Tollense valley battlefield

battle site

Location of the site in Germany

The battlefield of the Tollense valley (German pronunciation: [tʰɔˈlɛnzə]) is a Bronze Age archaeological site in the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at the northern edge of the Mecklenburg Lake District. The site, discovered in 1996 and systematically excavated since 2007, extends along the valley of the small Tollense river, to the east of Weltzin village, on the municipal territories of Burow and Werder.

Thousands of bone fragments belonging to a very large number of persons have been discovered along with further corroborating evidence of battle; current estimates indicate that perhaps 4,000 warriors fought in a battle on the site in the 13th century BC. Since the population density then was about 5 people per square kilometer, this would have been the most significant battle in Bronze Age Central Europe discovered so far. Moreover, the Tollense valley is so far the largest excavated battle site of this age anywhere in the world.^[1]

Discovery and Excavation

The Tollense valley. The find site is near Burow, in the upper half.

In 1996, a voluntary conservationist reported finding a humerus bone with an embedded arrowhead made of flint, which he had discovered from his rubber raft at the Tollense riverside at low water.^[2] Preliminary archaeological excavations were begun in the same year around this site and further human and animal bones were found.^[3] During the following years, a club made of ashwood was discovered as well as a hammer-like weapon made of sloe-wood and more bones.^[4][5]

The Tollense near Burow today

Since 2007, the area is being excavated systematically under direction of the local State Office for Culture and Conservation, the State Office for Conservation of neighbouring Lower Saxony, and the University of Greifswald. Divers of the local Society for Underwater Archaeology carefully frisked the Tollense riverbed and -sides and found more human remains.^[6][7] Since 2009, the MV Ministry of Culture supports research in the area and on the findings, joined since 2010 by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.^[8] The primary focus lies on exploring the extent of the site and the excavation of the main site covered under about 1 m of peat. Until late 2017, 460 sq. m. had been excavated but the whole battlefield is estimated to be at least ten times that size.^[9] Volunteers have been walking the grounds with metal detectors, investigating mainly the dug-out material from the Tollense.^[10] Greifswald's Department of Geography examined the geological development of the valley and determined the river's former course. Laser scanning was used to chart the terrain surface.^[11] The human remains were analysed at Rostock University.

Site

Generally situated in the North German plain 120 km north of Berlin, the site stretches for several hundred meters on both sides of the small river. Here, the Tollense meanders in a comparatively narrow valley between moist meadows and very low hills. During the last millennia, the river's course has been only slight modified. In the Bronze Age, the landscape was relatively open; human influence was small as the population density at that time is estimated to have been only 3 to 5 people per sq. km.^[12][13] "In 2013, geomagnetic surveys revealed evidence of a 120-meter-long bridge or causeway stretching across the valley. Excavated over two dig seasons, the submerged structure turned out to be made of wooden posts and stone. Radiocarbon dating showed that although much of the structure predated the battle by more than 500 years, parts of it may have been built or restored around the time of the battle, suggesting the causeway might have been in continuous use for centuries—a well-known landmark."^[14]

The valley of the Tollense during a winter flood, close to Kessin and Weltzin

Results

Until late 2017, remains of about 140 men had been identified.^[15] Most of these remains were those of young men between the ages of 20 and 40.^[16] Until March 2016, about 10,000 human and almost 1,000 animal bones have been found,^[17] while in March 2018, that number had risen to a total of about 13,000 fragments.^[18] The total number of dead is estimated between circa 750^[19] to more than 1,000^[20]. The total number of fighters might have ranged between 3,000^[21] and more than 5,000^[22], assuming a casualty rate of about 20% to 25%^[23]. At one spot, 1,478 bones were found within just 12 sq. m. - maybe the remnant of a heap of corpses or of a final pocket of resistance.^[24] Radiocarbon dating indicates a timeframe between 1300 and 1200 BC, the Nordic Bronze Age.^[25] As no clear traces of healing have been found on any of the wounds, the whole encounter seems to have taken place in not much more than a day.^[26] 26% of skeletons "show signs of healed traumas from earlier fights, including three skulls with healed fractures", so many trained and experienced warriors seem to have taken part.^[27]

Initially, alternative explanations were considered, too, not least because "[b]efore Tollense, direct evidence of large-scale violence in the Bronze Age was scanty, especially in this region."^[28] However, the location in a swamp and the lack of any ornamentation or pottery made a cemetery unlikely (the locals at the time preferred dry ground). Furthermore, the victims were mostly male and between 20 and 40 years of age, killed by varying weapons and wounds. Therefore mass human sacrifice seemed unlikely, too.^[29][30]

