The wooden figure from Rude Eskildstrup

The 42 cm high wooden figure from Rude Eskildstrup in Central Zealand was found in 1880 standing vertically in a bog. The figure depicts a seated man with a marked face, though with hair and beard. The arms are resting in his lap, where there is a cushion-shaped object. The man may be wearing a robe and on his neck, he wears a necklace composed of multiple, closely spaced profiled rings. This type of composite neck rings known from Swedish society; neck rings of gold, and can be dated to the 5th century AD. In Hannenov on Falster is found a similar articulated collar, which only consists of a single ring. The wooden figure from Rude Eskildstrup is the youngest of the wooden figures we know from the Iron Age bogs and wetlands. Perhaps he represents the end of a sacrificial tradition that started in the late Bronze Age.