A new analysis of dozens of arrowheads is helping researchers piece together a clearer portrait of the warriors who fought on the oldest known battlefield in Europe 3,250 years ago.
The bronze and flint arrowheads were discovered in the Tollense Valley in northeastern Germany. Researchers first uncovered this site in 1996 when an amateur archaeologist found a bone protruding from the banks of the Tollense River.
Dozens of arrowheads reveal a 3,250-year-old battle.
Since then, excavations have unearthed 300 metal artifacts and 12,500 bones belonging to approximately 150 individuals who lost their lives at this site around 1250 BCE. The recovered weapons include swords, wooden clubs, and a variety of arrowheads, some of which were still embedded in the bones of the fallen.
No direct evidence of a battle of this scale had been discovered before, which is why the Tollense Valley is considered the site of the oldest battle in Europe, according to researchers who have been studying the area since 2007.
Tollense Valley in northeastern Germany.
Studies of the bones have provided insights into the men—who were all young, strong warriors, some of whom bore healed wounds from previous conflicts.
However, researchers had long been unaware of the specifics regarding those involved in this violent conflict, and the reasons behind their participation in such a bloody battle.
There are no records describing this battle, so as archaeological teams excavate more artifacts from the valley, they have been using the well-preserved remains and weapons to try to piece together the story behind this ancient conflict.
Now, a group of researchers studying the arrowheads used in the battle has discovered evidence suggesting that this conflict involved both local groups as well as an army from the south.
These findings, published on September 22 in the journal Antiquity, indicate that this clash was an inter-regional conflict in Europe, raising questions about the organized, armed violence occurring thousands of years ago.
“The arrowheads are a type of ‘clear evidence.’ Like murder weapons in a mysterious case, they provide us clues about the perpetrators, the warriors of the Tollense Valley battle, and where they came from,” said Leif Inselmann, the lead author of the study and a researcher at the Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies at Free University of Berlin, in a statement.
The large scale of the battle has prompted researchers to rethink social organization and warfare during the Bronze Age.
“Were the Bronze Age warriors organized as a tribal alliance, retinue, or mercenaries of a charismatic leader—a kind of ‘lord’—or even as the army of an early kingdom?” Inselmann explained.
For a long time, researchers argued that Bronze Age violence was a small-scale issue involving dozens of individuals from local communities, but the Tollense has challenged that theory, said Molloy, a member of the research team.
“We have numerous sites where evidence of mass killings is found, even massacres of entire communities, but this is the first time the demographics of the dead are individuals we can reasonably argue were warriors rather than entire migrating families,” Molloy noted.
“The Tollense Valley shows us that such events were also conducted for practical military purposes, including comprehensive battles involving armies marching into hostile territories and waging war,” Molloy concluded.
