wore a pointed skin cap of [[sheepskin]] and [[wool]], fastened under his chin by a [[Rawhide (textile)|hide]] thong, and a smooth hide belt around his waist. Additionally, a [[noose]] made of [[braid|plait]]ed animal hide was drawn tight around his neck and trailed down his back.<ref name="bog"/> Other than these, the body was naked. His hair was cropped so short as to be almost entirely hidden by his cap. There was short stubble ({{cvt|1|mm|disp=sqbr}} in length) on his chin and upper lip, suggesting that he was usually clean-shaven, but had not shaved on the day of his death.<ref name="hair">{{Cite web |url=http://www.tollundman.dk/haar.asp |title=The Tollund Man: Hair and beard |access-date=10 October 2009 |publisher=Silkeborg Public Library |year=2004 |author1=Silkeborg Public Library |author2=Silkeborg Museum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501002848/http://www.tollundman.dk/haar.asp |archive-date=1 May 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Tollund Man was approximately 40 years old. The Tollund Man's last meal consisted of a porridge with barley, flax, wild weed seeds, and some fish.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nielsen |first1=Nina H. |last2=Henriksen |first2=Peter Steen |last3=Mortensen |first3=Morten Fischer |last4=Enevold |first4=Renée |last5=Mortensen |first5=Martin N. |last6=Scavenius |first6=Carsten |last7=Enghild |first7=Jan J. |name-list-style=and |date=2021 |title=The last meal of Tollund Man: new analyses of his gut content |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/last-meal-of-tollund-man-new-analyses-of-his-gut-content/E79FB52BAEF8B59BE2280F182C76DEBF |journal=Antiquity |language=en |volume=95 |issue=383 |pages=1195–1212 |doi=10.15184/aqy.2021.98 |issn=0003-598X |s2cid=238030730}}</ref>

==Scientific examination and conclusions==
[[File:Tollundmannen.jpg|thumb|right]]

[[Radiocarbon dating]] of Tollund Man indicated that he died circa 405–380 BC.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Dating bog bodies by means of 14C-AMS |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |date=1 April 2004 |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=471–491 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2003.09.012 |citeseerx=10.1.1.520.411 |last1=Van Der Plicht |first1=J. |last2=Van Der Sanden |first2=W.A.B |last3=Aerts |first3=A.T |last4=Streurman |first4=H.J|bibcode=2004JArSc..31..471V }}</ref> The preserved tender soft tissues of his body are the consequence of the [[acid]] in the peat, along with the lack of oxygen underneath the surface and the cold [[climate of the Nordic countries]]. The acid in the peat, needed for the preservation of a human body, is caused by a [[bryophyte]] named ''[[Sphagnum]]''. ''Sphagnum'' fights against degradation due to resistant [[Phenols|phenolic compounds]] contained in their cell walls.<ref>Reece, Urry, Cain, Wasserman, Minorsky, Jackson. "L'importance écologique et économique des Bryophytes". ''Campbell Biologie 4th Edition'' (2012): p. 705, 17 October 2014.</ref> Due to the acidity of peat, bones are typically dissolved rather than preserved.

