The Tollund Man: Denmark's remarkable bog mummy

[gmoduk93]

We know how he died! there's a hang man's noose round his neck :P

[Wanda7771]

The scientists says its a sacrifice like its a proven fact. Its not. Could be a lynching or the revenge of an enemy.

[vasemedroserii]

I live near the place where the Tollund Man was found.

[ARCHER684]

Why the hell cant you dumb idiots at YouTube show the full length documentaries

instead of this two minute, or three minute crap !! I really enjoy those documentary things, but when its only two or three minutes worth its not worth my time... Because just as your getting into it,, its over...

[ontbijtkoekreclame]

afraid*

[ontbijtkoekreclame]

I'm scary :4

[lovedeaddollgirl]

that helped me with my homework thnx

[Thedoctor19000]

He must have been a Celt. 

[randypan71]

@Thedoctor19000 germanic tribe from denmark

[COMMUNISTPHILOSOPHY]

where's his mommy and daddy, they should have named him "Pete Marsh"

[sharklova1]

lol alright :/

[lcastillon]

I hope in 2000 years time my hat is still on.

[Dwarfstorm]

It's a part of history of our kind...the proud European heritage...

[sthesailor]

woahhhh cool

[hellokittydimaggio]

umm ya, i use peat on my face.

this is so cool though....

[NgJackal1990]

What? Don't wake up and scare me man! Please sleep tight :-(

[panicatthesierra]

Near Halloween, we watched this in Health class. I was so fascinated with it, we watched "The Perfect Corpse" and it talked about the Tollund Man.

This is one of the main reasons I enjoy forensics & archaeology!

[InkaPeru]

he was buried naked, the bastards.

[dividednation44]

@InkaPeru the poor man was not even buried, he was dumped into a marsh, and those "historians" decided to make it even worse by viewing his dead body in a fucking museum... this is not a way to treat the dead, a bog body should be left where it was found, the dead deserve to rest in peace, not carried around and stored in a fucking refigerator.

[InkaPeru]

@dividednation44 museums are important places for people to learn about past civilizations, how else do you expect people to respect archeological sites if little importance is given to historical evidence. but I do agree with you that respect for the dead should be also a priority.

[dividednation44]

@InkaPeru historical evidence should not be a dead body those bastards put him in a fucking box so a bunch of excited geeks could watch somebody that died hundreds of years ago, they should return this poor man to the site he was burid, or bury him in a better place instead of fucking pointing scopes and lazers at him

[2canines]

if we are going to speculate, he can very well have been a captured enemy leader sacrificed to show the gods how capable thy where and also a gift to the gods.

that would have been a potent moral booster for the tribe and the opposite for the enemy tribe.

[spaceandpeace]

i'm learning about this in history

[Torchwoodandwesterns]

i have to research this shit for history homework !

[chvhch]

Why does it say first science???this is my history homework

[SELENAGOMEZWIZARD2]

Hahaha, while the man was talking, i wouldve laughed and screamed if the tollund man woke up and was like " what the hell? where the hell am i?"

[Adavur]

I find it funny that the speaker says "Jutland, Denmark's main island".

1: It's not an island,

2: The capital of Denmark is in Zealand so I wouldn't call Jutland main :D

[oprahbebo]

@Adavur yes well done! i'm Danish so I found that funny too :)

[OfficialBOOM]

I studied this in my history class at school, I cant remember it well, but I swear the teacher explained he was a slave, and his owner killed him and mummified him, and put him under a house or something... underground?..., and these builders was going to dosomething to the house and found him ...

[floopy312]

an ancient germanic barbarian

[acerb45666555]

its possible he was a slave who hung himself. or a holy man who sacrificed himself for some reason?

[Kennychan222]

He is over 2000!!!

[Sturmtiger100]

What evidence is there exactly that we can know for certain whether these people were actually murdered, lawfully (for their time) executed, or 'religiously' sacrificed???

Why assume anything culturally of these peoples that we wouldn't regard as 'normal' behaviour in the many tribes that still exist in their prehistoric form to this day?

[azmhyr]

They were religiously sacrificed.

Preferrably by hanging.

Some people hanged themselves, as hanging was a shortcut to Valhalla.

[Sturmtiger100]

What evidence is there for it being a religious sacrifice?

Note that State executions of today are highly "ritualistic".

Two ancient cultures that definately did religiously sacrifice people were the Etruscans and the Aztecs, note that such sacrifices were designed for and required a mass audience in order to placate the Gods.

How much of an audience can be expected to travel out into the middle of a bog?

[azmhyr]

Nope, the Celts, and the Germanic people also practiced human sacrifice.

He was found in Denmark, where the Nords dwell. Some of these would hang people for sacrifice to Wotan/Odin.

[Sturmtiger100]

So you say. :)

Hanging I can understand, but why the slashing of the throat and smashing of the skull?

Please give me pointers to the evidence which supports your claims.

The only written evidence I have of Norse ritual sacrifice involves a slave woman being sacrificed in funerary rites, and it is written by an Arab.

