Discovery of Bronze Age Warrior’s Kit Sheds New Light on an Epic Prehistoric Battle

A knife , chisel , arrowheads , and other gear belong to a Bronze Age warrior have been uncovered on a 3,300 - year - onetime battlefield in Germany .

Newresearchpublished today in Antiquity highlights some of the military equipment that was in enjoyment during the Nordic Bronze Age ( 2000 to 1200 BCE ) . Over 30 items belonging to a single warrior were found clumped together under a river bank in Germany ’s Tollense Valley — the site of a violent conflict require potentially thousands of warrior some 3,300 years ago . The new grounds suggests the battle was n’t a local affair , but rather a multiregional conflict that transpired on a wide scale than previously appreciated .

The Tollense website in northeastern Germany has undergo unwavering excavations since its discovery in 2008 , during which sentence archeologist have draw in out an variety of items and fossil connect with the conflagration — including 12,000 bits of human osseous tissue , so far traced to more than 140 individuals .

Some of the key items found in the personal pouch or case of a warrior who fought—and possibly died—in a Bronze Age battle some 3,300 years ago.

Some of the key items found in the personal pouch or case of a warrior who fought—and possibly died—in a Bronze Age battle some 3,300 years ago.Image: (Volker Minkus)

These mortal were almost entirely untested males who exhibited signs of fresh and/or past trauma inflicted by weapons . Isotopic and hereditary data gleaned from the bones suggested many of the men were local to the region , but some of the warriors came from parts unknown . The Bronze Age warrior ’s kit , establish in 2016 , is help to fill up in this of import spread .

The 31 items were likely stored together in a fabric pouch , or perhaps a wooden case , that is now go , having rotted away after so many years . The kit was somehow missed during the looting that typically happens after a battle , and it ’s believed to contain the “ distinctive personal belongings of warrior who plausibly develop from southerly Central Europe , ” according to the new paper . The new analysis was conduct by Joachim Krüger from the University of Greifswald and include researchers from the University of Göttingen and the State Agency for Cultural Heritage in Mecklenburg - Vorpommern .

The assemblage included a bronze awl with a birch rod handle , which the warrior would have used to puncture hole in a kind of materials . The birch handle was radiocarbon date to 1300 to 1250 BCE , which nicely equalize the age of the engagement situation . A knife , chisel , decorated belt box , three dress pins , arrowheads , and bronze fragments were among the other items analyzed .

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Some of the battlefield remains found at the site.Image: (Stefan Sauer)

“ This is the first breakthrough of personal belongings on [ the ] battlefield and it provides insights into the equipment of a warrior , ” aver Terberger in apress tone ending , adding that the “ fragmented bronze was believably used as a form of early currency . ”

The warrior ’s outfit also included three thin bronze metallic element cylinders . These sheets were pierced with bronze nails which were still attached at the end , and they were range up in a manner reminiscent of wristbands . The authors muse that these cylinders were fittings used for the cloth bag or wooden box , which has since decompose .

While seemingly innocuous , these cylinders , along with other items launch in the warrior ’s cache , are consistent with equipment found elsewhere in Bronze Age Europe , let in in southerly Germany and Bohemia ( now the Czech Republic ) . This is a likely clue that the conflict drew man from far aside . This “ further supports the interpretation that the finds in the Tollense Valley prove to a magnanimous violent conflict of supra - regional plate , ” the authors wrote in the bailiwick , adding that the “ conflict should be understand in the framework of the societal and economical developing that qualify Central Europe ” in the thirteenth one C BCE .

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A star-ornamented belt box found in the assemblage.Image: (Joachim Krüger)

These clues are sure as shooting challenging , but more evidence will be needed to solidify these claims , such as more isotopic data point from the warrior ’s osseous tissue and teeth , which can be used to nail geographic origin .

As to what instigate this bloody battle , the authors can only speculate , but its location next to Tollense River is plausibly an important hint . A causeway nearby “ in all probability became an authoritative focus for trade routes , ” the source spell , and a likely “ starting breaker point for the conflict ” which may have involve up of 2,000 scrapper . Archaeological evidence of violence uncovered elsewhere along the river bank backs up the call that this area was a hotbed of conflict .

anthropologyBronze AgeHistory

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