preserved human remains, grauballe man
...d human sacrifices to celebrate military victories, and to recover from illness, and executed people as punishment for crimes or perceived social imperfections such as homosexuality. Many of those found in the bogs died violent deaths. The Grauballe Man The second unit that is studied in first year is The Grauballe Man at the D/E level. This unit is about "The Grauballe Man" a man who was found in a bog at Grauballe in Denmark. The body was extremely well preserved and scientists were able to find out that the man had been buried 1650 years before. They were also able to tell that his throat had been cut from ear to ear and that his last meal, which he had eaten shortly before his death, was vegetable soup made from seeds found in the Spring. The bog body now known as Grauballe man was found in April 1952, near the village of Grauballe, Denmark. He was discovered by men cutting peat for fuel about three feet below the surface of the ground, and is now housed at the Moesgård Museum of Prehistory in nearby Aarhus. The preservative qualities of the bog water- inhibiting the growth of bacteria, and containing large amounts of organic acids and aldehydes- acts to preserve the soft tissues of a cadaver. Even Grauballe man's hair and fingernails remain intact, his body a bronze-brown color. An examination by the professor of forensic medicine at Aarhus University at the time of his discovery concluded "This most unusually well preserved body has, as a result of the particular composition of the earth in which it has lain, undergone a process of conservation which appears to resemble most closely a tanning. This has made the skin firm and resistant ... and at the same time the bones have been subjected to a decalcification process which has left them soft and capable of being bent and flattened, as has happened, for example with the bones of the head. On the front of the neck was found a large wound streching from ear to ear. It lies high up the throat, and the edges are moderately smooth ... probably caused by several cuts inflicted by a second person." An examination of Grauballe man's hands and fingers- preserved so perfectly that fingerprints could be taken- showed: "... There is nothing unusual about the fingerprints obtained ... The hands of the Grauballe Man showed no sign of hard manual labour.." Radioactive-carbon tests carried out on the body dated Grauballe man at around 55 B.C., making him roughly a contemporary of Julius Caesar. The bog preserves everything that falls into it and preserves them in a special condition – it is ...