So was this a great pitched battle? What a Warrior's Lost Toolkit Says About the Oldest Known Battle Scrap metal hoards and other types of depositions in Bohemia and southern Germany from the Bronze Age B (c. 1600 cal BC) onwards formed part of a tradition shared with the Carpathian Basin (Kytlicov Reference Kytlicov2007; Dietrich Reference Dietrich2014). The awl, with a birch wood handle (Figure 7.7), is a typical item of personal equipment of the Bronze Age. hasContentIssue false, This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (, Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2019. A few examples are known from large scrap metal hoards of the Middle Bronze Age (c. 16001300 cal BC) in Bohemia (Kibbert Reference Kibbert1984; hovsk Reference hovsk1992; Kytlicov Reference Kytlicov2007). Strontium isotope studies also support a non-local origin of some of the Tollense individuals (Price et al. In summary, it seems very possible that at least some of the combatants originated from southern Germany or Bohemia. Dated to the early thirteenth century BC, the remains Whoever those people were (Urnfielders presumably), it looks like they fell victim to Gothic- and Balto-Slavic invasions. The strange saga of Hvaldimir the Russian spy whale. [10] The total number of dead is estimated between 750,[13] to more than 1,000. Table 1. Has data issue: false But it didnt make a compelling case for the two-group theory. There is also an exclusive Patreon post accessible only by my patrons discussing some interesting aspects of the DNA evidence. [7] Research on 14 skeletons in 2020 confirmed they all hailed from Central Europe and were genetically similar. Scrap metal is sometimes found in later hoards, combined with tools and casting moulds (so-called founders hoards; Hundt Reference Hundt, Lth and Schoknecht1997; Willroth Reference Willroth, Becker, Dunkelmann, Metzner-Nebelsick, Peter-Rcher, Roder and Terzan1998). 7 out of 16 male samples show haplogroup R1b (one of them hg. "corePageComponentGetUserInfoFromSharedSession": true, These bug repellents actually workif you use them correctly, People with ADHD struggle to stay afloat amid drug shortage, A supersonic jet chased a solar eclipse across Africafor science. With milk being a high-energy, relatively uncontaminated drink, its ingestion may have provided greater chances of survival during food shortages or when supplies of drinking water may have been contaminated, explained Burger. Burger, Joachim This is where John Kerrys ancestors first won their Purple Hearts. Men from both sides fell. Photograph and drawing of the assemblage discovered at Weltzin 28; the limited quality of the former is due to the underwater conditions (photography by F. Nagel; drawing by T. Uhlig). Archaeologists have spent decades trying to figure out who fought near Germany's Tollense River some 3,300 years ago. Palaeogenetic and strontium analyses were used to shed further light on the combatants' geographical origin[20] but revealed no decisive evidence, according to State Archeologist Jantzen. Preliminary aDNA results fueled speculation that the massive battle was regional, not local. Remote sleeps: Canada's best wilderness lodges, The destination drawing art lovers to Luxembourgs forests, Explore the world like Indiana Jones at these 11 destinations, Photograh by J. Kruger, University of Greifswald, Colossal gravitational waves found for the first time. > Subscribe Free to Email Digest, After 15 years of carefully observing stars called pulsars throughout our galaxy, the NANOGrav collaboration has heard the perpetual chorus of gravitational waves rippling through. 2019; Terberger et al. The heroes celebrated and the dead mourned. Reference Lidke, Terberger, Jantzen, Meller and Schefzik2015, Reference Lidke, Jantzen, Lorenz, Terberger, Fernndez-Gtz and Roymans2018; Terberger et al. In turn, this further supports the interpretation that the finds in the Tollense Valley testify to a large violent conflict of supra-regional scale. Multiple lines of evidence point to little or no genetic structure in the population from which the Tollense individuals were sampled. September 3, 2020, Bronze Age skull in situ in the Tollense Valley. Render date: 2023-06-30T16:12:59.337Z NOTE. The unusual age and sex profiles, combined with evidence for trauma on some bones indicating the use of close- and long-range weapons, support the hypothesis that the remains are those of combat victims. Figure 5. [15] Radiocarbon dating indicates a timeframe between 1300 and 1200 BC, the Nordic Bronze Age. The new DNA analysis did rule out the possibility of the battle being among family members. [2] However, the location in a swamp and the lack of any ornaments or pottery made a cemetery unlikely (as local preference at the time was for dry ground). Since then, theyve published several papers on