Tollundmanden

The local museum in the Danish town of Silkeborg is not one of the most impressive museums you can visit in the world. Silkeborg's history is relatively recent and the town does not have had the central role in Danish history as other towns have had, and thus the museum focuses mainly on the town's industrial history, as well as the many artifacts in the central Jutland area from the Iron Age. 

But it is regarding the latter that the small museum is world famous: it contains one of the most extraordinary Iron Age finds in the world. Tollundmanden is the mummified body of a man from the early iron age; it is estimated to be from around 400 BC. 

Tollundmanden was found by peat-diggers from the Højgaard family in Tollund in a peat bog at Bøllingsø, an ancient dried lake by Moselund, near the small village of Engesvang, in 1950. The Højgaard family were from the nearby town of Tollund, and thus they inadvertently gave the name to the mummy, despite it coming from Moselund. My family knew the Højgaard family well, and they often joked that Tollundmanden was so ugly that he must be a family member... 

All this said, the body they found was so well-preserved that Højgaard family members called the police, who quickly realized that the body was not the victim of a crime, and called archeology professor Peter Vilhelm Glob (1911-1985) from Århus university, who had the body taken to Copenhagen for scientific research and dating (after significant protests from Silkeborg, the body eventually ended at Silkeborg Museum in 1952).

The body is well-preserved, and in particularly the head appears in perfect condition: as a man sleeping quietly, with all details in his face clearly outlined. The body is less well-preserved: when he was found there was doubt that they would be able to conserve the entire body, and the head was taken off to make successful conservation efforts. 

Most of the rest of the body was cut into pieces, and parts were scattered in different museums (for many years only the head could be seen at the museum). However, throughout the 1980s, the body parts were assembled, many were in very bad condtion, and a partial reconstruction of the body was made, which is how he can be seen today. Interestingly, the feet are also almost in perfect condition, but a toe was missing and was only found in 2016: in an effort to preserve the body, B. Brorson Christensenm one of the conservationists in 1950, took a toe off (meaning that one of the toes is reconstructed) and never returned it: the toe was only found in a desk drawer after his death.

It has taken time and technology to determine many things about who Tollundmanden was, but many questions remain. He is estimated to have been around 40 years old by the time of his death, and he had once broken his hands; injuries on his feet point that he walked mostly barefoot. It was only determined in 2021, with the use of modern technology that his last meal had been porridge with barley, flax, wild weed seeds, and some fish, giving us a glimpse of the food they ate in northern Europe 2500 years ago. 

It is also clear that he died by hanging or strangulation; the leather rope around his neck is very tightly bound, and later examinations have concluded that he was likely hanged due to the distention of the tongue (which is common in hanging). 

Then what are the theories about this man? 

Initially it was thought that he was a criminal, since he had been hanged. This has been discounted by many historians and archeologists, who indicate that the careful fetal position he was put into, his eyes and mouth closed, as well as the fact that he was clean-shaven, fed, and not any other injuries, may rather indicate that he was rather sacrificed. He is estimated to have died in winter or early spring (due to the lack of fresh fruit or meat in his last meal), a time when food may have been scarce, and when sacrifices may have been a way to appease the gods (nothing is known about their religion, but Roman writings about northern German Barbarians some centuries later mention that some tribes practiced human sacrifice in bogs). 

Interestingly, while the body was so well-preserved, his DNA has not been preserved; or at least not enough to make more detailed estimates about where his group came from or where descendants are to be found. This has also made it speculation on his skin, hair and eye colour. Although a recreation by a French artist in 2019 (which can been seen in the museum) makes him blue-eyed and red haired, this will remain mere speculation until and if new techniques are developed. 

Although surely Tollundmanden is the most famous, around 800 bog-bodies dating to the Iron Age have been found in bogs in Denmark. One is worth mentioning in this context, namely Elingekvinden, which can also be seen at Silkeborg Museum. 

She is less well-preserved than Tollundmanden, with the face almost gone, but an elaborate braid of her long hair can still be seen. Just as Tollundmanden she had also been carefully been laid to rest after being hanged (and she was around 25 years old), and was found only 80 meters from Tollundmanden (in 1938). Ellingekvinden is estimated to be perhaps around 100 years younger than Tollundmanden (355-205 BC), but the proximity and the similarities would also point towards the theories of sacrifices. 

Tollundmanden remains a fascinating (if not slightly macabre) exhibition: a quiet, sleeping man, carrying his message to us from 2500 years ago