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39-476: The Haraldskær Woman's body is on permanent display in a glass-covered sarcophagus inside The Cultural Museum in central Vejle , Denmark. Excavators found the body of the Haraldskær Woman in a supine position in an excellent state of preservation. She was naked and her clothes, consisting of a leather cape and three woollen garments, had been placed on top of her. Hurdles of branches and wooden poles pinned

78-411: A noose made of plaited animal hide was drawn tight around his neck and trailed down his back. Other than these, the body was naked. His hair was cropped so short as to be almost entirely hidden by his cap. There was short stubble (1 mm [0.039 in] in length) on his chin and upper lip, suggesting that he was usually clean-shaven, but had not shaved on the day of his death. The Tollund Man

117-486: A further forensic examination of the Haraldskær Woman. By this time, the body had desiccated, and shrunken, and the skin was leathery, severely wrinkled and folded. A CT-scan of the cranium more accurately determined her age to be about 40 at the time of her death. The body height now measured only 133 cm (4 ft 4 in), but doctors used the original 1835 descriptions to estimate she would have stood about 150 cm (4 ft 11 in). In 2000, Lone Hvass of

156-465: A parody about a mistaken archaeological find. However, by 1841 Blicher seemed to have changed his mind about the Haraldskær Woman's identity when he wrote the poem Dronning Gunhild , a lament for the dead queen in the bog. In 1846, the Danish playwright Jens Christian Hostrup wrote his comedy, A Sparrow Doing a Crane Dance , ( En Spurv i Tranedans ), in which the ghost of Queen Gunnhild gives a magical ring to

195-410: A re-examination in 2002, forensic scientists found further evidence to support these initial findings. Although the cervical vertebrae were undamaged (these vertebrae are often damaged as a result of hanging), radiography showed that the tongue was distended—an indication of death by hanging. The stomach and intestines were examined and tests were carried out on their contents. Scientists identified

234-419: A relatively short stature even for the time. It is likely that the body had shrunk in the bog. On the initial autopsy report in 1950, doctors concluded that Tollund Man died by hanging rather than strangulation . The rope left visible furrows in the skin beneath his chin and at the sides of his neck. There was no mark, however, at the back of the neck where the knot of the noose would have been located. After

273-419: A scheming tailor and makes everyone blind to his actions. Hostrup's play indirectly satirized the theory that the Haraldskær Woman was Queen Gunnhild, and became the first major public endorsement of Worsaae’s hypothesis. 55°42′10″N 9°26′22″E  /  55.70278°N 9.43944°E  / 55.70278; 9.43944 Sarcophagus A sarcophagus ( pl. : sarcophagi or sarcophaguses )

312-505: A series of poems inspired by P. V. Glob 's study of the mummified Iron Age bodies found in Jutland 's peat bogs, finding contemporary political relevance in the relics of the ritualistic killings. Heaney's poem "The Tollund Man", published in his Wintering Out collection, compares the ritual sacrifice to those who died in the sectarian violence of " the Troubles ". Heaney wrote an excerpt from

351-539: A traditional form of sarcophagus. Nearly 140 years after British archaeologist Alexander Rea unearthed a sarcophagus from the hillocks of Pallavaram in Tamil Nadu, an identical artifact dating back by more than 2,000 years has been discovered in the same locality. Phoenician and Paleochristian sarcophagi have been found in the Iberian Peninsula . Tollund Man The Tollund Man (died 405–384 BCE)

390-490: A violent murder or ritualistic sacrifice. These theories are consistent with the body being put into a bog as opposed to burial in dry earth. According to the Jomsvikinga Saga , Harald Bluetooth of Denmark ordered Queen Gunnhild be drowned in a bog. Based upon the belief of her royal personage, King Frederick VI of Denmark-Norway commanded an elaborately carved sarcophagus to hold her body. This careful treatment of

429-545: A year because of his hair being short. The results contained only small differences in strontium isotope proportions, suggesting that he spent his final year in Denmark , and that he may have moved at least 30 kilometres (20 mi) in his last six months. Examinations and X-rays showed that the man's head was undamaged, and his heart, lungs and liver were well preserved. The Silkeborg Museum estimated his age as approximately 40 years and height at 1.61 m (5 ft 3 in),

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468-480: Is a coffin , most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word sarcophagus comes from the Greek σάρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγεῖν phagein meaning "to eat"; hence sarcophagus means "flesh-eating", from the phrase lithos sarkophagos ( λίθος σαρκοφάγος ), "flesh-eating stone". The word also came to refer to a particular kind of limestone that

507-552: Is a naturally mummified corpse of a man who lived during the 5th century BCE, 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 ,

546-484: Is a royal tomb monument of about 360 BC designed for an open-air placing, a grand example of a common Lycian style. Ancient Roman sarcophagi —sometimes metal or plaster as well as limestone —were popular from about the reign of Trajan , and often elaborately carved, until the early Christian burial preference for interment underground, often in a limestone sepulchre , led to their falling out of favor. However, there are many important Early Christian sarcophagi from

