The Tollund Man’s Big Toe

A body discovered in a Danish bog in 1950 came to be known as the Tollund Man. He was in outstanding shape considering his age—roughly 2,400 years—especially the head, which still had hair and beard stubble evident. The head was saved, but the rest of the corpse was left behind because extracting the body from the bog intact was a challenge that scientists weren't up to 70 years ago. So, if you ever visit the Silkeborg Museum and witness the Tollund Man, be aware that the body is a reproduction while the head is the real deal.

What transpired to the genuine body, then? It was dug out of the bog as carefully as possible, autopsied, and split up into smaller parts that were distributed for studies all around the world. Since the head was unquestionably the collection's focal point, no one paid close attention to the other components, and soon enough, they began to go missing.

In the 1980s, academics proposed that they might want to try putting the body together. Everything was recovered after years of work, with the exception of the internal organs and the right foot's big toe, which was obviously sawed off.

After another several decades, the museum received an intriguing contact from Birte Christensen in 2016, who claimed to be the owner of the Tollund Man's big toe. She was the descendant of the late conservator Brorson Christensen, who assisted in keeping the Tollund Man's head intact. He sliced off the toe to examine various preservation methods while working on the bog body. He simply kept it in a jar of blue liquid on his desk till he passed away because no one ever requested for it back.