Elling Woman
Elling Woman | |
|---|---|
Upper body of the Elling Woman | |
| Born | 375–175 BCE |
| Died | c. 350–150 BCE (aged 25) |
| Cause of death | Hanging (presumably ritual sacrifice) |
| Body discovered | 1938 Silkeborg, Denmark |
The Elling Woman is a bog body discovered in 1938 west of Silkeborg, Denmark. The Tollund Man was later discovered just c. 60 m (200 ft) away, twelve years after the Elling Woman's discovery.[1] The Elling Woman was mistakenly described as a man in P. V. Glob's book The Bog People, when it was published in 1965.[2]
Discovery
Later known as the Elling Woman, the body was discovered by a local farmer, Jens Zakariasson, who at first believed that the remains were of a drowned animal. The body was wrapped in a sheepskin cape with a leather cloak tied around her legs.[3] The face of the woman was poorly preserved, and there were no traces of organs inside the body.[4]
Condition
The Elling Woman is preserved as a dark, leathery body typical of individuals recovered from peat bogs, where low oxygen, cool temperatures, and the acidic water produced by sphagnum slow decay and tan the skin in a manner similar to leather. When she was removed in a block in 1938, her soft tissues were still flexible and her limbs retained much of their shape. Her long hair, measuring approximately 90 cm (35 in), survived in exceptional condition and continued to hold the form of the elaborate braid she wore at the time of death.[4]
Her face was already poorly preserved when discovered, and none of her internal organs had survived. Bog environments dissolve soft tissues and the mineral content of bone while stabilizing collagen in skin and hair, creating the selective pattern of preservation seen in many bog bodies.[4] This chemical process explains why the outer surfaces of her body and her clothing survived while most internal structures did not. Her condition changed significantly after excavation. Long term conservation methods for peat-preserved human remains were not yet established in the 1930s, and the body gradually dried once removed from the bog. By the time of detailed examinations at the Silkeborg Museum in the 1970s, the skin had tightened and hardened, producing deeper folds along the limbs and torso. Although the body had become more rigid, the overall outline and many surface details remained intact enough for forensic study.[5]
Radiographs taken in 1976 and 1978 showed that the bones had undergone extensive demineralization, which is a normal effect of long term exposure to acidic peat water and was initially mistaken for osteoporosis. The imaging clarified that the loss of bone mineral was environmental rather than a sign of disease in life. Enough skeletal structure survived to confirm that she was female and that the age estimate of about 25 years was accurate.[4]
Several features remain exceptionally well preserved. The ligature marks on her neck are sharply defined and match the leather thong recovered with the body, supporting the conclusion that she died by hanging or strangulation.[3] The skin of her limbs and back retains fine surface texture, including visible hair follicles. The sheepskin cape and leather bindings found with her preserve stitching, seams, and reinforced edges, offering insight into Iron Age textile and hide working techniques that closely parallel those seen on the Tollund Man, discovered approximately 60 m (200 ft) from the site.[6]
Date
Radiocarbon dating places the Elling Woman in the early Pre-Roman Iron Age on the Jutland peninsula of Denmark. A C-14 test on organic material produced a date of about 210 BCE, with an uncertainty of plus or minus 70 years.[4] This places her deposition in the third or early second century BCE, roughly twenty-two hundred years ago.
Further support comes from examinations in 1976 and 1978 at the Silkeborg Museum in Silkeborg, which showed that her braid, sheepskin cape, and leather bindings match other Iron Age finds from Jutland.[5]
Her date also aligns with that of the nearby Tollund Man, found about 60 m (200 ft) away and dated to the same general Iron Age period.[6]
Overall, the radiocarbon results and supporting archaeological evidence place the Elling Woman within a well documented phase of Iron Age bog deposition in central Denmark.[6]
Examination
The Elling Woman is believed to have been hanged, like the Tollund Man. It also initially might have been impossible to tell the sex of her body if her hair had not been preserved, although X rays taken of her pelvis proved she was female.
See also
References
- ^ Archaeological Institute of America: Violence in the Bogs. Archaeology.org. Retrieved on 15 September 2011.
- ^ Glob, Peter V. The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved, Trans. Rupert Bruce-Mitford. Ithaca, New York: Faber and Faber Limited, 1969. Print.
- ^ a b Vandkilde, Helle (2003). "Tollund Man". In Bogucki, Crabtree (ed.). Ancient Europe 8000 B.C. – A.D. 1000: Encyclopedia of the Barbarian World. Vol. 1. London: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 27.
- ^ a b c d e Gill-Robinson, Heather (2005). The Iron Age Bog Bodies of the Archäologische Landesmuseum Schloss Gottorf. p. 63.
- ^ a b Silkeborg Museum (2004). "Elling Woman". Denmark. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
- ^ a b c Archaeological Institute of America. "Violence in the Bogs". Retrieved 15 September 2011.