Grauballe Man is the world’s best preserved bog body. In fact he is so well preserved that scientists were able to take his fingerprints!
The man lived in Jutland, Denmark, in the Iron Age around 390 BC. He met a violent end by having his throat cut before being deposited in the bog. The wound stretched from ear to ear and could not possibly have been self-inflicted. Scientists believe that his death was a ritual sacrifice and compare it to that of Tollund Man, who was also found in the peat bogs of Jutland and dated to the same period.
Grauballe Man was around 30 years old when he died. The remarkable state of preservation of his body allowed scientists to carry out a wide range of research which showed that he was generally in reasonable health. His hands were smooth and showed no show evidence of hard work, though his teeth and jaws indicated that he had suffered from “periods of starvation or a poor state of health during his early childhood”. His feet and hands were so well preserved that scientists were able to take his fingerprints.
Material preserved in his digestive tract revealed that his last meal was a kind of porridge which contained grain and a wide range of locally-foraged plant material such as wild grasses and seeds. Archaeologists have suggested that this variety may have been symbolic and that, combined with the nature of his death and deposition in the bog, provides evidence of a ritual act. His death was caused by a single wide cut from ear to ear, severing his trachea and oesophagus.
The bog body is on display at the Moesgaard Museum near Aarhus.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grauballe_Man
https://www.moesgaardmuseum.dk/en/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/iron-age-exhibition/grauballe-man
