In 1859 a boy found the head of an Iron Age woman in the Stidsholt bog

In 1859, a boy walking along the bogs at Stidsholt in Denmark spotted a woven ribbon sticking out of the ground. Pulling at the ribbon, the lad drew out of the peat layer the mummified head of a red-haired woman. The local doctor established that the head had been severed from the body by two blows. The locks reach 50 cm in length. Radiocarbon dating later showed that the head belongs to the Iron Age, 392-204 BC. In life the woman probably had hair of a different colour, since in the highly acidic environment of a bog, skin and hair change colour. Unfortunately, no excavations were carried out at the spot, and no other remains or traces of the woman, apart from fragments of a chunky knitted sweater, were found.

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

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In 1859 a boy found the head of an Iron Age woman in the Stidsholt bog

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

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