page_title: Tollense valley battlefield
section_title: Discovery and Excavation
hierarchical_section_title: Tollense valley battlefield / Discovery and Excavation
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Karte der Tollense English: Map of river Tollense, Germany
context_page_description: The battlefield of the Tollense valley is a Bronze Age archaeological site in the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at the northern edge of the Mecklenburg Lake District. The site, discovered in 1996 and systematically excavated since 2007, extends along the valley of the small Tollense river, to the east of Weltzin village, on the municipal territories of Burow and Werder.
  Thousands of bone fragments belonging to many people have been discovered along with further corroborative evidence of battle; current estimates indicate that perhaps 4,000 warriors fought in a battle on the site in the 13th century BC. As the population density was approximately 5 people per square kilometer, this would have been the most significant battle in Bronze Age Central Europe known so far and makes the Tollense valley currently the largest excavated and archaeologically verifiable battle site of this age in the world.
context_section_description: In 1996, a voluntary conservationist reported finding a humerus bone at the Tollense riverside at low water with an embedded arrowhead made of flint. Preliminary archaeological excavations began the same year around this site and further human and animal bones were found. During the following years, a club made of ashwood was discovered as well as a hammer-like weapon made of sloe-wood and more bones.
  Since 2007, the area has been excavated systematically under the direction of the local State Office for Culture and Conservation, the State Office for Conservation of neighbouring Lower Saxony, and the University of Greifswald. Divers of the local Society for Underwater Archaeology carefully searched the Tollense riverbed and -bank and found more human remains. Since 2009, the MV Ministry of Culture has supported research in the area and on the findings, joined since 2010 by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The primary focus lies on exploring the extent of the site and excavating the main site covered by about 1 m (3.3 ft) of peat. As of late 2017, 460 m² (5,000 sq ft) had been excavated, but the entire battlefield is estimated to be at least ten times that size. Volunteers have surveyed the grounds with metal detectors, investigating mainly the dug-out material from the Tollense.
  Greifswald's Department of Geography examined the geological make-up of the valley and determined the river's former course and laser scanning was used to chart the terrain surface. The human remains were analysed at Rostock University.
caption: The Tollense valley. The find site is near Burow, in the upper half.
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