The Tollund Man 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. He was found in 1950, preserved as a bog body, near Silkeborg on the Jutland peninsula in Denmark. The man's physical features were so well preserved that he was mistaken for a recent murder victim. Twelve years before his discovery, another bog body, Elling Woman, was found in the same bog.
A bog body is a human cadaver that has been naturally mummified in a peat bog. Such bodies, sometimes known as bog people, are both geographically and chronologically widespread, having been dated to between 8000 BCE and the Second World War. The unifying factor of the bog bodies is that they have been found in peat and are partially preserved; however, the actual levels of preservation vary widely from perfectly preserved to mere skeletons.
Gjern municipality was a municipality in Aarhus County in the eastern part of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covered an area of 144 km2, and had a total population of 8.134 (2005). Its last mayor was Ella Porskær, a member of the Venstre political party. The site of its municipal council was the town of Gjern. Other towns in the municipalities were Fårvang, Grauballe, Sorring, and Voel.
Silkeborg is a Danish town with a population of 51,805. Silkeborg is the seat of Silkeborg Municipality, with a population of 100,747 as of 2024.
Below are notable events in archaeology that occurred in 1952.
Helsinge is the municipal seat of Gribskov Municipality in Region Hovedstaden on Zealand in Denmark. As of 1 January 2024, it has a population of 9,482.
Silkeborg Municipality is a municipality in Region Midtjylland on the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 857.16 km2, and has a population of 100,747. Its mayor is Steen Vindum, of the party Venstre. The main town and the site of its municipal council is the town of Silkeborg.
Peter Vilhelm Glob, also known as P. V. Glob, was a Danish archaeologist.
Ikast is a Danish town in Central Denmark Region. It is the seat of Ikast-Brande Municipality since 2007. It was the seat of the former Ikast Municipality.
The Central Denmark Region, or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid-Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish municipal reform. The reform abolished the traditional counties (amter) and replaced them with five new administrative regions. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger units, cutting the total number of municipalities from 271 to 98. The reform diminished the power of the regional level dramatically in favour of the local level and the national government in Copenhagen. The Central Denmark Region comprises 19 municipalities.
Silkeborg Idrætsforening, is a professional football club based in Silkeborg, Denmark. The club was founded in 1917, reached the highest level of Danish football in 1987, and afterwards became one of the most successful football clubs in Denmark. They won the 1993–94 Danish Superliga, finished third in 1994–95, 2000–01, and 2021–22, 2nd in 1997–98, and won the Danish Cup in 2001 and 2024. Silkeborg has participated in Europe several times, winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1996.
The Grauballe Man is a bog body that was uncovered in 1952 from a peat bog near the village of Grauballe in Jutland, Denmark. The body is that of a man dating from the late 3rd century BC, during the early Germanic Iron Age. Based on the evidence of his wounds, he was most likely killed by having his throat slit. His corpse was then deposited in the bog, where his body was naturally preserved for over two millennia. His was not the only bog body to be found in the peat bogs of Jutland. Together with other notable examples, Tollund Man and the Elling Woman, Grauballe Man represents an established tradition at the time. It is commonly thought that these killings, including that of Grauballe Man, were examples of human sacrifice, possibly an important rite in Iron Age Germanic paganism.
The Haraldskær Woman is the name given to a bog body of a woman preserved in a bog in Jutland, Denmark, and dating from about 490 BC. Workers found the body in 1835 while excavating peat on the Haraldskær Estate. The anaerobic conditions and acids of the peat bog contributed to the body's excellent preservation. Not only was the intact skeleton found, but so were the skin and internal organs. Scientists settled disputes about the age and identity of this well preserved body in 1977, when radiocarbon dating determined conclusively that the woman's death occurred around the 5th century BC.
Windeby I is the name given to the bog body found preserved in a peat bog near Windeby, Northern Germany, in 1952. Until recently, the body was also called the Windeby Girl, since an archeologist believed it to be the body of a 14-year-old girl, because of its slight build. Prof. Heather Gill-Robinson, a Canadian anthropologist and pathologist, used DNA testing to show the body was actually that of a sixteen-year-old boy. The body has been radiocarbon-dated to between 41 BC and 118 AD.
The Elling Woman is a bog body discovered in 1938 west of Silkeborg, Denmark. The Tollund Man was later discovered just c. 60 m (200 ft) away, twelve years after the Elling Woman's discovery. The Elling Woman was mistakenly described as a man in P. V. Glob's book The Bog People, when it was published in 1965.
The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved is an archaeological study of the bog bodies of Northern Europe written by the Danish archaeologist P.V. Glob. First published in 1965 by Gyldendal under the Danish title of Mosefolket: Jernalderens Mennesker bevaret i 2000 År, it was translated into English by the English archaeologist Rupert Bruce-Mitford and published by Faber and Faber in 1969. In 1966 it was translated into German by Thyra Dohrenburg and published by Winkler Verlag Munich under the title Die Schläfer im Moor.
Silkeborg Museum is a museum of Danish cultural history with official state recognition based in Silkeborg Municipality, Denmark. Museum Silkeborg is located at three different sites: Manor House (Hovedgården) and the Paper Mill Museum (Papirmuseet) in Silkeborg and Blicheregnen farm in the village of Thorning.
Virklund is a town in Denmark, located about 5 km (3.1 mi) south of Silkeborg, to which it functions as a satellite city. It has a population of 3,747. Virklund is located in Silkeborg Municipality and therefore is part of the Central Denmark Region.
Linå is a village, with a population of 545, in Silkeborg Municipality, Central Denmark Region in Denmark. It is located 10 km east of Silkeborg and 34 km west of Aarhus
