Tollense Valley | Europe's First Battle (Bronze Age History Documentary)
The Battle of the Tollense Valley took place in Bronze Age Germany c.1250 BC. Was this Europe's first battle?
Archeological discoveries in the Tollense Valley in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Northeast Germany suggest this was the site of a conflict in the 13th century BC. (Closest dates might be 1230 - 1240 BC) This was the European Middle Bronze Age.
As well as weapons and other artefacts, thousands of bones representing at least 140 individuals have been found here and most are men of fighting age. Some bones show injuries received at the point of death.
There might have been between 3000 and 7000 participants which if true is a truly enormous prehistoric battle.
So was this a great pitched battle? An ambush? A series of small skirmishes?
Despite all the evidence, piecing together exactly who these people were, how many there were, where they came from and what happened here… is not so simple.
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Video Sources
Warriors and Weapons in Bronze Age Europe - Anthony Harding ➜ amzn.to/383sToE
Warfare in Bronze Age Society - Christian Horn & Kristian Kristiansen ➜ amzn.to/3z6ZtBN
Die Welt der Himmelsscheibe von Nebra - Harald Meller ➜ amzn.to/3ERYbh7
An early Bronze Age causeway in the Tollense Valley - Jantzen (2014)
Bronze Age tin rings from the Tollense valley - Krüger (2012)
Low Prevalence of Lactase Persistence in Bronze Age Europe - Burger (2020)
Flint arrowhead embedded in a human humerus from the Bronze Age site in the Tollense valley - Flohr (2015)
Instrumental investigation of oxygen isotopes in human dental enamel from the Bronze Age battlefield site at Tollense - Price (2019)
Perimortem Lesions on Human Bones from the Bronze Age Battlefield in the Tollense - Brinker (2018)
A Bronze Age battlefield? Weapons and trauma in the Tollense Valley - Jantzen (2010)
Tollense Battle Ancient DNA, they had hunter gatherer roots by Genos Historia ➜ • Tollense Battle Ancien...
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Note:
There is DNA evidence that some of these people had high proportion of Western Hunter Gatherer DNA. I have a post about this on Patreon linked in the comments.
Video Chapters
00:00 Prepare for Battle
02:32 The Tollense Valley Battlefield
06:26 Bronze Age Europe
08:18 Bronze Age Warrior Aristocracy
10:01 Material Evidence
13:14 Isotope Analysis
14:08 DNA Evidence
15:35 What Actually Happened?
16:48 Alternative Theories
Thanks for watching! Please hit "like" and share the video around - it helps me out SO much. And if you enjoy my videos please consider supporting the channel: Patreon ➜ www.patreon.com/dandavisauthor My books ➜ amzn.to/3xngwz5 Check out this accompanying Patreon-exclusive post on the high hunter-gatherer ancestry in some of the Tollense Valley DNA samples: www.patreon.com/posts/hunter-gatherers-56604642
Please do one how did bronze age era people.train for war
Hey brother, old subscriber with a new profile. I like how you work through the microcosm of the details. Not looking at a culture from outside, but from the singular individual perspective. It is refreshing.
@@ajithsidhu7183 yes I will do. You ask this on every video and I said yes last time! I will get to it eventually. There are things to say about how sporting events emerged from war training and also from funeral games.
Great storytelling. Each one is better than the last. Thank you.
@@pasquinomarforio thank you very much.
When I went to school some 50 years ago, the Bronze Age was portrayed as a Middle Eastern thing. Even the Mycenaeans were not mentioned except as a half-mythical past referenced by the Iron Age Greeks. I grew up believing Europeans were fur-clad reindeer hunters until the light of civilization spread from Egypt via Greece and Rome to finally reach Western Europe. Today we know that the real prehistory of Europe was far more complex and fascinating. Or at least some of us know, and hopefully with the help of your videos, some more people will get a glimpse of a world almost lost in the fog of time.
Thank you.
There was a religious complex (they think) uncovered in the Hebredees that was much bigger than what the local community would have needed so they're presuming it was some sort of ancient Vatican type place for a religion that is long forgotten. The "all roads lead to Rome" attitude in history and archaeology did not do northwest Europe any favours and has been ignored or treated with derision. I think there are worlds (as it were) yet to be found not unlike the Hittites and Fertile Crescent civilizations.