Scientists conducted an [[isotope analysis]] of the element [[strontium]] to measure the exact quantities to get an accurate idea of where he may have travelled before his death. They took samples from his [[femur]] and hair to compare. They were only able to measure up to a year because of his hair being short. The results contained only small differences in strontium isotope proportions, suggesting that he spent his final year in [[Denmark]], and that he may have moved at least {{convert|20|mi|-1|disp=flip}} in his last six months.<ref name=Levine2017>{{cite news |last=Levine |first=Joshua |title=Europe's Famed Bog Bodies Are Starting to Reveal Their Secrets |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/europe-bog-bodies-reveal-secrets-180962770/ |work=Smithsonian Magazine |date=May 2017 |access-date=22 April 2021 |archive-date=22 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422125538/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/europe-bog-bodies-reveal-secrets-180962770/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Examinations and X-rays showed that the man's head was undamaged, and his heart, lungs and liver were well preserved. The [[Silkeborg Museum]] estimated his age as approximately 40 years and height at {{cvt|1.61|m}}, a relatively short stature even for the time. 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]].<ref>Silkeborg Museum, [http://www.tollundman.dk/udseende.asp ''The Tollund Man's Appearance''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719132454/http://www.tollundman.dk/udseende.asp |date=2011-07-19}}, Silkeborg Museum and Amtscentret for Undervisning, Silkeborg Public Library, 2004</ref> The rope left visible furrows in the skin beneath his chin and at the sides of his neck. There was no mark, however, at the back of the neck where the knot of the noose would have been located. After a re-examination in 2002, forensic scientists found further evidence to support these initial findings.<ref>Silkeborg Museum, [http://www.tollundman.dk/scanning.asp ''Latest Research''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719132800/http://www.tollundman.dk/scanning.asp |date=2011-07-19}}, Silkeborg Museum and Amtscentret for Undervisning, Silkeborg Public Library, 2004</ref> Although the [[cervical vertebrae]] were undamaged (these vertebrae are often damaged as a result of hanging), radiography showed that the tongue was distended—an indication of death by hanging.<ref>Silkeborg Museum, [http://www.tollundman.dk/haengning.asp ''Was the Tollund Man Hanged?''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719132658/http://www.tollundman.dk/haengning.asp |date=2011-07-19}}, Silkeborg Museum and Amtscentret for Undervisning, Silkeborg Public Library (SPL), 2004</ref>

The stomach and intestines were examined and tests were carried out on their contents.<ref name="Meal"/> Scientists identified the man's [[last meal]] as [[porridge]] or [[gruel]] made from grains and seeds, both cultivated and wild. Approximately 40 kinds of seeds were identified, but the porridge was primarily composed of four types: barley, [[flax]], false flax (''[[Camelina sativa]]'') and [[Polygonum aviculare|knotgrass]].<ref name="Meal">Silkeborg Museum, [http://www.tollundman.dk/sidste-maaltid.asp ''The Last Meal''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430002753/http://www.tollundman.dk/sidste-maaltid.asp |date=2017-04-30}}, Silkeborg Museum and Amtscentret for Undervisning, Silkeborg Public Library, 2004</ref> From the stage of digestion it was concluded that the man had eaten 12 to 24 hours prior to his death. Porridges were common for people of this time.<ref name="Meal"/> Because neither meat nor fresh fruit was found in the last meal, it is suggested that the meal was eaten in winter or early spring when these items were not available.<ref name="Meal"/>

Both feet and the right thumb, being well conserved by the peat, were also preserved in [[formalin]] for later examination. In 1976, the Danish police made a [[fingerprint]] analysis, making Tollund Man's thumbprint one of the oldest prints on record.<ref name="Prints">{{Cite web |url=http://www.tollundman.dk/fingeraftryk.asp |title=Finger-Prints |work=The Tollund Man – A Face from Prehistoric Denmark |access-date=22 September 2007 |publisher=Silkeborg Public Library |year=2004 |author1=Silkeborg Public Library |author2=Silkeborg Museum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070923123956/http://www.tollundman.dk/fingeraftryk.asp |archive-date=23 September 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Cause of death==

The reason for Tollund Man's death has not been definitively determined.<ref name="GREEN">{{cite journal | url=https://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7&sid=b60292f4-35f5-4987-8f44-515bea0a53c0%40redis | title=Humans as Ritual Victims in the Later Prehistory of Western Europe | first=Miranda | last=Green | journal=Oxford Journal of Archaeology | year=1998 | volume=17 | issue=2 | pp=162-189}}</ref> Some scholars believe the man was a ritual sacrifice because of the special treatment of the body: the arranged position of his body, the eyes and mouth being closed and the special meal that had been ingested.<ref name="GREEN"/><ref name=kings>Hart, Edward, dir. [https://www.kpbs.org/news/arts-culture/2014/01/28/nova-ghosts-murdered-kings Ghosts of Murdered Kings]. NOVA. Prod. Edward Hart and Dan McCabe, PBS, 29 January 2014</ref> However, other scholars believe that his death may have been an execution,<ref name="GREEN"/> in part because Germanic tribes buried traitors under piles of sticks.<ref>[https://www.museumsilkeborg.dk/why-did-tollund-man-have-to-die Why did Tollund Man have to die?], [https://www.museumsilkeborg.dk/ Museum Silkeborg]</ref>

