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The Dätgen Man and Iron Age Sacrificial Sites
This post is part of a series on the bog bodies displayed at the Archäologisches Landesmuseum at Schloss Gottorf in Schleswig, Germany. You can read the introductory post here. A History of the Dätgen Man In 1959, a headless body was discovered by peat cutters in a bog near Dätgen, a village in the district…
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The Rendswühren Man
This post is part of a series on the bog bodies displayed at the Archäologisches Landesmuseum at Schloss Gottorf in Schleswig, Germany. You can read the introductory post here. A History of the Rendswühren Man Found in June 1871, the Rendswühren Man marks the oldest date of discovery among the bog bodies in Schloss Gottorf’s…
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The Osterby Head
This post is part of a series on the bog bodies displayed at the Archäologisches Landesmuseum at Schloss Gottorf in Schleswig, Germany. You can read the introductory post here. History of the Osterby Head In May of 1948, a peat cutter named Max Müller working in Köhlmoor near Osterby unearthed a human head wrapped in…
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Bog Bodies at Schloss Gottorf: An Introduction
It could easily be argued that bog bodies tend to capture the public imagination due to the exceptional preservation of their skin; the face of the Tollund Man, for example, is significantly less alarming to look at than even some other types of mummified remains, making him an ideal candidate for display in a museum.…
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The Tollund Man and Elling Woman: A Meeting at Silkeborg Museum
As fond as I am of bog bodies in general, I have something as a soft spot for the Tollund Man. Perhaps it’s that his expression is one of the most peaceful, so well-preserved that he almost appears to be sleeping. Perhaps it’s the role that Danish bog bodies (and Danish archeologist P.V. Glob) played…
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A Visit to Bjældskovdal Peat Bog
Several years ago now, I had a conversation with a Danish friend about how incredibly difficult it can be to locate peat bogs via modern maps. I wondered if perhaps this was because bogs don’t often rank very high as tourist destinations (some of the bogs here in Maine being an exception), but my friend…
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Displaying the Lindow Man: A Case Study
Tucked into a dark corner of Room 50 in the British Museum lies the body of a man who died two thousand years ago. In a hall filled mostly with jewelry and Celtic artwork, he is alarmingly human and well-preserved—the sole glimpse at an Iron Age face in a gallery dedicated to Iron Age Britain…
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Relevance
The following is adapted from a project proposal submitted as part of an assignment for HIST-890 in the fall of 2022. The ongoing preservation of northern European bog bodies is first and foremost relevant to the study of Iron Age Germanic and Celtic cultures. These cultures have left behind scant written histories; scholars are largely…
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Why Bog Bodies?
The study of human remains, regardless of the context in which they’re being studied, is inevitably viewed as morbid by some of those working outside the relevant fields. Whenever I’m asked about my research interests, one of the most frequent follow-up questions is “why?” While bog bodies have received some attention in recent years thanks…
The Bog Body Resource 