The clash in the Bronze Age on the banks of the Tollense River in Mecklenburg – Vorpommern is called a battle in the valley of the river Tollense. This is the first known battle in European history. Radiocarbon analysis showed that the battle took place (approximately) between 1300 and 1200 B.C.
Excavation History
In 1996, one of the volunteers involved in the preservation of archaeological sites reported that he had found a human humerus with flint arrowhead stuck in it on the bank of the Tollense during the decline of the river level. In the same year, the first archaeological investigations followed on the site of this find, during which bones of people and animals were discovered. In the years that followed, an ash club, turn hammer-like weapons, bronze tips, remnants of bronze swords, as well as human and horse bones were found.
Since 2007, this territory has been systematically studied under the leadership of the Office of the State Land for Culture and Monument Protection of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Lower Saxon State Land Administration for Culture and Monument Protection, and the University of Greifswald. With the help of divers , the bottom of the Tollense River was examined, as a result of which new human skeletons were found. Archaeologists are expanding the search area, starting from the place of the first discovery, exploring peat deposits one meter deep. The history of changes in the valley of the river Tollenze was studied and the place of passage of the former riverbed was determined. The bones found were examined at the University of Rostock.
Terrain
The battlefield extends over a hundred meters along the river. In this place, Tollense meanders in a relatively narrow valley with wet meadows. Over the past millennia, the flow of the river has changed slightly. In the Bronze Age, the landscape was more open. Human activity has had little impact on this area.
In 2013, using geomagnetic studies, traces of the existing 120-meter bridge or dam across the Tollense valley were discovered. The dam was made of trunks of trees and stones more than five centuries before the battle. Parts of the dam were built or rebuilt around the time of the battle. Perhaps the dam has been used to cross the marshy valley for centuries. The cause of the battle could have been an attempt by a tribe to cross the Tollense, which was hindered by another tribe.
Research results
Studies have shown that bones discovered by the beginning of 2011 belong to at least 83 individuals. By February 2015, this number was brought to 125, based on the number of femoral bones. For the most part, the bones belonged to young men. The potential death toll in the battle is estimated at 750.
On some bones, old, already healed wounds were found, which made it possible to assume that warriors participated in the battle, and not farmers who took up arms of necessity.
Radiocarbon analysis showed that the battle took place (approximately) between 1300 and 1200 B.C.
More than 40 skulls have been found, some bear marks of wounds. In one of them the bronze arrowhead was stuck. Other tips (both bronze and flint), as well as wooden clubs found in this place, suggest that there was a conflict between two warring groups of people. The total number of combatants could reach up to 4 thousand people. A small part of the fighters were riders, as shown by bones found, belonging to at least four horses. In addition, the position of the arrowhead in the first bone found indicates that in this case the infantryman wounded the rider from the bow. The victims, in all likelihood, were thrown into the river by the victors. Since the bones were not laid in anatomical order, they were apparently demolished in the coastal part of the river, where they were covered with a layer of peat and bottom sediments, which contributed to the preservation of part of the remains.
Scientists took DNA samples from the teeth of 20 dead. Genetic analysis of DNA has not yet been completed, but it is already clear that most of the soldiers who died at Tollense were of non-native origin. In one part of the dead, the genes show similarities with modern South Europeans, in another with the population of Scandinavia and Poland.
Studies of isotopes of nitrogen, strontium, oxygen and carbon, conducted by scientists at Aarhus University, showed that the remains belong to two groups of people. Warriors of one group came from another region because they fed on millet, while in the Bronze Age millet was grown mainly in southern Europe, including southern Germany.
In 2010, a golden spiral ring was found on the bank of the Tollense, then in June 2011, they found a similar ring 2.9 centimeters long and weighing less than ten grams. In August of the same year, four bronze spirals were found nearby, typical bronze jewelry, as well as two other twisted spiral rings made of wire four millimeters thick. Using X-ray structural analysis, the material was identified as tin. These are the oldest tin items found in Germany.
Sources:
Thomas Brock: Archäologie des Krieges. Die Schlachtfelder der deutschen Geschichte
Detlef Jantzen, Ute Brinker, Jörg Orschiedt et al .: A Bronze Age battlefield? Weapons and trauma in the Tollense Valley
Detlef Jantzen, Thomas Terberger: Gewaltsamer Tod im Tollensetal vor 3200 Jahren