We might not know exactly what happened on this battlefield in Denmark, 2,000 years ago. But one thing is certain: It was violent.

A mass grave in the small East Jutland town of Alken contains the human remains of a battle, where 13-year-old children fought alongside adult men, where the dead were left and ripped to pieces by hungry animals, and where the bones where subsequently collected and treated in [what archaeologists are interpreting as] the most bestial way.

…Radiocarbon analyses show that all of the bones originate from a large event early in the first century CE when historical sources recount an upsurge in violence across Europe.

But archaeologists did not know who these people were, why they fought, and where the battle had taken place.

“There are no Roman written sources in Scandinavia that can tell us what happened,” says Hertz.

At the time of the Alken Enge event, in the first century CE, violent clashes between Germanic tribes and Romans occurred as the Roman Empire expanded north.

In year nine, the two groups met in the Battle of Varus, which ended in Germanic victory according to the history books.

But it wasn’t unusual to see fighting among the Germanic tribes when the Roman threat to their territories was absent. It was a time of rifts and migration.

“We’re quite convinced that these people didn’t come from southern Europe because we’d probably see it in the skeletons. They could on the other hand have come from anywhere north of the Alps. We simply don’t know,” says Hertz.

…Alken Enge is the only archaeological example of an entire army preserved anywhere in Europe, and the large collection of human remains indicates an unprecedented level of power, says Juul.

…”We’re always interested in finding out how we went from small origins to a more formal structure, or even a state. Alken shows that at this time there was a form of organisation over large geographical regions,” says Juul.

…Each village probably consisted of three or five houses, with between eight and fifteen inhabitants—men, women, and children.

That is approximately between 24 and 75 people per village, about half of whom were men or boys, so that is somewhere between ten and forty potential warriors per village.

Most of the Alken warriors were between the ages of 20 and 40, and just under 5 per cent of them were not yet 20. The youngest remains were of 13-year-old boys.

“If we say that at least 380 men died in this case, how big had the army been to begin with? It would require lots of villages to procure such an army. You can imagine it would have [involved] a very large region, which would have lost a lot of young men after the fight. Generations must have almost disappeared. It must have been very dramatic,” says Juul.

…Almost none of the bones showed any signs of previous, healed fractures. Meaning that these men had most probably never seen war before.

“It’s a strange mixed bunch, from the scrawniest of guys to strong men, and from really young to relatively old,” he says.

…The dead appear to have been left on the battlefield for as long as one year before being collected and carried to the bog at Alken Enge.

During this time the bodies would have been eaten by animals and decomposed until only skeletons remained.

“These people met an incredibly violent end by battle, and were just left there for a long time. I think that’s interesting,” says Juul, and suggests that the war was so devastating that they were simply unable to deal with the dead afterwards.

It appears that Alken Enge was sparsely populated after the event, which would support this suggestion. What was once farmland turned to forest after the battle.

Archaeologists uncover remains of a horrifying Iron Age battle in Denmark

hmmm

A study published by PNAS that the size of barbarian armies in Iron Age Europe were much bigger than previously thought and that in this region the main warfare was ‘barbarian on barbarian’. In particular, the find questions the received wisdom on the nature of warfare and sophistication of local societies at this time.

…A study published by PNAS that the size of barbarian armies in Iron Age Europe were much bigger than previously thought and that in this region the main warfare was ‘barbarian on barbarian’. In particular, the find questions the received wisdom on the nature of warfare and sophistication of local societies at this time.

…The find in Jutland had been carbon dated to the early years of the 1 st century AD. This was an important period in Germanic lands as the Roman expansion was at its farthest extent in Northern Europe. The legions of Augustus at that time occupied large areas of present-day Germany according to the literary sources and archaeological funds. Despite this, the remains from the battlefield are almost certainly not from a battle between local tribes and Roman invaders, as the latter never reached Southern Scandinavia.

…The finds from the unknown and unrecorded battle have implications for our understanding of the nature of Germanic society. If local groups had the capability to mobilize large forces of men and to provision them, this suggests that they had a higher level of organization than previously believed. Based on the number of dead from the site it seems that local societies could field large armies, indicating that they were more sophisticated, politically and militarily. This would show that the Roman sources that portrayed the Germans as wild and uncivilized are not entirely correct and that the local society was much more advanced than previously estimated.

…What the find tells us is that ‘barbarian’ on ‘barbarian’ warfare continued even as the Romans expanded and that local society was probably war-like. It also offers evidence that the barbarians might have been less barbaric than previously portrayed and that they were both larger and more complex than is traditionally held.

Finds from Alken Enge Provide New Perspective on ‘Barbaric’ Germanic Tribes | Ancient Origins

Curious as to why it is assumed this was done by the voctors and not by dead’s own community. The space of time in between the deaths and the burials seems like it could equally plausibly suggest a waiting until a “safe time” to recover and pay tribute those lost.

…It never ceases to amaze me that so-called experts are always so surprised to learn that our ancestors were also beings who existed within the parameters of a society. Where exactly do these people think present-day human picked up these sorts of habitual organization techniques from????

…And wouldn’t common sense dictate a little skepticism towards the Roman’s views of their enemies/vanquished societies?

PR might not have been a corporate industry in the Iron Age but the impulse to create a narrative which justifies oppressing and destroying other societies is as old as time. Egyptians for instance made a habit of rewriting the history of rules who came before them in order to add a sheen of gravitas, justice, and rightful omnipotence to current rulers is very well documented for instance…

Wouldn’t it have been in the Roman conquerers own interests to portray the cultures they sought to destroy as less civilized than their own?