W–056 · Photograph date unknown · discovered 6 May 1950 · Held by Museum Silkeborg, Denmark
A Face from the Bog
His face was so well preserved that the Højgaard family, digging for peat, thought they had found a recent murder victim. They discovered the body on 6 May 1950 in a bog near Bjældskovdal outside Silkeborg and reported it to the police on 8 May. It lay deep in the peat, with no sign of recent digging. Museum staff accompanied the officers to the site. The find became known as Tollund Man, after the nearby village where his finders lived.
1. Tollund Man
Provenance and sources for frame 1
File and rights
The photographer’s 2244 × 1983 Commons upload, preserved unaltered. Sven Rosborn released the photograph into the public domain. The record gives no exposure date or location; 6 May 1950 is the discovery date. The image shows the conserved head held by Museum Silkeborg.
The man had died in the Iron Age. Recent radiocarbon dating places his death in 405–380 BCE at 95.4 percent probability; examination of the body suggested he was about thirty to forty years old. The acidic, oxygen-poor bog preserved his skin and facial features. A sheepskin cap remained on his head, secured by leather straps beneath his chin.
A noose was still around his neck. Doctors examining the body at Copenhagen’s Bispebjerg Hospital concluded that he had died by hanging, a finding supported by later examinations. His neck vertebrae were unbroken. Although the cause of death could be established, his name and the circumstances of his death remain unknown.
Once the body was out of the bog, conservators faced a new task: preserving tissues that would dry out without the peat water. At the National Museum of Denmark, they treated the head with wax and also preserved the feet and a thumb. The rest of the body dried out. Museum Silkeborg later displayed the original head with a reconstruction showing the body as it had appeared when found.
Research continued seventy years after the discovery. In 2021, scientists re-examined the intestinal contents to identify his last meal: a porridge of barley, flaxseed and weed seeds. Charred crumbs indicated that the food had been slightly burnt. Protein analysis also identified fish, which the 1950 investigation had missed.