• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Man's corpse so miraculously well preserved his guts reveal alarming last meal from 2,400 years ago

Home> News> World News

Published 16:50 27 Jul 2024 GMT+1

Man's corpse so miraculously well preserved his guts reveal alarming last meal from 2,400 years ago

Scientists analyzed the perfectly preserved contents of the Tollund Man's stomach in 2021.

Ella Scott

Ella Scott

Featured Image Credit: Tim Graham / Contributor/Getty / Silkeborg Museum

Topics: History, Science, Food and Drink

Ella Scott
Ella Scott

Advert

Advert

Advert

Experts once managed to deduce a mummified man’s last meal - which was thought to have been consumed up to 24 hours before his death 2,400 years ago.

In 1950, peat cutters discovered a mysterious body preserved in a bog situated around 12km west of Silkeborg, Denmark.

At the time, the pair believed that the body - known affectionately as Tollund Man - was a recent murder victim due to how well-preserved his corpse was.

Advert

Radiocarbon dating, however, indicated that Tollund Man was an ancient artefact.

Tollund Man is thought to have lives in fifth century BC. (Silkeborg Museum)
Tollund Man is thought to have lives in fifth century BC. (Silkeborg Museum)

The naturally mummified corpse was that of a five-foot-three man who lived during the early part of the Iron Age around the fifth century BC.

Tollund Man was discovered with a noose around his neck and is hypothesised as being a victim of a sacrificial killing.

Advert

Scientists confirmed via autopsy that the man had died by hanging and that the acidity of the peat bog had worked to perfectly preserve his bones.

Tollund Man’s brain and stomach had also been well-protected and in 2021, a group of scientists re-examined the latter to find out exactly what food he’d consumed before his death.

The results of the study were published online by Cambridge University Press in July 2021.

Nina H. Nielsen, head of research at Denmark’s Silkeborg Museum, led the charge on the ‘most comprehensive gut analysis of a bog body ever conducted’, according to National Geographic.

Advert

The paper, titled The Last Meal of Tollund Man, explained how the group had used a new analysis of plant macrofossils, pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, steroid markers and proteins found in the corpse’s gut to figure out what he’d consumed 12-24 hours before he was killed.

Food like barley, wild buckwheat and flax were found in the man's stomach. (Silkeborg Museum)
Food like barley, wild buckwheat and flax were found in the man's stomach. (Silkeborg Museum)

“You get the idea of the average diet, but this study can actually tell you what he ate on the day he died,” said Nielsen. “That’s what makes it really interesting—you get really close to how it all happened.”

According to the study, Tollund Man ate porridge containing barley and flax as well as some fish before he died.

Advert

“Proteins and eggs from intestinal worms indicate that he was infected with parasites," the study adds.

Interestingly, experts discovered the presence of the pale persicaria seeds which were usually removed from the grain as threshing waste.

The inclusion of threshing waste could ‘relate to ritual practices’, claims the study.

So while the idea that Tollund Man was a sacrificial victim is still a theory, it’s still a definite possibility due to the food found in his stomach.

Advert

Following the study, Nielsen’s team claimed that the re-analysis illustrated that advancing technology can ‘throw fresh light on old questions’.

They added that this study would help ‘contribute to understanding life and death in the Danish Early Iron Age.’

Choose your content:

25 mins ago
an hour ago
2 hours ago
  • 25 mins ago

    Entire band mysteriously vanishes after posting chilling video on Instagram

    Members of the Los Juniors de Monterrey band vanished in Mexico without a trace after playing a Father's Day concert

    News
  • an hour ago

    Donald Trump launches scathing attack after new poll showed what US really thinks of him 5 months into presidency

    Donald Trump has taken to Truth Social to dub the latest opinion poll as 'fake'

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Lottery winner who won $65,000,000 has made one crucial mistake that could cost them entire fortune

    The winner numbers were pulled last week and the jackpot is yet to be claimed

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Donald Trump's 'doomsday plane' explained as it makes 'highly unusual' flight amid terrifying warning

    The aircraft is used by the Air Force and has a lofty role to play in the event of a nuclear catastrophe

    News
  • Scientists reveal the ‘world’s healthiest meal’ and it might surprise you
  • Scientists reveal the 'real reason' why people have crooked teeth and why that wasn't always the case
  • Surprising meal that has been on US Senate menu for over 120 years for bizarre reason
  • Five Guys finally explains why it charges so much as customers slam 'out of control' prices of one meal