TY - JOUR
T1 - Direct evidence of a large Northern European Roman period martial event and postbattle corpse manipulation
AU - Holst, Mads Kähler
AU - Heinemeier, Jan
AU - Hertz , Ejvind
AU - Peter, Jensen
AU - Løvschal, Mette
AU - Mollerup, Lene
AU - Odgaard, Bent Vad
AU - Olsen, Jesper
AU - Søe, Niels Emil
AU - Kristiansen, Søren 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 humanremains within a 75-ha wetland area. A minimum of 82 individualshave been uncovered. Based on the distribution, the total populationis estimated to be greater than 380 individuals, exclusively male andpredominantly adult. The chronological radiocarbon evidence of thehuman bones indicates that they belong to a single, large event in theearly first century AD. The bones show a high frequency of unhealedtrauma from sharp-edged weapons, which, together with finds ofmilitary equipment, suggests that the find is of martial character.Taphonomic traces indicate that the bones were exposed to animalgnawing for a period of between 6mo and 1 y before being depositedin the lake. Furthermore, the find situations, including collections ofbones, ossa coxae threaded onto a stick, and cuts and scraping marks,provide evidence of the systematic treatment of the human corpsesafter the time of exposure. The finds are interpreted as the remains ofan organized and possibly ritually embedded clearing of a battlefield,including the physical manipulation of the partly skeletonized bonesof the deceased fighters and subsequent deposition in the lake. Thedate places the finds in the context of the Germanic region at the peakof the Roman expansion northward and provides the earliest directarchaeological evidence of large-scale conflict among the Germanicpopulations and a demonstration of hitherto unrecognized postbattlepractices.
AB - New archaeological excavations at Alken Enge, Jutland, Denmark,have revealed a comprehensive assemblage of disarticulated humanremains within a 75-ha wetland area. A minimum of 82 individualshave been uncovered. Based on the distribution, the total populationis estimated to be greater than 380 individuals, exclusively male andpredominantly adult. The chronological radiocarbon evidence of thehuman bones indicates that they belong to a single, large event in theearly first century AD. The bones show a high frequency of unhealedtrauma from sharp-edged weapons, which, together with finds ofmilitary equipment, suggests that the find is of martial character.Taphonomic traces indicate that the bones were exposed to animalgnawing for a period of between 6mo and 1 y before being depositedin the lake. Furthermore, the find situations, including collections ofbones, ossa coxae threaded onto a stick, and cuts and scraping marks,provide evidence of the systematic treatment of the human corpsesafter the time of exposure. The finds are interpreted as the remains ofan organized and possibly ritually embedded clearing of a battlefield,including the physical manipulation of the partly skeletonized bonesof the deceased fighters and subsequent deposition in the lake. Thedate places the finds in the context of the Germanic region at the peakof the Roman expansion northward and provides the earliest directarchaeological evidence of large-scale conflict among the Germanicpopulations and a demonstration of hitherto unrecognized postbattlepractices.
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1721372115
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1721372115
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 115
SP - 5920
EP - 5925
JO - National Academy of Sciences. Proceedings
JF - National Academy of Sciences. Proceedings
IS - 23
ER -