Well said.
Do you mean the Ness of Brodgar site? That is an amazing Neolithic centre - probably extremely influential in Britain and beyond. I talk about it a bit in the Neolithic Britain video.
@@DanDavisHistory That's the one, I'm given to believe it is easily accessible by boat which was the most efficient form of travel then so could have been used by multiple north European countries. Gets the old grey matter in motion!
Definitely one of my pre battle thoughts would be “I’d rather die by the sword than be clubbed by that bloody Shillelagh!”
I’d rather live by the bow than die by the sword.
@@philvanderlaan5942 the ancient sniper?
@@18Bees i just would be more comfortable 60-70 meters farther away from my enemy than he can reach especially since I would not want to be wearing 15-20kg of bronze hoplite armor in that swampy ground
@@philvanderlaan5942 makes it difficult to breath when your face down in the swamp 😂😎
@@18Bees kinda my point! , the only death in the SCA that I am aware of was a guy in a rural Pennsylvania tournament ( war ) who fell down in one of those 13th century French crow beak helmets and drowned because he had nailed himself to the bottom of a mud puddle.
I watched a documentary about this site and never thought about it again. You have given it more life in 20 minutes than those attempting to make an entire documentary about it were able to. Thank you for your channel and keep up the amazing work!
Thank you, great to hear that.
I second this opinion. Great video where you really manage to bring to light how modern archaeology gives us clues to how much we can interpret this event. The introduction alone with a possible interpretation was gripping.
@@chubbymoth5810 thanks! I'm never sure about doing those kinds of intros because I expect they put some people. But I'm glad you enjoyed it.
tv documentaries are often far less informative and interesting than a youtube video on the same topic, that is 5 times shorter
@@DanDavisHistory you forget to take some very interesting things into consideration, a very important fact. Bronze swords, axes and spears have been pulled out ofDanish borgs from that time period, and not just small amount but in large quantaties. To me that point toward that the victors came from the north. That also match with roman and other germani accounts, namely that the strongest tribes came from north.
It’s the obscurity of it all that gets me, I can imagine chieftains on both sides promising immortal glory and eternal veneration for their men if they win. Now we don’t even know who they are
and it was like that for tens of thousands of years before we have written history. pretty insane to think about. when you look at castles whose ruins are basically just rubble after 2k years.
Maybe. Or maybe they're half remembered as old gods. Who knows
The same stuff they promise young people to fight and die for someone else for millennia and people just keep falling for it over and over again and again.
It's still exactly the same today. No one gives two fucks about dead soldiers. They're still pawns in a chess game run by warlords.
@@jasonmain6398 plausible imo
Fascinating, it shows that Early Europe was a fluid, ever changing world back then even before recorded history was collected. It could make a nice TV series if more details were available.
As long as the final episode isn't a major disappointment ...
The Nordic Bronze Age persisted for a continuous 1300 years, and survived the Bronze Age Collapse of the 13th century BC -- which witnessed the destruction of every major civilized center in the more "fluid" south with the space of 50 years -- for 700 years. It was in the context of that great collapse that the Tollense Battle took place in. It was likely a (motley) host moving up from the south looking to penetrate the wealthy (amber) and stable and more homogeneous Northlands.
@@paulohagan3309 , we do not know how it ended, that is the problem filming something like it.
@@paulohagan3309 oh I see what you did there. Lets hope it gets corrected this time around. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@drewskij2175 Apparently there's a prequel coming ... something about dragons ... maybe in the last episode the ladies will spring forward with their magical fire extinguishers ...
I like how you stress the things which we simply don't know.
Yeah there are so many possible interpretations and doing archeology takes a long time. It's difficult here too because so much is underwater. I hope they continue to get funding to do the work though.
one of the wisest realizations of socrates, and one of the most ignored
For every one thing we know about prehistory there are a hundred things we still have yet to learn, and a thousand that we will never know.
