The Man of Damendorf was discovered in the Seemoor, a peat bog located about east of the village of Damendorf and roughly northwest of Groß Wittensee, within the landscape of the Hüttener Berge. The bog covers around and was historically used for cutting
peat as a household fuel. Today it is a protected wetland and designated nature experience area, traversed by a circular trail of about . On 28 May 1900, two peat cutters working on land owned by a local innkeeper named Hagge uncovered fragments of woollen clothing at a depth of roughly . As they continued digging, they exposed the body of a man preserved in the bog. The workers reported the find to the local headman, Sye, who passed the information to the district administrator, Freiherr von der Reck. Von der Reck immediately telegraphed the discovery to the Museum vaterländischer Alterthümer in Kiel. In response, museum curator Dr. Splieth and von der Reck travelled to Damendorf to examine and secure the remains. After inspecting the find, they arranged to purchase it from Hagge. The body was carefully packed, transported to the museum, and arrived in Kiel on 1 June 1900, where conservators began the first stages of preservation. Prior to the discovery of the Damendorf Man, the remains of what are
believed to be a woman were found in the same bog in 1884. Only the clothing of the corpse remains. Another body, that of a girl dating to , was discovered in 1934. ==Display and examination==