Elling Woman

The Elling Woman is a bog body of a woman who died during the Pre-Roman Iron Age and whose remains were discovered in 1938 in the Bjældskovdal bog, west of Silkeborg in central Jutland, Denmark. Radiocarbon dating places her death around 210 BCE, with an uncertainty of about 70 years, and examination of the remains indicates that she was approximately 25 years old when she died.

The Elling Woman was found wrapped in a sheepskin cape, with a separate animal hide tied around her legs and a leather thong around her neck. Her approximately -long hair was exceptionally well preserved and retained an elaborate braided hairstyle.

Initially identified as male, the body was recognized as female after radiographic examinations in 1976 and 1978.

The body lay approximately below the surface of the bog in what archaeologists later identified as an earlier peat cutting.

Nearly 40 years after the discovery, the body was re-examined at the Silkeborg Museum. During examinations in 1976 and 1978, X-ray images of the pelvis showed that the individual was female, overturning the earlier identification.

Her hair measured approximately in length.

Condition The Elling Woman is preserved as a dark, leathery body typical of individuals recovered from peat bogs, where low oxygen, cool temperatures, and the acidic water produced by sphagnum slow decay and tan the skin in a manner similar to leather. When she was removed in a block in 1938, her soft tissues were still flexible and her limbs retained much of their shape. Her long hair, measuring approximately , survived in exceptional condition and continued to hold the form of the elaborate braid she wore at the time of death.

Her face was already poorly preserved when discovered, and none of her internal organs had survived. Bog environments dissolve soft tissues and the mineral content of bone while stabilizing collagen in skin and hair, creating the selective pattern of preservation seen in many bog bodies.

Several features remain exceptionally well preserved. The ligature marks on her neck are sharply defined and match the leather thong recovered with the body, supporting the conclusion that she died by hanging or strangulation.

Scientific study Radiographs taken in 1976 and 1978 showed that the bones had undergone extensive demineralization, which is a normal effect of long term exposure to acidic peat water and was initially mistaken for osteoporosis. The imaging clarified that the loss of bone mineral was environmental rather than a sign of disease in life. Enough skeletal structure survived to confirm that she was female and that the age estimate of about 25 years was accurate.

Radiocarbon dating places the Elling Woman in the early Pre-Roman Iron Age on the Jutland peninsula of Denmark. A C-14 test on organic material produced a date of about 210 BCE, with an uncertainty of plus or minus 70 years. This places her deposition in the third or early second century BCE, roughly twenty-two hundred years ago.

Further support comes from examinations in 1976 and 1978 at the Silkeborg Museum in Silkeborg, which showed that her braid, sheepskin cape, and leather bindings match other Iron Age finds from Jutland.

Her date also aligns with that of the nearby Tollund Man, found about away and dated to the same general Iron Age period.

Overall, the radiocarbon results and supporting archaeological evidence place the Elling Woman within a well documented phase of Iron Age bog deposition in central Denmark.

Cause of death The Elling Woman is believed to have been hanged, like the Tollund Man.