Alexandra

=Case Study - Ancient Human Remains =

- Assessment - Links - Oral Presentations -

Oral Presentation by Alexandra
A short video on the Toullund man []

Topic: Tollund man**__When, Where and how the body was found__** Discovered on the 6th of May 1950, by two brothers and their family cutting peat to sell as fuel at Silkeborg in Denmark. The police were soon called because they thought that the body looked so recent. Soon after the famous expert Professor Peter Glob excavated the man from the marsh.

__**A Description of the body as it is today **__ An examination of the body shows that the tollund man was around 30-40 years old when he died, he was 161cm but shrank a little whilst in the bog, unfortunatly due to peat cutting in the bog his arms and legs have partly scelonatized only his feet and one finger remain untouched from the cutting. But Tollund man is most famous for his incrediably preserved face, he is calm looking almost like he is sleeping and the wrinkles around his eyes can even be seen, he also has red stubble on his chin. The tollund man is naked besides a sheepskincap and a leather belt which he is wearing. The sheepskin cap is pointed and has two leather straps attached near the top of his head and tied just underneath his chin. The belt was tied around the hips of the body and is approximatly 77 cm long.

Pictures of the tollund man as he appears today.

The Tollund man was most likely a sacrifice to the gods, he died because he was hung as a sacrifice, we know this because of the examinations done to the body showing that his injuries related to being hung.
 * __How and why the person died __**


 * __The reasons the body was preserved __**The Tollund man died around 400BC and had been in the bog for around 2400 years. The body was mummifed in the bog due to the acidic water, the acid in the peat also preserved the body along with the lack of oxygen which preserved the soft tissue and stopped decompostition.



**__Scientific methods that have been used to study the remains__**
 * Just bellow the body was a thin layer of moss which scients know that it was formed in this bog in the early iron age meaning that the body must have been placed in the bog during the early iron age at least 2000 years ago.
 * Carbon dating (carbon 14) has also been done to small hairs found on the head of the Tollund man which indicated that he died approximatly 2400 years ago around 400BC.
 * X-rays of his body show that his organs are still intact and preserved well and X-rays of his mouth show that his wisdom teeth have grown showing that he must be over 20 years old.
 * Tests were carried out on his stomach and intestines show what the last meal he ate was made out of. [[image:http://www.tollundman.dk/gifs/ppt31.jpg width="201" height="249" align="center" caption="X- Ray of Tollund mans head"]]

__**What can be learnt about the past from the study of the body**__
 * When Tollund man lived
 * What the diet was like for people who came from this time was like
 * That humans were oftern sacrificed to gods

__**Bibliography**__ Books: Prior, N.T. 1994 Bog Bodies, Allen and Unwin.

Websites:

Deem.M 2009 Tollund man. Retrieved: 8 March 2009 from: []

The Tollund man 2004. Retrieved: 9 March 2009 from: []

Tollund man and Elling woman 2005 Retrieved: 9 March 2009 from:[] video Found at [] by Science TV

__** Usefulness and reliability of sources **__

Usefulness and reliability of source A (short video) Source A is very useful to someone studying the Tollund man as it is a secondary video produced by a science TV program. It was very recently produced and is a public source and details on where and when the Tollund man was found, how the Tollund man was preserved ‘ the peat mummified his face’ and it gives a clear picture on what the Tollund man looks like today. We can also learn the position in which Tollund man was placed and that he was most likely a sacrifice. It also details on the importance of bogs in Iron Age times, and tests that were carried out on the Tollund man. Source A is fairly reliable as it seems to have been produced to educate people on the Tollund man and has no other motive. In the production Historians are featured, this makes the source more reliable. It was produced on a science TV network and the audience is a critical one therefore making the producers use reliable and good information the source therefore making the source more reliable. Found at [] by Science TV Source B bog bodies’ book Source be is very useful to someone studying the Tollund man as it gives information about who was the archeologist that investigated the body and what his findings were. It mentions what his current appearance is like in great detail and where and when he was found. It also details on what the last thing that he ate was, and that he was killed for sacrificial purposes. Source A is a public source and was produced to educate people on bog bodies. Source B is very reliable as it comes from a book with a critical audience forcing the author to use correct and reliable information therefore making the source more reliable. We can also find information found in the book in other sources therefore making it a reliable source. The source seems to have been produced only to educate people on bog bodies and give reasons as to why they have survived this makes the information reliable as there seems to be no ulterior motive in producing the source.