the site, including one that confirmed its status as a battlefield through analysis of the lesions on victims bones and another that speculated the conflict started on the causeway. wurden bislang Uberreste von mehr als 130 jungen Mannern entdeckt, die perimortale wie auch verheilte Verletzungen zeigen. They just look like Central and Northern Europeans, he says. Could the ancient Phoenicians have sailed through the Pillars of Hercules, past Jutland and settled a major trading center on the shores of the Baltic? [7] In one spot, 1,478 bones were found within just 12m2 (130sqft), potentially the remnants of a pile of corpses or a final pocket of resistance. The recovery of more than 12000 pieces of human bone from the valley enables the identification of more than 140 individuals. The most important warriors amongst them rode into battle on stocky horses, slashing with their swords and stabbing with their spears. Carbon and Strontium isotope ratios further suggest a mixture of locals and non-locals (Price et al. They moved on, perhaps taking the land and women of the dead men, perhaps simply moving through the landscape to some new location. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Reference Terberger, Jantzen, Krger, Lidke, Hansen and Krause2018). Lost in combat? A scrap metal find from the Bronze Age [2], The fact that almost no material finds were made between the bones except for single arrowheads, suggests that the corpses were robbed after the battle. [2] A quarter 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. Photograph of the battlefield finds layer at site Weltzin 20; for the location of the site, see Figure 1 (photograph by S. Sauer). The key question, therefore, is: are we dealing with an intentionally deposited hoard, or with the lost personal equipment of a warrior, perhaps represented by the human remains found nearby? These boxes are well known for containing personal equipment such as weights and balances, often displaying a combination of chisel and/or blade and awl (Pare Reference Pare1999; Roscio et al. In 2016, we made new finds in the riverbed during diving surveys (Figure 3)the most important being the discovery of a small scrap metal assemblage of 31 bronze objects located above a layer of peat and sand (Figure 4). In fact, the scene as I described it would be argued against by many archaeologists, Im sure, as there is very little agreement about the actual events. Material of objects: 13) copper; 419) bronze (drawing by T. Uhlig). The fact that scrap metal hoards from Bohemia contain objects spanning over 200 years favours the idea that they could be offerings of larger social groups (Vachta Reference Vachta, Hansen, Neumann and Vachta2016). Think again, Dietrich says: This assemblage is no scrap hoard. The time period, site, and likely storage in a container are different enough from the characteristics of known Bronze Age scrap hoards to disqualify their being carried for spiritual reasons, he notes. (2015) reported a low allele frequency (5%) of the rs4988235*T allele in Bronze Age Europeans, similar to that reported here, but a much higher frequency (~25%) among Bronze Age samples from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, indicating a possible steppe origin of lactase persistence. Low Prevalence of Lactase Persistence in Bronze Age Europe Required fields are marked *. NO. 385 RIO SAN GABRIEL BATTLEFIELD - Near this site on January 8, 1847, American forces commanded by Captain Robert F. Stockton, Das These samples might thus show an ancestry and Y-DNA distribution very similar to the Proto-Balto-Slavic-speaking population that will be sampled in the Lusatian culture. A fragment of a socketed lance head and part of an intentionally broken blade are also present (Figures 7.6 & 8.4). "coreDisableSocialShare": false, We have no parallels for that.. These cylinders are made of rolled bronze sheets, and bear two perforations at each end with bronze nails still attached (Figure 9.3); the perforations were made by hammering the nails directly into the sheet. The Weltzin 28 box may therefore represent the first discovery of evidence of this practice found in a non-funerary context. Around 3,300 years ago, a massive battle was raging in the Tollense valley in North-Eastern Germany. Tollense valley battlefield - Wikipedia How can we conclusively interpret the composition of the Weltzin 28 assemblage? Here, the authors present a new assemblage of 31 objects from the site, including three bronze cylinders that may be the fastenings of an organic container. The original arrowhead's position in the initially found humerus bone shows that an archer on foot wounded a horseman. Forschungen zu den Hinterlassenschaften eines bronzezeitlichen Gewaltkonfliktes in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, (Beitrge zur Ur- und