28 Photograph by Christian Als
Letter of Recommendation
In May 1950, two Danish farmers were
cutting peat in Tollund Fen, in the mid-
dle of the Jutland Peninsula, when they
found a man’s body. His skin was stained a
deep, tawny brown, and he was wearing a
pointed cap. Around his neck was a rope.
Believing they had found evidence of a
murder, the men called the police.
In pictures, the Tollund Man’s body
appears startlingly fresh, with stubble on
his chin and a violent expression on his
face. His skin was so well preserved that
investigators were later able to take a
thumb print. He appears to be suff ocating.
But he isn’t: The man died more than 2,000
years ago, during Europe’s Iron Age.
Hundreds of bodies have been
unearthed from bogs throughout North-
ern Europe. Some, like the Tollund Man,
were initially assumed to be murder
victims, and many were reburied in
churchyards. The archaeology branch of
the National Museum of Ireland in Dub-
lin has four of the bodies on display in
a group of glass exhibition cases, which
allows visitors to peer at individual hairsBog Bodies
By Robert Rubsam
and study desiccated hands with clean-
ly clipped nails. Your gaze reaches out
across centuries.
The raised bogs of Northern Europe
are ideal for preservation. The water in
them is highly acidic and low in oxygen,
which helps prevent decomposition. The
tanning properties of bog moss do the
rest. Clothing, tools and even blocks of
bog butter have been dug out of the peat.
When Danish scientists examined the
Tollund Man, they discovered his fi nal
meal — gruel — in his large intestine.3.29.20The Tollund
Man, a naturally
mummified corpse
found in modern-
day Denmark, is
an emissary from
the Iron Age who
reminds us what we
can and can’t learn
about the past.