Spears, clubs, swords, knives, sickles and arrows were used. Several of the more than 40 found skulls show signs of battle wounds. A bronze arrowhead was found in one of them.^[31] Until late 2017, about 50 bronze arrowheads had been found. Remnants of the wooden shafts provided a further possibility for dating. More than a third of them were dated to the same time as the bones.^[32] Contrasting such arrowheads with ones made from flint and with wooden clubs, it has been surmised that two differently-equipped groups confronted each other.^[33] Swords have not been found so far, but bones show cutting traces typical for swords.^[34] At least some of the combatants rode into battle as evidenced by horse bones (of at least five specimens) found on site. The arrowhead's position in the initially found humerus bone shows that an archer on foot wounded a horseman.^[35][36]

The fact that almost no material finds were made between the bones except for single arrowheads, suggests that the corpses were robbed after the fight. The victors probably threw the dead into the river, which carried them downstream, given the fact that most remains are no longer in anatomical connection. They were then deposited in a calmer part of the river, covered by turf and thereby partially conserved.^[37]

In 2010, a golden spiral ring was found on the banks of the Tollense; then in June 2011, a similar one, 2.9 cm long and weighing 10 g. The material was identified as tin through X-ray diffraction. These findings are of special importance because of their rarity and the fact that tin was vitally needed for producing bronze.^[38] In fact, these are the oldest known tin items in Germany.^[39] The chronologically closest other find is one from Hallstatt (Austria) - 600 years younger.^[40]

Research on the remains by Aarhus University suggested that the combatants stemmed from two different human populations. Fighters of one of the groups were said to not have come from the nearby area as they had a diet including millet, which was allegedly not widely known in the North at that time. However, this latter claim has been refuted. Paleogenetic and strontium analyses were used to shed further light on the combatants' geographical origin^[41] but revealed no decisive evidence, according to State Archeologist Jantzen^[42] It has been speculated that a better-armed group from the South or West wanted to cross the river on their way north- or eastwards on a strategic, long-established causeway.^[43][44] This road might well have been used for long-distance trade in tin and luxury goods (like e.g. the pearls from the Persian Gulf, found near Halle, or the Mediterranean glass pearls found close to nearby Neustrelitz; both finds from 1200 BC). The battle seems to coincide with a period of heightened militancy 3250 years ago, as metal became increascingly scarce north of the Alps and populations seem to have moved.^[45]

Significance

The responsible State Archeologist Detlef Jantzen claims this to be the oldest archeologically verifiable battlefield in Europe and among the 50 most important find sites worldwide.^[46] He also said: "The Tollense site has a dimension that nobody would have deemed possible for our region." Helle Vandkilde, archeologist at Aarhus University, commented: "Most people thought ancient society was peaceful, and that Bronze Age males were concerned with trading and so on [...] Very few talked about warfare."^[47]

A number of 5,000 combatants implies that they had been gathered, organised, fed, briefed, led into battle. According to the researchers at the site, this would have been an astounding feat for the time, probably enabled by a central government. This would mean that socio-political development in Central Europe was more advanced and more bellicose than previously assumed,^[48] roughly at a time when Egypt and the Hittites concluded their famous peace treaty. "The well-preserved bones and artifacts add detail to this picture of Bronze Age sophistication, pointing to the existence of a trained warrior class and suggesting that people from across Europe joined the bloody fray."

Bibliography

• de:Detlef Jantzen, Ute Brinker, de:Jörg Orschiedt et al.: "A Bronze Age battlefield? Weapons and trauma in the Tollense Valley, north-eastern Germany" (2011). In: Antiquity, vol. 85. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 417-433.
• Detlef Jantzen, de:Thomas Terberger: "Gewaltsamer Tod im Tollensetal vor 3200 Jahren" [Violent death in Tollense Valley 3200 years ago] (2011). In: Archäologie in Deutschland 4, pp. 6-11.
• Thomas Brock (2015): Archäologie des Krieges. Die Schlachtfelder der deutschen Geschichte [Archaeology of War. Battlefields of German History]. Darmstadt: Zabern.
• Beatrix Schmidt (2017): Blutiges Gold. Macht und Gewalt in der Bronzezeit. Begleitheft zur Sonderausstellung des Landesamtes für Kultur und Denkmalpflege [Bloody Gold. Power and Violence in the Bronze Age. Booklet for the Special Exhibition of the State Office for Culture and Conservation]. Schwerin: Landesamt für Kultur und Denkmalpflege Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. --- In German, but contains a large number of photographs and illustrations.

External links

• Bibliography on this topic in the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's online catalogue.
• Andrew Curry (2016): Slaughter at the bridge: Uncovering a colossal Bronze Age battle. Science Magazine.
• Neil Bowdler (2011): Early Bronze Age battle site found on German river bank. BBC.

See also

• Nordic Bronze Age
• Late Bronze Age collapse
• Prehistoric warfare

Roughly contemporaneous finds:

• Nebra sky disk
• Golden hat
• Eberswalde Hoard

References