Blurs

In 1950, two brothers cutting peat in a bog near Silkeborg, Denmark, made an extraordinary discovery. At first, they believed they had found the body of someone recently murdered. The man's face was remarkably well preserved. His eyes were closed, his expression peaceful, and around his neck was a leather cord. But this was no modern crime scene. The body was more than 2,000 years old. Known today as the Tollund Man, he is one of the best-preserved human remains ever discovered from prehistoric Europe.  His body survived because of an unusual combination of acidic water, low oxygen and the chemical conditions found inside peat bogs. Yet preservation is only part of the mystery. The question that has fascinated archaeologists for decades is much darker: Why was he killed and placed in the bog? A man frozen in time Tollund Man probably lived during the 4th century BCE, during Europe's Iron Age. When discovered, much of his body was still astonishingly intact. His face retained re...