Who Was The Tollund Man?

 

 Photo: Silkeborg Museum

The Tollund Man is indeed a find, I’ve heard about since I was in grade school, so it’s a great honor to be allowed to take a sample from him, says Morten Allentoft who is a biologist and researcher in fossil DNA.

Prehistoric finds and DNA

In the spring of 2012 took out center a sample of another prehistoric finds, namely Egtved girl , but unfortunately it was not possible to reconstruct the girl’s DNA. Therefore, Morten Allentoft prepared that the same may be true when it comes to sample from Tollund Man. 

 

 

As we have previously succeeded in piecing together the DNA from prehistoric finds, as it has often been finds from Arctic areas where bones and tissue is well preserved because of the low temperature. Tollund Man, by contrast, remained in a bog, in temperate climates, and then for 50 years in a museum. But we know that it is not impossible, and if the test is positive, it can give us an unimaginable amount of information about our shared genetic history. So I’m very excited about the result.

Where did we come from?

At best, the sample could document the European population Tollund most similar and hence his ancestors were from Central Europe, Scandinavia or something else. Also on the man’s eye and hair color and whether he had inherited diseases are among the information one can get from the DNA.

 

 Photo: Uffe Wilken.

Researchers have previously attempted to analyze samples from other Danish prehistoric people, but without much success. When are now trying again, it is because that in recent years has been a major breakthrough in DNA sequencing. Latest technology means , to permit the identification of even very short fragments of DNA. So even though the genome, ie. the genome, often extremely fragmented in the ancient cells, it can still sometimes possible to piece the whole picture together, provided that there is sufficient DNA preserved.

What sample from Tollund can tell us, we probably only a year’s time.

Danish heritage

It is now an extensive screening process through.And if it turns out that it contains large quantities of authentic fossil DNA will Morten Allentoft generate hundreds of millions of DNA sequences from the sample. Then they worked in computers before the genome can be mapped. It takes obviously his time.

The analysis of the Tollund DNA is part of a major research project, “The Genomic History of Denmark”, which as the name suggests, primarily focusing on Denmark’s past, though included samples from hundreds of skeletons from all over northern Europe. project, led by Professor Willerslev from Centre of GeoGenetics, is a collaboration between the Natural History Museum and the National Museum and is one of Copenhagen’s new star programs for interdisciplinary research.

Contacts and sources:
Rikke Mørch

University of Copenhagen