==Display==
[[File:Tollundmanden i Silkeborgmuseet.JPG|thumb|The Tollund Man on display at [[Silkeborg Museum]]]]

The body is displayed at the [[Silkeborg Museum]] in Denmark, although only the head is original. Because conservation techniques for organic material were insufficiently advanced in the early 1950s for the entire body to be preserved, the forensic examiners suggested the head be severed and the rest of the body remain unpreserved. Subsequently, the body was desiccated and the tissue disappeared. In 1987, the Silkeborg Museum reconstructed the body using the skeletal remains as a base. As displayed today, the original head is attached to a [[replica]] of the body.<ref name="Preservation">{{Cite web |url=http://www.tollundman.dk/konservering.asp |title=Preservation of the Tollund Man |work=The Tollund Man – A Face from Prehistoric Denmark |access-date=22 September 2007 |publisher=Silkeborg Public Library |year=2004 |author1=Silkeborg Public Library |author2=Silkeborg Museum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304124758/http://www.tollundman.dk/konservering.asp |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Other bodies==
{{Further|List of bog bodies#Denmark}}

In Denmark, more than 500 bog bodies and skeletal remains dating to the [[Iron Age Europe|Iron Age]] have been recovered.<ref name="NGEO">{{cite journal |last=Dell'Amore |first=Christine |date=July 18, 2014 |title=Who Were the Ancient Bog Mummies? Surprising New Clues |journal=National Geographic |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140718-bog-bodies-denmark-archaeology-science-iron-age/ |access-date=March 13, 2017 |archive-date=November 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201118093629/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/7/140718-bog-bodies-denmark-archaeology-science-iron-age/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Specimens from Jutland include the relatively well-preserved [[Borremose bodies]], [[Huldremose Woman]], [[Grauballe Man]] on display at [[Moesgaard Museum]] near [[Aarhus]], and the similarly conserved [[Haraldskær Woman]]. Approximately 30 of these bog bodies are housed and/or displayed in Danish museums for continued research.<ref name="NGEO"/>

==In popular culture==
[[Nobel Prize]]-winning Irish poet [[Seamus Heaney]] wrote a series of poems inspired by [[P. V. Glob]]'s study of the mummified Iron Age bodies found in [[Jutland]]'s peat bogs, finding contemporary political relevance in the relics of the ritualistic killings.<ref name="Heaney">{{cite book |last=O'Donoghue |first=Bernard |title=The Cambridge Companion to Seamus Heaney |year=2009 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-83882-5 |pages=194–196}}</ref> Heaney's poem "The Tollund Man", published in his ''[[Wintering Out]]'' collection, compares the ritual sacrifice to those who died in the sectarian violence of "[[the Troubles]]".<ref name="Heaney"/> Heaney wrote an excerpt from the poem in the Tollund Man exhibit's guest book in 1973.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tollundman.dk/heaney.asp |title=The Nobel Prize Winner's Poem about the Tollund Man |year=2004 |work=The Tollund Man |publisher=Silkeborg Public Library |access-date=20 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220082107/http://www.tollundman.dk/heaney.asp |archive-date=20 February 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

British author [[Margaret Drabble]], in her 1989 novel ''[[A Natural Curiosity]]'', uses her characters' obsession with the Tollund Man to provide a satirical criticism of [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s modern England.<ref>{{cite news |last=Boxer |first=Sarah |title=A New Literary Hero: The Limp, Silent Type |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/02/books/a-new-literary-hero-the-limp-silent-type.html |work=The New York Times |date=2 June 1991 |access-date=20 February 2017 |archive-date=5 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171005061437/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/02/books/a-new-literary-hero-the-limp-silent-type.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sanders |first=Karin |title=Bodies in the Bog and the Archaeological Imagination |date=2009 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-73404-0 |pages=254–55}}</ref>

Tollund Man is featured in several songs: "[[Sweden (album)|Tollund Man]]" (1995) by the American folk band [[The Mountain Goats]] and "[[Love Is Only a Feeling|Curse of the Tollund Man]]" (2004) by the English rock band [[The Darkness (band)|The Darkness]].

