The remains of a Bronze Age violent conflict (ca. 1200 BC) in the Tollense valley, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in the light of archaeological and anhropological research

1990年代，在阿尔坦佩托(梅克伦堡-福尔波默恩)以北的托伦斯山谷发现了两件木制武器以及人类骨骼和马骨。人类遗骸上的暴力痕迹可以追溯到公元前1300年左右，表明了考古材料的特殊性质。自2010年以来，一个跨学科团队在该地区的几个地点进行了密集的研究，遵循这样一种观点，即这些发现代表了青铜时代暴力冲突的遗迹。陆地上的调查和挖掘、系统的水下调查和金属探测器勘探以及人类学分析、地球科学和植物学研究以及进一步的科学调查有助于确定发现区和保存异常完好的发现。因此，马和人的骨头通常与箭头一起出现在一段2.5公里长的河流中(直线距离)。到目前为止，有记录的人类遗骸可以追溯到120多个个体，主要是年轻人；总的来说，可能有数百个个体被认为是整个河谷的。身体连同武器，如木棍和箭头，最初被存放在河床或河流的浅水区，后来被河流作用略微转移。材料的不同寻常的成分和异常的伤害率表明，发现材料的最初沉积可以追溯到一次重大暴力事件。珍贵的发现和严重受伤的个体提出了一个问题，仪式行为是否可能影响了发现层的形成。关于所代表的大量个体和数量可观的青铜器(II-III期)，托伦斯山谷在青铜时代贸易中的可能作用可以讨论。一个再往南几百米的山谷的证据强调了这一假设：公元前1400-1200年的木结构遗迹和公元前18世纪的轨道表明，这条路线已经建立了几个世纪。横渡山谷可能与托伦斯山谷在青铜时代基础设施中的重要性有关，可以被视为这一时期迄今未曾见过的规模暴力冲突的原因。根据初步预测，我们可以想象最初有3000至6000名战斗人员参加了冲突。愈合的损伤表明，在几个人的生活中，有相当多的暴力经历，这引发了一个问题，即是否应该假设有专业背景。考虑到来自不同血统的个人的层面和科学证据，托伦斯河谷的冲突在欧洲转型时期似乎具有跨区域的重要性。

During the 1990s two wooden weapons, together with human skeletal remains and horse bones, were discovered in the Tollense Valley north of Altenteptow (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). Traces of violence on the human remains, dated to around 1300 calBC, demonstrate the exceptional character of the archaeological material. Since 2010 intensive research by an interdisciplinary team has been conducted on several sites in the area, following the thesis that the finds represent the remains of a Bronze Age violent conflict. Surveys and excavations on land, systematic underwater surveys and metal detector prospections as well as anthropological analyses, geoscientific and botanical studies and further scientific investigations helped to characterise the find area and the exceptionally well preserved finds. Accordingly, horse and human bones, often found together with arrowheads, are represented in a stretch of river 2.5 km long (linear distance). The human remains documented so far go back to more than 120 individuals, primarily young men; all in all, several hundred individuals are likely to be assumed for the river valley as a whole. The bodies, together with weapons, e.g. wooden clubs and arrowheads, were originally deposited in the bed or shallow areas of the river and later slightly relocated by fluvial processes. The unusual composition of the material and the exceptional rate of injuries indicate that the initial deposition of the find material goes back to a major violent incident. Valuable finds and heavily injured individuals raise the question, whether ritual acts could have influenced the formation of the find layer. Concerning the great number of individuals represented and the remarkable quantity of bronze objects (period II-III) a possible role of the Tollense Valley in Bronze Age trade can be discussed. This hypothesis is emphasised by evidence for a valley crossing a few hundred metres further south: Remains of a wooden construction dating to 1400-1200 calBC and a trackway dating to the 18th century calBC indicate a route established over centuries. Probably the valley crossing, connected to the importance of the Tollense Valley in Bronze Age infrastructure, can be seen as a reason for a violent conflict of a scale hitherto unknown for the period. Following a preliminary projection we can imagine that originally 3000-6000 combatants were participating in the conflict. Healed lesions indicate considerable experience with violence during several individuals lives, raising the question, whether a professional background should be assumed. Considering the dimensions as well as scientific evidence for individuals of heterogeneous origins, the conflict in the Tollense Valley seems to have been of supraregional importance in a time of transition in Europe.