TORONTO --
Researchers have analyzed and re-examined the gut contents of the “Tollund Man,” a bog body from the Early Iron Age in Denmark, in an effort to better understand life and death during that period.
“Bog body” is the colloquial term for people whose remains are mummified by acidic peat bogs, leaving behind preserved skin, hair, nails and sometimes internal organs like intestines.
Some bog bodies may have been individuals who fell in accidentally, while others may have been intentionally placed there through punishment, murder or ritual human sacrifice. During the Danish Early Iron Age -- 500 BC to 200 AD -- peat bogs were used for practical purposes but also for rituals where objects would be deposited in them.