Bocksten Man
The Bocksten Man is the name given to the remains of a man of the medieval era, which were found in a bog in Varberg Municipality, Sweden. It is one of the best-preserved finds in Europe from that era and is exhibited at the Halland Museum of Cultural History. The man had been killed and impaled to the bottom of a lake which later became a bog. The bog where the body was found lies in Rolfstorp in Halland County, about east of Varberg on the west coast of Sweden, close to the most important medieval road in the area: the Via Regia. In 2006 a reconstruction of the man was made, showing what he may have looked like in life, which was subsequently displayed in the museum alongside the original skeleton.
Discovery
In the 1880s, a farm called "Bocksten" was established near a bog. The bog was then regularly drained, and a harrow was used to gather peat. The farm owner Albert Johansson had previously found a leather shoe in the wetland and gave it to the Varberg County Museum. A shoe sole was found in the bog in the summer of 1934. The body was found by Albert Johansson's son Thure G. Johansson while gathering peat on 22 June 1936. His harrow apparently caught on sackcloth. On examination, Johansson saw parts of a skeleton. The next day, Johansson and his father contacted the local police and a doctor. On investigation, they realized it was too old to be of criminal interest.Johan Albert Sandklef, director of Varberg County Museum, took charge, inviting others — among them naturalist and geologist Lennart von Post, professor at Stockholm University. The group visited on 24June. They measured and photographed the find before excavating it. The upper parts of the man had passed through the harrow and were badly damaged while the lower parts were intact.
The Swedish Museum of National Antiquities was consulted after the midsummer weekend to assist with conservation. Curator Gillis Olson and textile expert, historian and archaeologist Agnes Teresa Geijer took part in the conservation and evaluation. They came to Varberg on 9July, assisting Sandkelf in the documentation and giving conservation advice. The Bocksten Man has been part of the museum's exhibition since 1937.
Description
The man was tall and of slender build. There is an injury covering about on the right side of the cranium. Of the inner organs, parts of the lungs, liver, and brain as well as cartilage are preserved. The man had been impaled to the lake bed with two poles; one of oak that hit his heart and one of beech which went through his back.The tunic is among the best-preserved medieval tunics in Europe and is made of woollen fabric. He was wearing a gugel hood with a long and wide liripipe. On his upper body, he wore a shirt and a cloak, while his legs were covered by hosiery. Apart from the clothing he had a fabric bag, foot coverings, leather shoes, a belt, a leather sheath, and two knives. The leather sheath was wide and long, composed of three layers with a combined saltire and St George's Cross carved on the outer layer. On the inner layer, a similar pattern was carved, though this time a pole was added to the symbol.
Interpretations
Several people have evaluated the finding, among them museum director Johan Albert Sandklef, Gunnel Margareta Nockert of Uppsala University, and historian Owe Wennerholm. All three have written books regarding their findings.Date
The find is generally dated to the 14th century. The dating is based on the clothing, especially the type of hood he wore. Albert Sandklef specified the date of the find as the 1360s, while Margareta Nockert suggests the 1330s. Owe Wennerholm argues that the hood he wore was used over a much larger time frame and only limits the date of the find to between 1250 and 1520. He does however put forward the hypothesis that the man might be Simon Gudmundi, a 15th-century priest, known to have died in 1491.A piece of the cloth was radiocarbon dated in the late 1980s. It gave as a result a 68 percent likelihood of a date between 1290 and 1410 and a 95 percent likelihood of a date between 1290 and 1430. Some uncertainties do however arise as the conservation process might have affected the result. The fact that the find came from a bog is also of concern, as bog finds are known to be hard to date.