TrendsWide
Contact US
  • Home
  • Trending
  • Health
  • Life Style
  • NBA
  • Reviews
No Result
View All Result
TrendsWide
  • Home
  • Trending
  • Health
  • Life Style
  • NBA
  • Reviews
No Result
View All Result
TrendsWide
No Result
View All Result
Home Trending

Battle of Tollense Valley 4,250 years ago was a massacre of 1,400 Bronze Age merchants 

by souhaib
October 26, 2020
in Trending
0
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
ADVERTISEMENT


Fresh analysis of Europe’s earliest known battle has thrown up the possibility the 1,400 people who died at the site, in Germany‘s Tollense Valley, were not warriors engaged in a brutal melee, but ambushed merchants who were ruthlessly slain. 

The identity of the assailants remains unknown but it is thought they surprised the entourage and killed their guards before looting and murdering them. 

Human remains at the site in North East Germany, near today’s border with Poland and 80 miles north of Berlin, were first found in 1996. 

Experts have since tried to explain how 1,400 people perished in this one event, when the region was sparsely populated throughout the Bronze Age.

Scroll down for down for video  

It was believed to be the oldest  one of the biggest and most brutal battles fought in the Bronze Age, and now archaeologists believe the battle of the Tollense Valley 3,250 years ago was an ambush and massacre 

Experts believe that the site in what is now modern-day Germany featured around 1,400 people and they were likely traders and merchants

Experts believe that the site in what is now modern-day Germany featured around 1,400 people and they were likely traders and merchants 

Previous theories centred around a great battle for control of a bridge over a river near the Baltic sea.

But Detlef Jantzen, chief archaeologist for the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, says he site is more likely that of a merciless slaughter. 

He now believes that the victims were made up of diverse vendors passing through the region, at least some of whom were travelling in a large caravan.

He says they were likely set upon by bandits, who robbed and murdered them. 

WOODEN WEAPONS FOUND AT TOLLENSE 

Among the weapons found in Tollense is a wooden club in the shape of a baseball bat and another stick comparable to a mallet.

The ‘baseball bat’ is made of ash wood, which is well known for its strength and elasticity while the mallet is made from sloe.

The findings led archaeologists to conclude the site could be the earliest Bronze Age battle site ever found.

‘There is no doubt that such hammer-like, wooden weapons could cause heavy lesions,’ the researchers said.

‘Wooden clubs are sometimes reported from bogs in northern Germany [and] clubs have been found at Wiesmoor and Berumerfehn.’

The archaeologists continued that wooden clubs of various forms are also reported being used by Native Americans, for example, for hunting and warfare, but the Tollense Valley represents the first prehistoric site in Central Europe where such weapons have been found in association with human bones. 

Research into the remains of the dead reveals some of the people had skeletal deformations only brought about by a lifetime of carrying heavy loads. 

Mr Jantzen believes either merchants or their slaves would have spent a lifetime lugging around their wares, leading to extreme stress on their lower spine and legs.  

‘The picture that is emerging does not necessarily correspond to the picture of a warrior, but rather to the picture of people who spent their lives transporting things,’ Mr Jantzen says, The Times reports. 

‘For this reason we have wondered whether there is another possible explanation for this violent conflict: rather than a warlike battle, an ambush scenario upon a large group.’ 

This theory explains why among the 1,200 human remains buried at the site,  from 145 different people, there are women and children as well as men. 

Had this been a true battle, historians believe it would have been waged between male warriors only. 

Since the 1980s, several pieces of evidence of a battle have been found in river sediment at the site, including daggers, knives and skulls.

In 1996, an amateur archaeologist found a single upper arm bone sticking out of the steep riverbank with a flint arrowhead embedded in one end of the bone.

A systematic exploration of the site began in 2007, after archaeologists unearthed an enormous ‘battlefield’, as well as 140 skeletons and remains of military equipment.

These included wooden clubs, bronze spearheads, and flint and bronze arrowheads.     

The Tollense Valley site in north-eastern Germany was one of the biggest and most brutal battles in Bronze Age Europe

The Tollense Valley site in north-eastern Germany was one of the biggest and most brutal battles in Bronze Age Europe

Among the weapons found in Tollense is a wooden club in the shape of a baseball bat and another stick comparable to a mallet

Several bronze weapons (pictured) were found at the site, including spear heads

Since the 1980s, several pieces of evidence of a battle have been found in river sediment at the site, including daggers, knives and skulls. A systematic exploration of the site then began in 2007, since which archaeologists have unearthed an enormous battlefield, as well as 140 skeletons and remains of military equipment. Pictured are some of the artefacts found

Experts have long scrambled to explain how 1,400 people perished at this one event when the region was sparsely populated throughout the Bronze Age

Fresh analysis of the bones reveals some of the victims carried heavy loads for most of their life, deforming their legs and lower spine

To understand more about the fighters, the researchers previously conducted a chemical analysis of the skeletons, looking for elements like strontium, which can leave a geographically specific signature in bones

Isotope analysis has previously found the people who died came from all over Europe and were not a local group. 

