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Archaeologists in Germany are rewriting history by proving that Europe’s oldest battle in the German Tollensetal was actually the oldest massacre in Europe. The Tollense battlefield is a Bronze Age excavation site in northern Germany on the edge of the Mecklenburg Lake District. The Tollense, dated around 3,250 years ago, has been known as the scene of the oldest battle in Europe since around 2007. But now archaeologists believe that the Tollense battle site was not a traditional battlefield, but the site of an ambush in which 1,400 traders across the region were massacred. And that means that the Tollense battle was actually the oldest massacre in Europe.
The battle for Tollense becomes the oldest massacre in Europe
In 1996, a violently broken human arm bone was discovered at the site of the so-called Tollense Battle in Germany, near today’s border with Poland and about 130 kilometers north of Berlin. An amateur archaeologist found the shattered body part protruding from the steep bank of the Tollense River. A flint arrowhead was embedded in the bone.
The Tollense Valley near the town of Burow, Germany looks peaceful, but this was the site of the so-called Tollense Battle, now known as Europe’s oldest massacre site. (Botaurus stellaris / Public domain )
During excavations in 2007, archaeologists found 140 skeletons and remains of military equipment, including bronze spearheads, flint and bronze arrowheads, and wooden clubs at the Tollense battlefield. It was then established that Tollense was a huge battlefield as well as Europe’s oldest battlefield. In 2017, said Professor Thomas Terberger Live science about the Tollense battlefield, who said it was “one of the” greatest and most brutal battles fought in the Bronze Age “.
The bones of the dead on the Tollense battlefield, which is now considered Europe’s oldest massacre. ( State Office for Culture and Monument Preservation Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania )
A more recent analysis by Detlef Jantzen, chief archaeologist for the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, suggests that up to “1,400 people died at the siteâ€. But they were not tattooed, bearskin-wearing, weapon-bearing Germanic warriors from the Bronze Age, but a group of merchants who were ambushed and looted before being “ruthlessly killed”. This rewrites the history and the required description from the “battle site of Tollense†to the “massacre of Tollenseâ€, making it Europe’s oldest massacre.
Traveling merchants who were probably killed with wooden clubs
The latest research study on the Tollense battlefield completely rewrites traditional interpretations suggesting that a tribal feud over control of a bridge over a river near the Baltic Sea has unfolded.
One of the skulls found at Europe’s oldest massacre site in Germany. Notice how the skull was knocked in, probably with a fatal wooden club. ( State Office for Culture and Monument Preservation Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania )
The new study suggests that a group of bandits were robbed and then “mercilessly slaughtered …”
Europe’s oldest massacre shares similarities with haunting and unforgettably violent episode 4, season 6 of the Walking Dead . In that episode, a group of survivors ambushed another, and their leader systematically hit the victims in the skull with a baseball bat.
Among the weapons that were found on the Tollense battlefield were an ash wood club “in the shape of a baseball bat” and another “hammer-shaped stick” made from a sloe bush (Prunus spinosa). Today, both types of wood are still valued for their elasticity and strength.
Some of the wooden clubs and bats found on the Tollense site, now known as Europe’s oldest massacre. ( State Office for Culture and Monument Preservation Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania )
Speaking of the killers’ particular weapon choices, the researchers said The daily mail that similar wooden clubs sometimes occur in northern German moors, for example near Wiesmoor and Berumerfehn. They added that “there is no doubt that these hammer-like wooden weapons can cause serious injury,” hence the Walking Dead Reference.
We introduce the site of the oldest massacre in Europe
Archaeologists were initially puzzled when they discovered that the 1,200 buried bodies recovered so far from the Tollense battlefield were corpses of women and children.
According to The times When the researchers re-analyzed the isotopic structures of the bones, they found signs of extreme stress on their lower spine and legs. This led Dr. Jantzen concluded that the murder victims were either a group of merchants or artisans or their slaves who had carried heavy loads for their entire lives.
If one puts the extent of this Bronze Age massacre in a more modern historical context, one could draw parallels to the Alamo. On the morning of March 6, 1836, General Santa Anna retook the Alamo and ended a 13-day siege that claimed 1,000 to 1,600 Mexican soldiers. Europe’s oldest massacre had a death toll similar to that of the Alamo.
It is remarkable how quickly archaeologists were able to “grasp†that what was considered to be the ancient battlefield of Europe was in fact a completely different encounter between two groups, the bandits and the traveling merchants. Now we know that the Tollense Battle, or Tollense Battlefield, is actually the site of Europe’s oldest massacre, at least until an older battle scene is found.
Above: Skull and weapon found at the Tollense battlefield, which is now considered Europe’s oldest massacre. Source: State Office for Culture and Monument Preservation Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
By Ashley Cowie
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