Direct evidence of a large Northern European Roman period martial event and postbattle corpse manipulation

TY - JOUR

T1 - Direct evidence of a large Northern European Roman period martial event and postbattle corpse manipulation

AU - Holst, Mads Kahler

AU - Heinemeier, Jan

AU - Hertz, Ejvind

AU - Jensen, Peter

AU - Lovschal, Mette

AU - Mollerup, Lene

AU - Odgaard, Bent Vad

AU - Olsen, Jesper

AU - Soe, Niels Emil

AU - Kristiansen, Soren Munch

PY - 2018/6/5

Y1 - 2018/6/5

N2 - New archaeological excavations at Alken Enge, Jutland, Denmark, have revealed a comprehensive assemblage of disarticulated human remains within a 75-ha wetland area. A minimum of 82 individuals have been uncovered. Based on the distribution, the total population is estimated to be greater than 380 individuals, exclusively male and predominantly adult. The chronological radiocarbon evidence of the human bones indicates that they belong to a single, large event in the early first century AD. The bones show a high frequency of unhealed trauma from sharp-edged weapons, which, together with finds of military equipment, suggests that the find is of martial character. Taphonomic traces indicate that the bones were exposed to animal gnawing for a period of between 6 mo and 1 y before being deposited in the lake. Furthermore, the find situations, including collections of bones, ossa coxae threaded onto a stick, and cuts and scraping marks, provide evidence of the systematic treatment of the human corpses after the time of exposure. The finds are interpreted as the remains of an organized and possibly ritually embedded clearing of a battlefield, including the physical manipulation of the partly skeletonized bones of the deceased fighters and subsequent deposition in the lake. The date places the finds in the context of the Germanic region at the peak of the Roman expansion northward and provides the earliest direct archaeological evidence of large-scale conflict among the Germanic populations and a demonstration of hitherto unrecognized postbattle practices.

AB - New archaeological excavations at Alken Enge, Jutland, Denmark, have revealed a comprehensive assemblage of disarticulated human remains within a 75-ha wetland area. A minimum of 82 individuals have been uncovered. Based on the distribution, the total population is estimated to be greater than 380 individuals, exclusively male and predominantly adult. The chronological radiocarbon evidence of the human bones indicates that they belong to a single, large event in the early first century AD. The bones show a high frequency of unhealed trauma from sharp-edged weapons, which, together with finds of military equipment, suggests that the find is of martial character. Taphonomic traces indicate that the bones were exposed to animal gnawing for a period of between 6 mo and 1 y before being deposited in the lake. Furthermore, the find situations, including collections of bones, ossa coxae threaded onto a stick, and cuts and scraping marks, provide evidence of the systematic treatment of the human corpses after the time of exposure. The finds are interpreted as the remains of an organized and possibly ritually embedded clearing of a battlefield, including the physical manipulation of the partly skeletonized bones of the deceased fighters and subsequent deposition in the lake. The date places the finds in the context of the Germanic region at the peak of the Roman expansion northward and provides the earliest direct archaeological evidence of large-scale conflict among the Germanic populations and a demonstration of hitherto unrecognized postbattle practices.

KW - Alken Enge

KW - Jutland

KW - Roman period

KW - Iron Age warfare

KW - postbattle ritual

KW - ALKEN ENGE

KW - DENMARK

KW - AGE

KW - BONES

KW - LANDSCAPE

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1721372115

DO - 10.1073/pnas.1721372115

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 29784805

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 115

SP - 5920

EP - 5925

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

IS - 23

ER -