585-528: Is difficult for scientists to ascertain a precise number because many of the bodies have been lost or destroyed. Before archaeologists began actively searching for bog bodies, the bodies were discovered mostly during the routine extraction of peat, and then reburied or discarded. After the discovery that the systematic conservation of Iron Age bodies was attributable to the acidic anaerobic environs, major excavations have occurred in Jutland. Other bog bodies recovered on

624-484: Is original. Because conservation techniques for organic material were insufficiently advanced in the early 1950s for the entire body to be preserved, the forensic examiners suggested the head be severed and the rest of the body remain unpreserved. Subsequently, the body was desiccated and the tissue disappeared. In 1987, the Silkeborg Museum reconstructed the body using the skeletal remains as a base. As displayed today,

663-573: Is seen in Klazomenian sarcophagi , produced around the Ionian Greek city of Klazomenai , where most examples were found, between 550 BC (Late Archaic) and 470 BC. They are made of coarse clay in shades of brown to pink. Added to the basin-like main sarcophagus is a broad, rectangular frame, often covered with a white slip and then painted. The huge Lycian Tomb of Payava , now in the British Museum ,

702-609: The Habsburg Imperial Crypt in Vienna , Austria. The term tends to be less often used to describe Medieval, Renaissance, and later examples. In the early modern period , lack of space tended to make sarcophagi impractical in churches, but chest tombs or false sarcophagi, empty and usually bottomless cases placed over an underground burial, became popular in outside locations such as cemeteries and churchyards, especially in Britain in

741-566: The Netherlands , the United Kingdom, Ireland , and especially Denmark. The oldest of these bodies dates to about 8000 BC, although the majority of specimens in Denmark are from the Pre-Roman Iron Age to Roman Iron Age era (about 500 BC to AD 400). As of 2006, more than 700 ancient bodies have been discovered in these sites, although other estimates have placed the number in the thousands. It

780-477: The 18th and 19th centuries, where memorials were mostly not highly decorated and the extra cost of a false sarcophagus over a headstone acted as an indication of social status. Sarcophagi, usually "false", made a return to the cemeteries of America during the last quarter of the 19th century, at which time, according to a New York company which built sarcophagi, "it was decidedly the most prevalent of all memorials in our cemeteries". They continued to be popular into

819-573: The 1950s, at which time the popularity of flat memorials (making for easier grounds maintenance) made them obsolete. Nonetheless, a 1952 catalog from the memorial industry still included eight pages of them, broken down into Georgian and Classical detail, a Gothic and Renaissance adaptation, and a Modern variant. The image shows sarcophagi from the late 19th century located in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The one in

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858-526: The 3rd to 4th centuries. Most Roman examples were designed to be placed against a wall and are decorated on three sides only. Sarcophagi continued to be used in Christian Europe for important figures, especially rulers and leading church figures, and by the High Middle Ages often had a recumbent tomb effigy lying on the lid. More plain sarcophagi were placed in crypts. The most famous examples include

897-567: The Elsinore Museum, Miranda Aldhouse-Green of Cardiff University , and the Department of Forensic Science at the University of Århus performed a re-examination of the Haraldskær Woman. Forensic analysis revealed stomach contents of unhusked millet and blackberries . Her neck had a faint groove as if someone applied a rope for torture or strangulation. The scientists concluded bog acids caused

936-451: The Haraldskær Woman dated from the Iron Age . Later radiocarbon dating confirmed the body was not Gunnhild, but rather a woman of the early Iron Age who lived about 490 BCE. Danish author Steen Steensen Blicher , an amateur archaeologist and one of the first to visit the site, made the first literary reference to the Haraldskær Woman. In 1836, he published his novella Gravhøjen which was

975-458: The Haraldskær Woman's remains explains the excellent state of conservation of the corpse; conversely, Tollund Man , a later discovery, was not properly conserved and most of the body has been lost, leaving only the head as original remains in his display. In 1842, the young Danish archaeologist J. J. A. Worsaae disputed the identification of the Haraldskær Woman with Gunnhild. A pioneer in archaeological stratigraphy , Worsaae presented evidence

1014-462: The Jutland peninsula that have undergone as extensive an analysis as the Haraldskær Woman include Tollund Man , Grauballe Man , Elling Woman , Huldremose Woman and the Borremose Woman . After the discovery of the body, early theories of her identity centred on the persona of Queen Gunnhild of Norway , who lived around 900–1000 CE. Most of the bog bodies recovered indicate the victim died from

1053-516: The back, the Warner Monument created by Alexander Milne Calder (1879), features the spirit or soul of the deceased being released. In the Mekong Delta in southwestern Vietnam, it is common for families to inter their members in sarcophagi near their homes, thus allowing ready access for visits as a part of the indigenous tradition of ancestor worship . In Sulawesi , Indonesia, waruga are