I have to wonder if there is some deepset need in us to see our ancestors as being barbaric, as it allows us to feel superior.

[azmhyr]

Well, you don't need to look at them as "barbaric" just because they killed humans and all, that's something that everyone did, even the more "civilized" cultures of that time.

The evidence comes from Roman accounts.

The early germanic people, not just the norse.

[Sturmtiger100]

The sacrifice of self in order to spare others is still celebrated today of course. But "senseless" human sacrifice to appease the Gods is pretty barbaric to most peoples' tastes, even in antiquity.

The Romans never went to Denmark, and despite practising human sacrifice themselves in the form of gladiatorial games (for entertainment as opposed to religious purposes), they used the excuse of human sacrifice by foreign cultures in order to invade and conquer them.

I need material evidence.

[azmhyr]

I quoted the human sacrifices in germanic and celtic cultures.

The norse, being germanic people themselves, propably worshipped similiar gods, and had propably similiar customs than they have today.

Their languages were propably more similiar to eachother aswell.

[fitzyuc]

@Sturmtiger100 if they think that it is the gateway to the world of the gods... then probably a fair few number of people would be prepared to go that far. By fair few I mean perhaps the whole tribe - not many.

[Str8Slj]

well !!!

In islam we already know that all straight peoples like (Prophets or martyrs) worms doesn't eats Their bodies after they die , there are too many straight peoples in christianity died before islam came as new religion from heaven so we believe as muslims that this person was might be (straight man or Prophets or martyrs)on his days

[nickjm007]

Straight man? As in not gay? Or as in not the funny guy?

[soumoleque]

Hahahahaaa! You muslims are incredible! The Tollund prophet! :))

PS: Homosexuality was punishable by death in Germanic law, so there is a good chance that he was gay, actually... :S

[Str8Slj]

The Tollund wasnt prophet Yo Bitch ass

 I see he hight be Incent man Yo Stupid

[cfodk]

Str8Slj - Let me have a puff on whatever you are smoking... lol

[gotgot4242]

Everybody likes the Tollund Man, his peaceful face and fetal position, his immortality

[vatoni12345678]

It's amazing how his face is still in very good shape after 2000 years!!!

[zillertaller]

2400 years

[wtrulz]

i watched a dvd at school about the tollund man/bog bodys it was very interesting and decusting at the same time.

[BoyintheMachine]

There's an interesting case of a bog body, that of a girl between the ages of 14-16 who had her head shaved, was blind-folded, and was strangled. Though the sacrifice theory cannot be ruled out, it's possible she was executed for being a 'witch' or for committing a crime like theivery or adultury. In another case, that of an old woman, the sacrifice theory is ruled out due to her age. (You only offer the best to the gods, not old people.) She shows signs of torture, possible for being a witch.

[BoyintheMachine]

(continued) The Pagan Celts, like many Christians and other people today, believed in the reality of 'witches', people (usualy females) who have magical powers which they use to hurt people. In Celtic society, women were equal to men (even fighting in wars side by side w/ men) and there were just as many female Druids as there were male Druids. The Druids were the elite, the educated upper class, and only a Druid would be worthy of human sacrifice, not an average person.

[BoyintheMachine]

(continued) So the fact that some of the bog bodies do display evidence of them being of the elite, indicates that they were more than likely Druids and could have been sacrificed. Those bodies that do not show such evidence are likely victims of something else, murder or execution for example. Even suicide victims might have been disposed of in the bog as a form of disrespect. (One of the victims died by hanging.)

[BoyintheMachine]

Only the head is genuine. His body was also preserved in the peat but wasn't kept. When his body was found, the head was taken but the body was destroyed. The body that they show with the head is a replica.

[thekidmastergx]

wow I didn't know Tollund man was that famous!

[MermaidPrincessMeg]

yeah... I recently watched a special on the bog bodies they found in Ireland...

You know its almost as if he was made from metal or some such material...

[FUCKYOURGODINTHEASS]

They aired a documentary on PBS last night, it was on NOVA.

[sarahbizarre]

i'm even doing a poem on it

[anafredd]

lol.

yes it helped me with my homework as well :P

[Anoola55]

archaeology knows more such cases. look at this on the other hand - these men were probably burried alive.. as an offering. pretty scary

[BoyintheMachine]

Anoola55: No, these men were not buried alive. In most of the cases the cause of death is obvious. They aren't drowned, they are merely placed in the bog after their death. It's also not just men either. Many female bog bodies have been found. It's also very likely that not all of these deaths were sacrifices. It's likely that many of the bog bodies were actualy murder victims. Others were likely executed criminals or prisoners of war.

[cabooseey]

Cool! were doing this in history

[bodyfit67]

I just discovered this story in National Geo. its the most amazing history reading....so incredibly interesting. Imagine if he could tell a story..

[himynameiskristy1432]

wow! thx for posting this video it helped me with homework! :D

[Yuneekue]

That's so interesting! i remember a poem about the tollund man we learned once when i was in secondary school. His state of preservation is really amazing