Elling Woman
Elling Woman | |
|---|---|
 Upper body of the Elling Woman | |
| Born | c. 235 BCE |
| Died | c. 210 BCE (aged approximately 25) |
Cause of death | Hanging or strangulation |
Body discovered | 1938 Bjældskovdal, near Silkeborg, Denmark |
| Known for | Bog body |
The Elling Woman is a bog body of a woman who died during the Pre-Roman Iron Age and whose remains were discovered in 1938 in the Bjældskovdal bog, west of Silkeborg in central Jutland, Denmark. Radiocarbon dating places her death around 210 BCE, with an uncertainty of about 70 years, and examination of the remains indicates that she was approximately 25 years old when she died.[1]
The Elling Woman was found wrapped in a sheepskin cape, with a separate animal hide tied around her legs and a leather thong around her neck. Her approximately 90 cm (35 in)-long hair was exceptionally well preserved and retained an elaborate braided hairstyle.[1][2] Marks on her neck and the surviving leather thong indicate that she died by hanging or strangulation.[3]
Initially identified as male, the body was recognized as female after radiographic examinations in 1976 and 1978.[1] The Tollund Man, another Iron Age bog body who also died by hanging, was discovered in 1950 approximately 60 m (200 ft) from where the Elling Woman had been found.[4]
Discovery
The individual who became known as the Elling Woman was discovered in 1938 by local farmer Jens Zakariassen while cutting peat in the Bjældskovdal bog, west of Silkeborg in central Jutland, Denmark.[3][1][5] Initially believing that the remains were those of a drowned animal, he continued digging until it became clear that he had uncovered human remains.[3][5]
The body lay approximately 1.05 m (3.4 ft) below the surface of the bog in what archaeologists later identified as an earlier peat cutting.[5] The discovery was reported to the National Museum of Denmark, where curator H. C. Broholm directed the excavation and recovery of the body for further examination.[5][1]
Initial analysis
Following the body's discovery in 1938, it was initially identified as male. Archaeologist P. V. Glob repeated this identification in his 1965 book The Bog People.[1][6]
Nearly 40 years after the discovery, the body was re-examined at the Silkeborg Museum. During examinations in 1976 and 1978, X-ray images of the pelvis showed that the individual was female, overturning the earlier identification.[1][2] The body subsequently became known as the Elling Woman.
Clothing and associated items
When the Elling Woman was discovered in 1938, she was wrapped in a short cape made from sheepskin. A separate animal hide had been tied around her legs, and a narrow leather thong remained around her neck.[3][1][7]
Her hair measured approximately 90 cm (35 in) in length.[1][2] Part of the hair was braided into a long plait, while the remaining hair was gathered into the braid and tied into a knot at the back of her head.[2][5] More than 2,200 years after her death, the hairstyle remained intact enough to be reconstructed for display at the Silkeborg Museum.[2][8]
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.[1][9]
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.[1][9] 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.[2]
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.[4]
Scientific study
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.[1]
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.[1] 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.[2]
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.[4]
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.[4]
Cause of death
The Elling Woman is believed to have been hanged, like the Tollund Man.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Gill-Robinson, Heather (2005). The Iron Age Bog Bodies of the Archäologische Landesmuseum Schloss Gottorf. p. 63.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Silkeborg Museum (2004). "Elling Woman". Denmark. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
- 1 2 3 4 5 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.
- 1 2 3 4 Archaeological Institute of America. "Violence in the Bogs". Retrieved 15 September 2011.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Fischer, Christian (2017). "Tollund Man – Gift to the Gods?". Kuml: 39–78.
- ↑ Glob, Peter V. The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved, Trans. Rupert Bruce-Mitford. Ithaca, New York: Faber and Faber Limited, 1969. Print.
- ↑ Mannering, Ulla; Possnert, Göran; Heinemeier, Jan; Gleba, Margarita; Frederiksen, Per D. (2010). "Dating Danish textiles and skins from bog finds by means of 14C AMS". Journal of Archaeological Science. 37 (2): 261–268.
- ↑ Giles, Melanie (2016). "Afterword: Strands of Evidence in Later Prehistory". Internet Archaeology (42).
- 1 2 Lynnerup, Niels (2015). "Bog Bodies". The Anatomical Record. 298 (6): 1007–1012. doi:10.1002/ar.23138.