I liked that too. It's a much more trustworthy style of presentation so I left feeling like I got a solid education on the topic. Plus the mystery of it all is engaging in its own right. No matter what these people were like, safe to say they had a whole host of strange myths, superstitions, beliefs, rituals and habits that wouldn't make any sense without one of them explaining it. Doubt we'll ever get to a real understanding of something that far gone without a written record but it's very interesting to speculate.
except for the clickbait title
This video is like a dream for me. I've been fascinated by Bronze Age trade routes for more than 20 years, and this is the most comprehensive explanation of routes and items traded that I've seen or heard of so far. I guess I have to check out the sources and read a few more books. Thanks for putting this together. Love it.
Thank you! Very happy to read that. I'll have to make more videos about these trade routes because it is fascinating, I agree. Cheers.
That’s a fascination of mine as well, the late bronze age really was extraordinairy interconnected
During Bronze age Danish Gudme were directly connected with local authorities in Hungary, despite several thousands kilometres of distance. Metallurgy has proven similarities from excavations.
Leslee gill. Can you recommend some books or other source about this era?
The battle at Alken Enge in Denmark was around the same time as this one. And it was also a well equipped army vs poor local farmers. A whole generation of local people died in that battle. They can see how many farming fields turned into thick forrest in the decades after the battle. And, we know nothing about the reasons for the battle either. Our local museum have the bones and weapons from the warriors on show.
That's great they have the artefacts in the local museum. That clash was in the Iron Age, sometime in the 1st century AD, over a thousand years after this. And the work there has helped inform some interpretations of the Tollense site. There are so many places in Denmark where the conditions help to preserve evidence. I hope that more battle sites are uncovered in future.
@@DanDavisHistory The theory is that because of the decline of the roman empire, there was a lot of unrest in Europe. The power vacuum created migrations. But it's a mystery I hope we one day can know about. It's incredible how little progress in warfare and tech there was, from the battle at Tollense to Alken 1000 years later.
@@plurplursen7172 No mystery that Germanic tribes fought other Germanic tribes. When you worship war gods and practice human sacrifice then you need battles and sacrifices.
@@wijse These people weren't speaking German. It wasn't even a language yet. They were simply being Killed by invading R1a horsemen, who entirely replaced them in this area.
@@zipperpillow I wrote Germanic tribes, not german language and i did not write the comment as commentary to the video, but as a comment for what Plur Plursen wrote about roman empire and alken (Germanic iron age battle). Read my comment again and Plur Plursens comment.
I love that you are able to blend the uncertainty inherent in archaeology with storytelling. This video was very well done.
Glad you enjoyed it, cheers.
Exactly!
I was already impressed with the video but my approval skyrocketed when you went on and on about what we DON'T KNOW and MIGHT HAVE GOTTEN WRONG after telling us what we DO KNOW. That is rare to see and thus precious. I stand a new subscriber, and probably a Patreon shortly.
THIS. IS. FASCINATING. I've always been intrigued by ancient cultures, and I wonder often how many incredible stories they had to tell that just got lost to the flow of time. And wouldn't you know it, but I'm also writing fantasy and sci-fi! So yeah, I think I might have just stumbled across a new favorite channel. Thanks Dan! **proceeds to binge these videos with reckless abandon**
Check this out; 3:11 this flint arrowhead is descended from a tool making tradition known as Solutrean, there’s just absolutely no doubt about it. People don’t understand how difficult flint napping is, especially tiny arrowheads like this, someone HAS to teach you how to do it if you ever hope to get good enough to make something like this arrowhead, the larger knives are a bit easier to work with but the nicest ceremonial ones are an ancient tradition. I’m a little shocked it’s still being used anywhere this late in the Bronze Age, because for arrows flint is just… massively inferior to metals. You have to be so accurate to hit something that’ll get a kill with one shot, which is what you need for hunting more so than military use. This toolmaking tradition was used for over 20,000 years. This is super off topic from the video but you seem to be enthusiastic about the history of our people so I thought I’d give you a fun fact that he didn’t mention in the video.
Love these videos Dan! Having a professional author like yourself as a presenter of history goes a long way in adding a depth of narrative that truly makes history gripping. Looking forward to the next one!
Wonderful, thank you so much.
Totally agree with you. BTW, I let you yellow jackets alone as you chew on my honeybees 🐝😎
Ramble on Wreck
Professional historians do the best of job of telling history.