1092-648: The body down. The complete skin envelope and the internal organs were both intact. The body had a lancing wound to the knee joint area, where some object (possibly one of the sharp poles) penetrated to some depth. Her skin was deeply bronzed with a robust skin tone due to tannins in the peat, and all the body joints were preserved with overlying skin in a state as if she had died only recently. Doctors determined she had been about 50 years old when she died and in good health without signs of degenerative diseases (such as arthritis ) which are typically found in human remains of that age. In 1979, doctors at Århus Hospital undertook

1131-463: The man was a ritual sacrifice because of the special treatment of the body: the arranged position of his body, the eyes and mouth being closed and the special meal that had been ingested. However other scholars believe that he was possibly an execution because Germanic tribes buried traitors under piles of sticks. The body is displayed at the Silkeborg Museum in Denmark, although only the head

1170-459: The man's last meal as porridge or gruel made from grains and seeds, both cultivated and wild. Approximately 40 kinds of seeds were identified, but the porridge was primarily composed of four types: barley, flax , false flax ( Camelina sativa ) and knotgrass . From the stage of digestion it was concluded that the man had eaten 12 to 24 hours prior to his death. Porridges were common for people of this time. Because neither meat nor fresh fruit

1209-543: The original head is attached to a replica of the body. In Denmark, more than 500 bog bodies and skeletal remains dating to the Iron Age have been recovered. Specimens from Jutland include the relatively well-preserved Borremose bodies , Huldremose Woman , Grauballe Man on display at Moesgaard Museum near Aarhus , and the similarly conserved Haraldskær Woman . Approximately 30 of these bog bodies are housed and/or displayed in Danish museums for continued research. Nobel Prize -winning Irish poet Seamus Heaney wrote

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1248-560: The peat, needed for the preservation of a human body, is caused by a bryophyte named Sphagnum . Sphagnum fights against degradation due to resistant phenolic compounds contained in their cell walls. Due to the acidity of peat, bones are typically dissolved rather than preserved. Scientists conducted an isotope analysis of the element strontium to measure the exact quantities to get an accurate idea of where he may have travelled before his death. They took samples from his femur and hair to compare. They were only able to measure up to

1287-576: The poem in the Tollund Man exhibit's guest book in 1973. British author Margaret Drabble , in her 1989 novel A Natural Curiosity , uses her characters' obsession with the Tollund Man to provide a satirical criticism of Margaret Thatcher 's modern England. Tollund Man is featured in several songs: " Tollund Man " (1995) by the American folk band The Mountain Goats and " Curse of the Tollund Man " (2004) by

1326-485: The swelling of the knee joint and that the woman was probably already dead before the branches pinned her down. Because of her careful placement, and since cremation was the prevailing mode of interment during that period in Jutland, the examiners guess the Haraldskær Woman was a victim of ritual sacrifice. The principal locations where bog bodies have been discovered are the Northern European countries of Germany ,

1365-471: Was approximately 40 years old. The Tollund Man's last meal consisted of a porridge with barley, flax, wild weed seeds, and some fish. Radiocarbon dating of Tollund Man indicated that he died circa 405–380 BCE. The preserved tender soft tissues of his body are the consequence of the acid in the peat, along with the lack of oxygen underneath the surface and the cold climate of the Nordic countries . The acid in

1404-480: Was found in the last meal, it is suggested that the meal was eaten in winter or early spring when these items were not available. Both feet and the right thumb, being well conserved by the peat, were also preserved in formalin for later examination. In 1976, the Danish police made a fingerprint analysis, making Tollund Man's thumbprint one of the oldest prints on record. The reason for Tollund Man's death has not been definitively determined. Some scholars believe

1443-455: Was found in the same bog. The cause of death has been determined to be by hanging . There is insufficient evidence to determine if the reason for the killing was a ritual sacrifice or a punitive execution. On 8 May 1950, peat cutters Viggo and Emil Hojgaard discovered a corpse in the peat layer of the Bjældskovdal peat bog, 12 km (7.5 mi) west of Silkeborg , Denmark , which

1482-411: Was so well preserved that they at first believed they had discovered a recent murder victim. The Tollund Man lay 60 m (200 ft) away from firm ground, buried under 2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) of peat, his body arranged in a fetal position . He wore a pointed skin cap of sheepskin and wool , fastened under his chin by a hide thong, and a smooth hide belt around his waist. Additionally,

1521-496: Was thought to rapidly facilitate the decomposition of the flesh of corpses contained within it due to the chemical properties of the limestone itself. Sarcophagi were most often designed to remain above ground. The earliest stone sarcophagi were used by Egyptian pharaohs of the 3rd dynasty, which reigned from about 2686 to 2613 BC. The Hagia Triada sarcophagus is a stone sarcophagus elaborately painted in fresco ; one style of later Ancient Greek sarcophagus in painted pottery

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