The Elling Woman is a bog body found in 1938 west of Silkeborg, Denmark. The Tollund Man was discovered about 60 meters (200 feet) away from the Elling Woman, twelve years after her discovery. In P. V. Glob's book The Bog People, which was published in 1965, the Elling Woman was incorrectly described as a man.

Discovery

The body, later called the Elling Woman, was found by a local farmer named Jens Zakariasson. At first, he thought the remains were from a drowned animal. The body was covered with a sheepskin cape and a leather cloak tied around her legs. The woman's face was not well preserved, and no organs were found inside the body.

Condition

The Elling Woman was found as a dark, leathery body, similar to others discovered in peat bogs. These environments have low oxygen, cool temperatures, and acidic water from sphagnum moss, which slows decay and tans the skin like leather. When she was removed from the bog in 1938, her soft tissues were still flexible, and her limbs kept much of their shape. Her long hair, about 90 cm (35 in) long, was preserved in excellent condition and still showed the intricate braid she wore when she died.

Her face was already damaged when discovered, and no internal organs remained. Peat bogs break down soft tissues and bones but protect collagen in skin and hair, leading to uneven preservation. This process explains why her outer body and clothing survived, but most internal parts did not. After being removed from the bog, her body dried over time because conservation methods for peat-preserved remains were not well developed in the 1930s. By the 1970s, when she was studied at the Silkeborg Museum, her skin had hardened and formed deep folds on her limbs and torso. Despite this, her overall shape and many surface details remained clear enough for scientific study.

X-rays taken in 1976 and 1978 showed her bones had lost many minerals, a normal effect of long-term exposure to acidic peat water. This was first mistaken for a disease called osteoporosis, but the images proved the bone changes were caused by the environment, not illness. Enough of her skeleton remained to confirm she was female and about 25 years old when she died.

Several parts of her body are well preserved. Sharp marks on her neck match a leather strap found with her, suggesting she may have died from hanging or strangulation. Her limbs and back still show fine skin textures, including visible hair follicles. The sheepskin cape and leather items found with her have clear stitching, seams, and reinforced edges, providing information about Iron Age clothing techniques. These methods are similar to those used for the Tollund Man, discovered about 60 m (200 ft) away from her site.

Date

Radiocarbon dating shows that the Elling Woman lived during the early Pre-Roman Iron Age on the Jutland peninsula in Denmark. A C-14 test on organic material found her age to be about 210 BCE, with a range of about 70 years before or after that date. This places her burial in the third or early second century BCE, roughly 2,200 years ago.

Examinations in 1976 and 1978 at the Silkeborg Museum in Silkeborg confirmed that her braid, sheepskin cape, and leather bindings match other Iron Age items found in Jutland.

Her date also matches the time period of the nearby Tollund Man, who was discovered about 60 meters (200 feet) away and dated to the same general Iron Age era.

Together, the radiocarbon results and archaeological findings place the Elling Woman in a well-documented period of Iron Age bog burials in central Denmark.

Examination

The Elling Woman was probably hanged, similar to the Tollund Man. It was hard to tell her sex at first if her hair had not been kept, but X-rays of her pelvis showed she was female.