The Elling Woman is a
bog body
A bog body is a human cadaver that has been naturally mummified in a peat bog. Such bodies, sometimes known as bog people, are both geographically and chronologically widespread, having been dated to between 8000 BC and the Second World War. Fi ...
discovered in 1938 west of
Silkeborg
Silkeborg () is a Denmark, Danish town with a population of 52,571 (1 January 2025).[Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...]
. The
Tollund Man
The Tollund Man (died 405–384 BC) is a naturally mummified corpse of a man who lived during the 5th century BC, during the period characterised in Scandinavia as the Pre-Roman Iron Age. He was found in 1950, preserved as a bog body near Sil ...
was later discovered just c. away, twelve years after the Elling Woman's discovery. The Elling Woman was mistakenly described as a man in
P. V. Glob
Peter Vilhelm Glob (20 February 1911 – 20 July 1985), also known as P. V. Glob, was a Denmark, Danish archaeologist.
Glob was most noted for his investigations of Denmark's bog body, bog bodies such as the Tollund Man and Grauballe Man, mummifi ...
's book ''
The Bog People'', when it was published in 1965.
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.
The face of the woman was poorly preserved, and there were no traces of organs inside the body.
Examination
The Elling Woman is believed to have been
hanged
Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...
, like the
Tollund Man
The Tollund Man (died 405–384 BC) is a naturally mummified corpse of a man who lived during the 5th century BC, during the period characterised in Scandinavia as the Pre-Roman Iron Age. He was found in 1950, preserved as a bog body near Sil ...
. The estimated year of death was dated to approximately 280 BCE in the
Nordic Iron Age
Iron Age Scandinavia (or Nordic Iron Age) was the Iron Age, as it unfolded in Scandinavia. It was preceded by the Nordic Bronze Age.
Beginnings
The 6th and 5th centuries BC were a tipping point for exports and imports on the European contine ...
, also around the time of the Tollund Man; however, it is not possible to confirm whether or not they were both killed at exactly the same time. It also initially might have been impossible to tell the sex of her body if her hair had not been preserved, although
X rays
An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...
taken of her pelvis proved she was female.
In 1978, the body was reexamined with
radiographs
Radiography is an imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical ("diagnostic" radiography and "therapeu ...
, from which the sex was determined to be female and the original age-at-death estimate of 25 years was found to be accurate.
This body is often identified by the
braid
A braid (also referred to as a plait; ) is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing three or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair.
The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-strand ...
on her head, which was tied into an elaborate knot.
, which often occurs with bog bodies, was found to be the initial cause of what was first understood as apparent
osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass, micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue leading to more porous bone, and consequent increase in Bone fracture, fracture risk.
It is the most common reason f ...
in the remains.
See also
*
List of bog bodies
This is a list of bog body, bog bodies grouped by location of discovery. Bog bodies, or bog people, are the naturally Mummy, preserved corpses of humans and some animals recovered from peat bogs. The bodies have been most commonly found in the nor ...
References
{{Bog body
1st-millennium BC births
1st-millennium BC deaths
1938 archaeological discoveries
Archaeological discoveries in Denmark
Bog bodies
Deaths by hanging
Prehistory of Denmark