ARTE – SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 7 AT 8:50 PM – DOCUMENTARY
It is a peaceful river valley, located 120 kilometers north of Berlin, not far from the Baltic Sea. A place where no historian imagined that it could have been the scene of a battle, the first on the continent, in the Bronze Age, between 2200 and 800 BC.
Yet it is on this corner of Northern Europe, on this brown soil and in the muddy waters of the river, on an area that has gradually expanded to reach 5.5 square kilometres, that high-level researchers and academics have been working, since 2007, on an extraordinary project.
This documentary shows, for the first time, the meticulous work of an international team of underwater and experimental archaeologists, geographers, osteoarchaeologists and historians who, year after year, accumulate evidence of a fierce battle on this Tollense site.
To date, around 12,000 human bones have been found, following excavations up to 2 metres deep. Most are remarkably preserved, thanks to a very particular soil.
Nearly 500 victims
Perforated skulls, gaping holes, flint points stuck in a humerus, fatal wounds from an arrow, a dagger, a club, an axe or a sword, the evidence of combat is numerous and made possible thanks to highly elaborate techniques, analyzed at length in the documentary.
Since no written trace exists, this archaeological research on land and underwater is obviously fundamental to understanding what happened in this part of Europe that was believed to have been spared from the fighting during the Bronze Age.
The Battle of the Tollense Valley dates back to 1300 BC, according to the thousands of bones, skulls and pieces of weapons discovered there. It claimed around 500 victims and has not yet fully unravelled its mysteries. “Our work will never be truly finished! We only know a tiny part of this battle”assures Professor Thomas Terberger, from the Georg-August University of Göttingen, who is leading the research with a whole high-flying team.
This incredible project would probably never have seen the light of day without the surprise discovery of Ronald Borgwardt, an amateur archaeologist, in 1996: “The first bone found, a femur, was found by my father. We continued searching and found many other different bones: mandibles, ribs, tibias.”
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When the academic explored sixteen boxes of well-preserved bones in November 2006, he was stunned. The great adventure of the Tollense site began in 2007. Divers brought back multiple pieces of evidence: wooden bridge, stone roadway, weapons, bones. “When we published our first results, the senior researchers said, ‘This must be a burial site. There’s no way this is a battlefield here!'”recalls Mr. Terberger, smiling.
The origin of the fighters is still unknown, although analyses show that they came from different regions. Nor is it known for what reason(s) this bloody battle took place. Current studies highlight that the Tollense Valley, which was thought to be far from everything, was in fact an important trade route between northern Europe and the Mediterranean Basin.
Europe’s First Battlefielddocumentary by David Starkey (Irl., 2024, 90 min). On Arte.tv until November 6.
