Tollund Man
Grauballe Man
The bog people are preserved so well due to low temperatures, very little oxygen, and acidic water that maintains the skin and hair (“his rusted hair”), but erodes the bone, as can be seen in their deflated looking bodies.
It has been suggested that the Tollund Man was executed by hanging as a sacrifice to appease the gods, which adds another interesting level to Heaney’s poem about him (“Bridegroom to the goddess”) as a possible commentary on the effects of religious extremism in Ireland.
The Grauballe Man, though executed by a slit throat (“The chin is a visor / raised above the vent / of his slashed throat”) instead of hanging, is also assumed to have been killed as a sacrifice.
Map of Denmark that marks Tollund and Grauballe
