The bog where the body was found lies in Rolfstorp in Halland County, about 24 kilometres (15 mi) east of Varberg on the west coast of Sweden, close to the most important medieval road in the area: the Via Regia.

The farm owner Albert Johansson had previously found a leather shoe in the wetland and gave it to the Varberg County Museum.

[citation needed] Johan Albert Sandklef (1893–1990), director of Varberg County Museum, took charge, inviting others — among them naturalist and geologist Lennart von Post (1884–1951), professor at Stockholm University.

[3][4] 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 (1898–1989) took part in the conservation and evaluation.

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.

[6][citation needed] Several people have evaluated the finding, among them museum director Johan Albert Sandklef, Gunnel Margareta Nockert of Uppsala University, and historian Owe Wennerholm.

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.

[citation needed] Based on the teeth, Gunnar Johansson forensic odontologist and department head of the Faculty of Odontology at Karolinska Institute, has concluded that the man was between 25 and 35 years old when he died.

The hood he wore was usually worn by the more prosperous classes of medieval society and it has therefore been suggested that he may have been either a tax collector or a soldier recruiter.

Based on this and a symbol on a shield-shaped pendant, it has been suggested by Owe Wennerholm that the man belonged to the religious order Ordine di Santo Spirito.

[citation needed] Some days after the find was revealed, a local farmer (Karl Andersson) told Albert Sandklef of a legend he had heard as a child.

[9] A hypothesis has been presented that the person was Simon Gudmundi, the dean of the Diocese of Linköping who died on 12 May 1491.