Across the ages
Around 2,000 mummified remains and skeletons have been found in
peatlands across northern Europe. Many of these people died between
400 B.C. and A.D. 400, but the oldest known bog body is Denmark’s
Koelbjerg Man, a 25-year old who died around 8000 B.C.
Remains found
Bog mummy
Bog skeleton
Peatland
ICELAND
Norwegian
Sea
FINLAND
SWEDEN
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
NORWAY
ESTONIA
SCOTLAND
North
Sea
LATVIA
Bocksten
Man
DENMARK
N. IRELAND
Tollund Man
Grauballe Man
LITHUANIA
Alken Enge
UNITED
KINGDOM
Koelbjerg
Man
IRELAND
Windeby I
NETH.
POLAND
ENGLAND
WALES
GERMANY
CZECHIA
EUROPE
200 mi
FRANCE
200 km
Katie Armstrong, NGM Staff. Sources: Van Beek and others, Bogs, bones and bodies: the
deposition of human remains in northern European mires (9000 BC–AD 1900), Antiquity,
2023; Tanneburger and others, The peatland map of Europe, Mires and Peat, 2017
Across the ages
Around 2,000 mummified remains
and skeletons have been found in
peatlands across northern Europe.
Many of these people died between
400 B.C. and A.D. 400, but the oldest known bog body is Denmark’s
Koelbjerg Man, a 25-year old who
died around 8000 B.C.
Remains found
Bog skeleton
Bog mummy
Peatland
Norwegian
Sea
ICELAND
FINLAND
SWEDEN
NORWAY
ESTONIA
SCOT.
North
Sea
DENMARK
N. IRE.
LITH.
Tollund
Man
Grauballe
Man
U.K.
NETH.
Koelbjerg
Man
IRE.
ENG.
POLAND
WALES
GERMANY
EUROPE
200 mi
200 km
Katie Armstrong, NGM Staff
Sources: Van Beek and others, Bogs, bones
and bodies: the deposition of human
remains in northern European mires
(9000 BC–AD 1900), Antiquity, 2023;
Tanneburger and others, The peatland
map of Europe, Mires and Peat, 2017