episode description
Many scientists believe sacrifice was the cause of Tollund Man’s death - but seasoned homicide detective Rod Demery isn’t so sure. Unearthed from a Danish bog almost 70 years ago, this two thousand years old, Early Iron Age victim is so well-preserved that he seems to be peacefully sleeping. Rod and forensic scientist Turi King cast fresh eyes on the evidence, examining theories that the victim could instead have been killed as punishment for wrong-doing, or as a feared outsider, or as a hostage in a tribal dispute. Turi examines the victim’s remains and CT scans of his neck to discover if he was hanged or garotted, while Rod’s visit to the crime scene, and the rope around the victim’s neck, offer him comparisons with modern murders, challenging archeologists’ long-held beliefs about this death. The team look for answers within new isotope analysis revealing the victim’s movements, but the key to the murderer’s identity may lie in Roman sources written a century after Tollund man died.
