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

在20世纪90年代，在Altenteptow （Mecklenburg-Vorpommern）北部的Tollense山谷发现了两件木制武器，以及人类骨骼遗骸和马骨。人类遗骸上的暴力痕迹可以追溯到公元前1300年左右，证明了考古材料的特殊性质。自2010年以来，一个跨学科团队对该地区的几个地点进行了深入研究，他们认为这些发现代表了青铜器时代暴力冲突的遗迹。陆地上的调查和发掘、系统的水下调查和金属探测器勘探、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，都有助于确定发现地区的特征，以及保存非常完好的发现。因此，在一条长2.5公里（线性距离）的河流中，马和人骨通常与箭头一起被发现。到目前为止，记录在案的人类遗骸可以追溯到120多个个体，主要是年轻男性；总的来说，几百个个体可能被认为是整个河谷的个体。这些尸体连同武器，如木棒和箭头，最初被沉积在河床或浅水区，后来由于河流的作用而略微迁移。材料的不同寻常的组成和不同寻常的受伤率表明，发现材料的最初沉积可以追溯到一次重大的暴力事件。有价值的发现和严重受伤的个体提出了一个问题，即仪式行为是否会影响发现层的形成。考虑到大量的个人代表和大量的青铜器（II-III时期），可以讨论托伦瑟山谷在青铜器时代贸易中的可能作用。这一假设得到了进一步向南几百米的山谷的证据的支持：公元前1400-1200年的木结构建筑遗迹和公元前18世纪的铁轨表明，这条路线已经建立了几个世纪。也许，与托伦瑟山谷在青铜时代基础设施中的重要性有关的山谷穿越，可以被视为该时期迄今为止规模未知的暴力冲突的原因。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，这就提出了一个问题，是否应该假设一个专业背景。考虑到这些维度以及对异质起源个体的科学证据，托伦瑟山谷的冲突似乎在欧洲转型时期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.