Ancient Human Remains- Historical Investigation

1. Ancient Human Remains- Historical Investigation Bog Bodies

2. Timeline of Preserved Bodies • Lindow man was discovered in North-west England in Lindow Moss on the 1st of August,1984. • Windeby girl was discovered in Northern Germany near Windeby in 1952. • Gruaballe Man was discovered near Gruaballe, Denmark on April 26th, 1952. • The Ice Man was found in the Schnalstl Glacier in the Oztal Alps on September of 1991. • Tollund Man was found in peat bog in Denmark • in 1950.

3. Causes of preservation • The bodies in the timeline and other bodies were preserved by things such as: • Peat bog- which is when a wetland are has dried up over a period of time into a mud like state and anything in the bog does not oxidise and therefore is perfectly preserved.

4. Ice- this freezes anything and does not let anything oxidise which means bodies are perfectly preserved.

5. Tollund Man and Yde Girl • Tollond man was found on the 8th of May in 1950.He was found in Bjaeldskor Dale peat bog which is 12 kilometres west of Silkeborg, Denmark. • Yde girl was found on the 12th of May, 1897.She was found in peat bog near the village of Yde, Netherlands.

6. Picture showing location of Yde girl.

7. Tollund man was discovered because of two men, Viggo and Emil Højgaard from the small village of Tollund were cutting peat for their stove in the Bjældskor Dale peat bog when they discovered a face in the bog and reported it to police. • Yde girl was discovered by workers excavating in the bog where she was found.

8. Both Tollund man and Yde girl were preserved in peat bog which does not oxidize so therefore keeps perfectly preserved.

9. Causes of Death • Tollund man’s death was caused by strangulation of a noose around his head which suggests he was hung. • Yde girl death was caused by strangulation of a belt around her neck which suggests she was executed or sacrificed.

10. The Role that Science • Science played a very large role in the analysis and preservation of Tollund man. Scientists found a layer of moss underneath Tollund man which they knew formed in Danish peat bogs in the early iron age, so they found that he had been placed in the peat bog around 2000 years ago. But then a radio-carbon test on Tollund mans hair indicated that he died around 400 B.C. Scientists also found that by looking at his teeth he was not elderly but was over 20 years old because his wisdom teeth had came through.

11. They also preserved Tollund mans body by replacing bog water in him with bees wax as it had a low viscosity and they found that it preserved the Vikings for over a thousand years. • Carbon 14 tests have concluded that Yde girl had died between 54 B.C and 128 A.D. They also concluded that she was at the age of 16 at her death.

12. Historians have concluded that Tollund man was 161 centimetres (5.3ft) which was relatively short for that time period .He wore a pointed skin cap fastened securely under his chin by a hide thong. He had basically no hair on his head but a little bit of hair on his chin which suggested that he hadn’t shaven on the day of his death. Other then the pointed skin cap he was wearing, Tollund man was naked.

13. Historians have concluded that Yde girl was approximately 4.5 feet tall, had reddish hair and was wearing a cloak at the time of her death. Picture of Tollund mans body

14. Reconstruction of Yde girl Picture of Yde girl

15. Similarities • Tollund man and Yde girl have many similarities. For example, both of the bodies had been preserved in bog which show they may have the same religion, they have both been hung with a noose around their neck which shows that they had both been sacrifices or had been murdered. This in conclusion shows that Yde girl and Tollund man had many similarities.