Tollund Man was mentioned in the episode "Mummy in the Maze" of the American television series ''[[Bones (TV series)|Bones]]''<ref>Williams, Scott. "Mummy in the Maze". ''Bones''. Dir. Marita Grabiak. Fox. 30 Oct. 2007. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.</ref> and was also mentioned in the 2016 film ''[[Sacrifice (2016 film)|Sacrifice]]'' in which a bog body was found in the Shetland Islands.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/sacrifice-2016/ | website=slantmagazine.com | publisher=Slant Magazine | first=Clayton | last=Dillard | title=Review: ''Sacrifice'' | date=April 25, 2016}}</ref>

He is the subject of the novel ''Meet Me at the Museum'' by Anne Youngson in which the main characters bond through a shared fascination with the Tollund Man.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.npr.org/2018/08/07/636061509/bonding-over-bog-bodies-in-meet-me-at-the-museum | title=Bonding Over Bog Bodies In 'Meet Me At The Museum' | first=Heller | last=McAlpin | website=npr.org | publisher=National Public Radio | date=August 7, 2018}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of bog bodies]]

== Citations ==
{{Reflist|32em}}

== General sources ==
* {{Cite book |last=Glob |first=P. V. |author-link=Peter Glob |date=2004 |orig-year=1969 |title=The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved |url=https://archive.org/details/bogpeopleironage0000glob/page/n3/mode/2up |url-access=subscription |translator=Rupert Bruce-Mitford |location=New York |publisher=New York Review Books |isbn=1-59017-090-3}} Translated from the Danish original: ''Mosefolket: Jernalderens Mennesker bevaret i 2000 År'', 1965. The Wikipedia article: ''[[The Bog People]]''.

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |last1=Coles |first1=Bryony |last2=Coles |first2=John |year=1989 |title=People of the Wetlands: Bogs, Bodies and Lake-Dwellers |location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson |isbn=978-0-500-02112-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fischer |first=Christian |year=2007 |title=Tollundmanden: gaven til guderne: mosefund fra Danmarks forhistorie |location=Silkeborg, Denmark |publisher=Silkeborg Museum |language=da |isbn=978-87-7739-966-4}}
* Giles, Melanie (2020). ''Bog Bodies, Face to Face with the Past''. Open Access, https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/46717

==External links==
{{Commons category|Tollundmanden}}
* [http://www.tollundman.dk/ Tollund Man – A Face from Prehistoric Denmark]
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bog/toll-flash.html Tollund Man at PBS]
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000901085149/http://home6.inet.tele.dk/hjortspr/Tollundmand.htm |date=1 September 2000 |title=The Tollund Man }}
* [http://www.ibiblio.org/ipa/poems/heaney/the_tollund_man.php ''The Tollund Man''] and [http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/poetry/story/0,,1460761,00.html ''The Tollund Man in Springtime''] by [[Seamus Heaney]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150401172842/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/09/bog-bodies/bog-bodies-text ''National Geographic'' September 2007: "Tales From the Bog"]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110424092611/http://www.mummytombs.com/mummylocator/featured/tollund.dinunno.jpg Image of the facial reconstruction to show what Tollund Man had looked when he was alive]

{{Bog body}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tollund Man}}
[[Category:5th-century BC births]]
[[Category:5th-century BC deaths]]
[[Category:5th-century BC people]]
[[Category:1950 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:1950 in Denmark]]
[[Category:Archaeological discoveries in Denmark]]
[[Category:Bog bodies]]
[[Category:Germanic archaeological artifacts]]
[[Category:May 1950 in Europe]]
[[Category:Pre-Roman Iron Age]]
[[Category:Human sacrifice victims]]
[[Category:Deaths by hanging]]