May 8, 2024 • 7 mins
On this day in 1950, two brothers stumbled upon a well-preserved corpse in a peat bog near Silkeborg, Denmark.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that digs deep into history every day of the week.
I'm Gabe Lucier, and in this episode, we're talking about
the startling discovery of what might be the best preserved
(00:22):
prehistoric body in the world. As a warning, today's episode
includes descriptions of violence which some listeners may find disturbing.
The day was May eighth, nineteen fifty two brothers stumbled
(00:46):
upon a well preserved corpse in a peat bog near
silk aboard, Denmark. They'd been out cutting pete to burn
as fuel when they unearthed what appeared to be a
recent murder victim. The brothers, Emil and Vigo Hogar were
aware that a young schoolboy had recently gone missing in Copenhagen,
and they feared that the body in the bog, which
(01:08):
was fairly short in height, might be his. The police
thought the same thing at first, but after realizing there
were no signs of recent digging in the bog, they
referred the case to archaeologists at the Silkebor Museum. It
was soon discovered that while the man had indeed been killed,
his death was far from recent. In fact, it had
(01:30):
occurred more than two thousand years earlier. The unique properties
of the peat bog had naturally preserved his body, including
his facial features, vital organs, and even his fingerprints. Named
for the village of the brothers who found him, the
Tolland Man is one of dozens of bog bodies that
have been uncovered in wetlands across the United Kingdom and
(01:53):
northern Europe since the nineteenth century. Most of them date
back to the Iron Age, prior to Roman contact in
the first century a d and the vast majority, including
the Talland Man, show signs of ancient violence. In nineteen fifty,
famed archaeologist Peter Wilhelm Globe moved the Talland Man to
(02:15):
the National Museum of Denmark for further study. In autopsy
revealed he had been hung to death, as suggested by
the leather noose that was still wrapped around his neck.
Radiocarbon dating indicated that the man had died at some
point between four h five and three eighty BC, and
he was between thirty and forty years old at the
(02:37):
time of his passing. The five foot three inch corpse,
which was short even for his era was buried in
the nude, except for a wool and sheepskin cap and
a wide belt around his waist. Someone had carefully arranged
his body in a sleeping position and then laid him
to rest beneath a thick layer of pete, a spongy
(02:58):
material formed by the partial decomposition of vegetation and other
organic matter. There are several theories regarding the circumstances of
the Talon Man's death. Some researchers have suggested he was
a criminal who was executed and buried apart from his
fellow citizens, as a form of punishment. Another option is
(03:19):
that he was murdered as vengeance for some perceived slight
a practice known to happen in Northern Europe at the time. However,
if he had merely been executed as punishment, he likely
would have been cremated or buried in a grave, as
was the case with other criminals. And while a murderer
may have disposed of a body in a bog, it's
(03:40):
unlikely they would have taken the time to arrange the
body and close the mouth and eyes. Those signs of
care are why most experts now believe that the Talon
man was a victim of human sacrifice. The farmers of
the era were known to take part in religious rituals
that involved leaving sacrifices of food, weapons, and sometimes even
(04:02):
humans in the local bogs. According to Professor Globe, the
bodies were likely meant as offerings to the pre Christian
goddess Nrthus, who was associated with peace and prosperity. As
for why they were left in bogs, some researchers think
the areas may have been seen as sacred supernatural sites,
(04:23):
as they were neither land nor water. Of course, we
can't say for certain, as the early dwellers of the
Jutland Peninsula didn't leave behind a written record. It's unclear
what motivated their religious rituals, or if they were even
aware of the bog's preservative powers. Whether the killers intended
(04:43):
it or not, the bog turned their sacrifices into natural mummies.
The high acidity, low oxygen, and cool temperatures of the
wetlands preserved many of their bones and soft tissues, and
while those conditions ultimately cured and discolored their skin and
finger inns, the body's decomposition was otherwise stalled by chemical
(05:04):
interactions produced by decaying Sphagnum moss, a major component of pete.
There are a lot of variables in peat bogs, so
not every body buried in one has been preserved to
the same degree. The Taland Man is widely considered to
be the best preserved prehistoric body found thus far. In
(05:25):
stark contrast to the dried out mummies of ancient Egypt,
he still had identifiable facial features, including stubble on his
chin and a faint smile on his lips. The Tolland
man also had an intact brain, albeit a shrunken one,
and his stomach and intestines were in such good shape
that researchers were able to determine the last meal he
(05:47):
ate before his death. In case you're curious, it wasn't
anything fancy, just some porridge made from flax seed and
barley and a few pieces of fish. Additional bog bodies
have surface the discovery of the Talland Man, but they
aren't found as often these days due to a sharp
decline in the usage of pete for fuel production. That said,
(06:09):
a handful of bog bodies have been found in Ireland
since the year two thousand and those specimens, along with
ones found decades ago still have a lot to tell
us about life in the Iron Age of Europe. As
for the Taland Man himself, his body is on display
at the Silkabor Museum in Denmark, though it's worth noting
(06:30):
that because of poor preservation techniques at the time of
his discovery, most of his body is now a replica.
The only parts of him that remain in their original
state are the head, the feet, and the right thumb.
So yeah, he looks a little worse for wear these days,
but he's still more put together than most of us
will be twenty four hundred years from now. I'm gay
(06:57):
Blues Yay, and hopefully you now know a little more
about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd like
to keep up with the show, you can follow us
on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and
if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to
send them my way by writing to this Day at
iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Kasby Bias for producing the show,
(07:22):
and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back
here again tomorrow for another day in History Class
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that digs deep into history every day of the week.