Frhgeschichte Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns 50), Landesamt fr Kultur und Denkmalpflege Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Der gefiederte Tod in Zeiten des UmbruchsBronzene Waffenfunde von der Fundstelle im Tollensetal, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Phasenbergnge und Umbrche im bronzezeitlichen Europa, (Universittsforschungen zur Prhistorischen Archologie 297), The political economy and metal trade in Bronze Age Europe: understanding regional variability in terms of comparative advantages and articulations, Die Nadeln in Polen II (mittlere Bronzezeit), Gaben an die GtterSchtze der Bronzezeit Europaseine Einfhrung, Gaben an die Gtter. Figure 10. A similar assemblage, also containing a socketed object, perhaps a hammer, as well as scrap metal and bracelet fragments, comes from a disturbed context close to the causeway (Kessin 12/Weltzin 13, Figure 1; Jantzen et al. www.archaeology.org/news/9167-201027-tollense-valley-massacre, Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/92.0.4515.159 Safari/537.36. Figure 6. For more on the Lech Valley samples from Mittnik et al. All of the metal objects were subject to macro- and microscopic examination and were assigned, where possible, to typologies. Since the site is the only one of its kind (and barring the invention of time travel), its hard to say. Reference Roscio, Delor and Muller2011; Ialongo Reference Ialongo2019), suggests that they may have belonged to individuals dealing in the trade of metals, possibly as a form of currency (Pare Reference Pare1999). 2019). We thank Ronald Borgwardt as well as Frank and Sonja Nagel for their ongoing support of the project in the form of voluntary work in the valley. Star) location of Weltzin 28; dotted line) preliminary reconstruction of the extension of the trackway (figure by J. Drger & T. Terberger). Was this a battle between different groups of people from across Europe, or just a very large, localized family feud? 02-01-11 Posts 21,739 Ethnic group Italian Country: More on the Tollensee Valley battle site inc. genetics See: https://www.archaeology.org/news/604ollense-valley " Live Science reports that archaeologists are investigating a 3,250-year-old battlefield site in northern Germanys Tollense Valley. Their findings are published today (September 3, 2020) in Current Biology. oldest battlefield The dress pins and the belt box, although not common for other parts of the excavated finds layer, have parallels in finds previously recovered from the valley (Jantzen et al. 12) Small chisels; 3) fibula fragment; 4) punch; 5) ingot or awl; 6) fragmented lance head socket; 7) awl with decorated wooden handle; 8) sickle knife; 9) chisel; 1011) bronze sheet cylinders. Find store hours, services, phone numbers, and more. Berichte der Rmisch-Germanischen Kommission, Urnenfelderzeitliche Barren als Grabbeigaben, Zeugnisse der primren Metallurgie in Grbern der Bronze und Alteisenzeit Mitteleuropas, Die xte und Beile im mittleren Westdeutschland, Der urnenfelderzeitliche Mnnerfriedhof von Neckarsulm. Your IP: The 31 metal objects total 0.25kg in weight and can be assigned to three broad categories (Figures 68 & Table 1; Table S1 in the online supplementary materials (OSM)). Recently published paper Genomic Data from an Ancient European Battlefield Indicates On-Going Strong Selection on a Genomic Region Associated with Lactase Persistence Over the Last 3,000 Years, by Burger et al., submitted to Current Biology, available at CellPress SneakPeek. 298, Der lterbronzezeitliche Werkzeughort von Golchen, Lkr. A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America, Bronze Age Battlefield Excavated in Northern Germany, LOWER SAXONY, GERMANYLive Science reports that archaeologists are investigating a 3,250-year-old battlefield site in northern Germanys Tollense Valley. Map of cylindrical bronze objects interpreted as fittings found in Bronze Age D burials and swords of Riegsee type (after von Quillfeld Reference von Quillfeldt1995, with additions; Pare Reference Pare1999; Roscio et al. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. An Early Bronze Age causeway in the Tollense Valley, Mecklenburg-Western Pomeraniathe starting point of a violent conflict 3300 years ago? I think the band Manowar tells about this battle in their epic Grandfathers Tale. mtDNA (M) J2a1a1e Y-DNA (M) Perimortem Lesions on Human Bones from the Bronze Age Battlefield in the Tollense Valley: An Interdisciplinary -319-78828-9_3 Abstract The Tollense Valley extended site (northeast Germany) is the only known battlefield from the European Bronze Age. [7][1], Spears, clubs, swords, knives, sickles and arrows were used during the battle. After the last of the defeated were dispatched, the bodies were stripped of their weapons, jewellery, armour, and valuables before being flung into the river.