While unable to pinpoint the exact location of the people who died, the previous research did find that a large swathe of the victims came from Southern Europe. 

This had been attributed to a marauding, cohesive army, but now it is thought to be a diverse group of tradespeople. 

Although Germany at the time was not as sophisticated as its contemporaries in Mesopotamia and Ancient Greece, it did have trade and elements of cultural influx.

Amber from the Baltics was sold as far south as Egypt and metals found in what is now Germany originated from the Middle East. 

‘All the metal here comes from elsewhere,’ Dr Jantzen says. 

‘But it wasn’t just the metal that came here: there were also glass beads from Egypt and Mesopotamia, and even a silk veil from the east Mediterranean. 

‘These are luxury goods we have found here and they have a very long journey behind them.’

The time when the battle took place was also right in the middle of a huge cultural shift in Central Europe, as people arrived from the Mediterranean.

Professor Thomas Terberger, an archaeologist who worked on the project, told Live Science in 2017: ‘It’s not by accident that our battlefield site is dating to this period of time.’



Source link

You might also like

Tanner Dashner’s dad asks family members to ‘be ready to forgive Tanner and me,’ all through son’s sentencing hearing

Multiple casualties are reported after Amtrak derailment near Kansas City

What to Buy for Toddlers: 9 Gift Guide

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • More
  • Pinterest
  • Telegram
  • Email
Tags: dailymail
Share30Tweet19
Previous Post

Chileans celebrate on streets after voting for new constitution

Next Post

Remington Arms, oldest U.S. gunmaker, to lay off 585 employees in New York, union says

souhaib

Recommended For You

Tanner Dashner’s dad asks family members to ‘be ready to forgive Tanner and me,’ all through son’s sentencing hearing

by souhaib
June 27, 2022
0

FORT PIERCE — In psychological testimony Monday, the father of Tanner Dashner said his son understood ideal from mistaken and identified as what happened “a awful mistake.”“I pray...

Read more

Multiple casualties are reported after Amtrak derailment near Kansas City

by souhaib
June 27, 2022
0

Mass casualties after Amtrak hits dump truck on public crossing and derails near Kansas City: Terrified passengers escape out of smashed windows on LA-Chicago trainAn Amtrak train derailed...

Read more

What to Buy for Toddlers: 9 Gift Guide

by souhaib
June 27, 2022
0
What to Buy for Toddlers: 9 Gift Guide

Source: Pixabay Educational toys are a great way to amuse toddlers while enhancing their development. A toy out there will make your little one happier than any other...

Read more

Last minute of the war, live | Stoltenberg will meet with the leaders of Turkey, Sweden and Finland to discuss the entry of the Nordic countries into the Alliance | International

by souhaib
June 27, 2022
0

What has happened in the last hours On the 124th day of the war initiated by Russia against Ukraine, these are the key data at 2:00 p.m. on...

Read more

Stores without returns, will allow the customer to keep the item | Video

by souhaib
June 27, 2022
0

Posted at 11:25 ET (15:25 GMT) Monday, June 27, 2022 playing 0:45 Posted at 06:33 ET (10:33 GMT) Monday, June 27, 2022 6:33 Posted at 22:10 ET (02:10...

Read more
Next Post

Remington Arms, oldest U.S. gunmaker, to lay off 585 employees in New York, union says

No Result
View All Result

Recent Posts

  • Tanner Dashner’s dad asks family members to ‘be ready to forgive Tanner and me,’ all through son’s sentencing hearing
  • Embedded Fintech Services Platform Colendi Acquires London-primarily based Organization Blockchain Corporation SETL
  • Multiple casualties are reported after Amtrak derailment near Kansas City
  • What to Buy for Toddlers: 9 Gift Guide
  • NBA: Six more months of pre-trial detention in Russia for Brittney Griner

Browse by Category

  • Australia
  • Automotive
  • Business
  • Celebrity
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Deals
  • Economie
  • Education
  • Euro
  • Forex
  • Gaming
  • Health
  • Life Style
  • NBA
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Sports
  • Switzerland
  • Trending
  • U.S.
  • Uncategorized

Categories

  • Australia
  • Automotive
  • Business
  • Celebrity
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Deals
  • Economie
  • Education
  • Euro
  • Forex
  • Gaming
  • Health
  • Life Style
  • NBA
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Sports
  • Switzerland
  • Trending
  • U.S.
  • Uncategorized

Pages

  • Contact US
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

© 2021 - TrendsWide

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Contact US
  • Privacy Policy
  • Trending
  • U.S.
  • Economie
  • Deals
  • Reviews
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Health
  • Life Style
  • NBA

© 2021 - TrendsWide