I'm Gabe Lucier, and in this episode, we're talking about
the startling discovery of what might be the best preserved
(00:22):
prehistoric body in the world. As a warning, today's episode
includes descriptions of violence which some listeners may find disturbing.
The day was May eighth, nineteen fifty two brothers stumbled
(00:46):
upon a well preserved corpse in a peat bog near
silk aboard, Denmark. They'd been out cutting pete to burn
as fuel when they unearthed what appeared to be a
recent murder victim. The brothers, Emil and Vigo Hogar were
aware that a young schoolboy had recently gone missing in Copenhagen,
and they feared that the body in the bog, which
(01:08):
was fairly short in height, might be his. The police
thought the same thing at first, but after realizing there
were no signs of recent digging in the bog, they
referred the case to archaeologists at the Silkebor Museum. It
was soon discovered that while the man had indeed been killed,
his death was far from recent. In fact, it had
(01:30):
occurred more than two thousand years earlier. The unique properties
of the peat bog had naturally preserved his body, including
his facial features, vital organs, and even his fingerprints. Named
for the village of the brothers who found him, the
Tolland Man is one of dozens of bog bodies that
have been uncovered in wetlands across the United Kingdom and
(01:53):
northern Europe since the nineteenth century. Most of them date
back to the Iron Age, prior to Roman contact in
the first century a d and the vast majority, including
the Talland Man, show signs of ancient violence. In nineteen fifty,
famed archaeologist Peter Wilhelm Globe moved the Talland Man to
(02:15):
the National Museum of Denmark for further study. In autopsy
revealed he had been hung to death, as suggested by
the leather noose that was still wrapped around his neck.
Radiocarbon dating indicated that the man had died at some
point between four h five and three eighty BC, and
he was between thirty and forty years old at the
(02:37):
time of his passing. The five foot three inch corpse,
which was short even for his era was buried in
the nude, except for a wool and sheepskin cap and
a wide belt around his waist. Someone had carefully arranged
his body in a sleeping position and then laid him
to rest beneath a thick layer of pete, a spongy
(02:58):
material formed by the partial decomposition of vegetation and other
organic matter. There are several theories regarding the circumstances of
the Talon Man's death. Some researchers have suggested he was
a criminal who was executed and buried apart from his
fellow citizens, as a form of punishment. Another option is
(03:19):
that he was murdered as vengeance for some perceived slight
a practice known to happen in Northern Europe at the time. However,
if he had merely been executed as punishment, he likely
would have been cremated or buried in a grave, as
was the case with other criminals. And while a murderer
may have disposed of a body in a bog, it's
(03:40):
unlikely they would have taken the time to arrange the
body and close the mouth and eyes. Those signs of
care are why most experts now believe that the Talon
man was a victim of human sacrifice. The farmers of
the era were known to take part in religious rituals
that involved leaving sacrifices of food, weapons, and sometimes even
(04:02):
humans in the local bogs. According to Professor Globe, the
bodies were likely meant as offerings to the pre Christian
goddess Nrthus, who was associated with peace and prosperity. As
for why they were left in bogs, some researchers think
the areas may have been seen as sacred supernatural sites,
(04:23):
as they were neither land nor water. Of course, we
can't say for certain, as the early dwellers of the
Jutland Peninsula didn't leave behind a written record. It's unclear
what motivated their religious rituals, or if they were even
aware of the bog's preservative powers. Whether the killers intended
(04:43):
it or not, the bog turned their sacrifices into natural mummies.
The high acidity, low oxygen, and cool temperatures of the
wetlands preserved many of their bones and soft tissues, and
while those conditions ultimately cured and discolored their skin and
finger inns, the body's decomposition was otherwise stalled by chemical
(05:04):
interactions produced by decaying Sphagnum moss, a major component of pete.
There are a lot of variables in peat bogs, so
not every body buried in one has been preserved to
the same degree. The Taland Man is widely considered to
be the best preserved prehistoric body found thus far. In
(05:25):
stark contrast to the dried out mummies of ancient Egypt,
he still had identifiable facial features, including stubble on his
chin and a faint smile on his lips. The Tolland
man also had an intact brain, albeit a shrunken one,
and his stomach and intestines were in such good shape
that researchers were able to determine the last meal he
(05:47):
ate before his death. In case you're curious, it wasn't
anything fancy, just some porridge made from flax seed and
barley and a few pieces of fish. Additional bog bodies
have surface the discovery of the Talland Man, but they
aren't found as often these days due to a sharp
decline in the usage of pete for fuel production. That said,
(06:09):
a handful of bog bodies have been found in Ireland
since the year two thousand and those specimens, along with
ones found decades ago still have a lot to tell
us about life in the Iron Age of Europe. As
for the Taland Man himself, his body is on display
at the Silkabor Museum in Denmark, though it's worth noting
(06:30):
that because of poor preservation techniques at the time of
his discovery, most of his body is now a replica.
The only parts of him that remain in their original
state are the head, the feet, and the right thumb.
So yeah, he looks a little worse for wear these days,
but he's still more put together than most of us
will be twenty four hundred years from now. I'm gay
(06:57):
Blues Yay, and hopefully you now know a little more
about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd like
to keep up with the show, you can follow us
on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and
if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to
send them my way by writing to this Day at
iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Kasby Bias for producing the show,
(07:22):
and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back
here again tomorrow for another day in History Class
This Day in History Class News
Host
Gabe Luzier
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