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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.
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