Wooohoop had to comment before watching. So excited to have a Sunday (Pacific Northwest here) morning episode. Grabbing coffee and off to sit outside with my bees and listen to this one. Cheers.
That sounds perfect. I hope you enjoy the video (and your coffee). Cheers.
@@DanDavisHistory loved it. Tnx mate.
There is a rich full history of man that occurred before our known history. I believe the rule of ten applies. Whatever you think ancient man did, times it by at least ten. Nice video.
Whole heartedly agree. We know 1% of 1%
@@gmoney5947 if that.
Excellent. All this history we've lost, none recorded for the ages.
The part that showed me what an incredible scholar you are, made me nearly forget the bit that showed you an awesome poet.
Mad respect to you Dan. You are a man to look up to. I am shocked one single individual can be so damn good at both scholarship, artistry and communication. Your name will live on, your ancestors are honoured and proud. I trully hope you are getting all the glory, gold, women and followers you deserve. Thanks for your immense contribution to the spread of knowledge among us lay folks. Your content is nothing short of a treasure. Also, your books are real page turners, I am addicted to it.
Thank you very much, delighted to hear it.
@@DanDavisHistory it is from the heart Dave. Let me ask you something: do you have experience with martial arts or the military? The way you describe fighting and tactics is not common among the wider public. It is to me one of the highlights of your writing. Not because I enjoy gore but because I have a background in both and I struggle to suspend my disbelief in that regard. I can also tell from your Q&A video that you are no nerd yourself and I wondered if you have real life experience with the reality of combat.
KZhead liege lord, lol.
The Mycenaeans conquered Europe’s largest city at the time, Knossos in 1450 BC
I think he meant the first known battle in temperate Europe
@@SithStudyI doubt it. There’s not really a temperate climate in Europe. It’s a large spectrum. Also, why would anyone care about climate? They’re all Europeans
Really love the narration in the beginning man it's obvious you're a novelist. You have a talent for storytelling
Thank you very much.
@@DanDavisHistory Gonna look for your books. I've wanted to get back into books for a long time. Tried self-improvement, long story short not for me they cringed me. A well written novel based on one of my biggest interests in this period of time sounds like a really good idea
As always fantastic Dan. So much to think about in scenarios with this much heaped evidence. The truth of the matter can never be ascertained but only snippets glimpsed.
This answers video answers some of the questions I had. It brings on so many others as well. Thank you for another outstanding video.
I just had to subscribe. 2 video's in a row on my way to work. I usually watch 1 & then go for some quiet time. Bloody great historical imagination, well researched & at the same time humble. No academic elitism here. Love your work friend
Such a difference between someone who is trying to give perspective and understanding versus someone who wants to get rich talking. Well done Dan!
It's so refreshing to see a youtube video marking the shortcomings of the information gathered and what is needed to have a better picture. Suscribed.
Great history delivery...thorough, interesting and humble. "Could be this....yet it could be that, these are the facts that we know." Thanks again, I enjoy your videos on some of the most difficult history to pin down.
At skanderborg in denmark they found a battlefield with I think 3000 butchered local men of all ages supposedly having met a much stronger maybe bigger army
Have they been able to date the battle?
So well done! Thanks for making this!
I didn't know what you sounded like before I found this channel but I gotta say, now I hear your voice when I read your books... Awesome vids, AND books!
Thank you very much.
Okay I literally had to pause the video to say: that intro was amazing! You have crazy story telling skills.
Thanks!
I think this channel needs more love, all around it's pretty excellent stuff.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Splendidly done! I was on the edge of my seat from start to finish!
Thanks very much! I'm a big fan of yours, that means a lot.
Very nicely done! I like the way you show the actual battlefield and posit how it could have happened in a nice narrative. But then you fill in the pleasant hypothesis with the info about the people and finds, and the questions that real historians and scientists should ask. Hope to see more like this!
Ever since I first read a little snippet about this site, I've been fascinated by all the possible interpretations.
Can’t have enough of your videos. Great work dude!
Thank you, I appreciate it. Glad you liked this one.
Another amazing video man please keep them coming the bronze age and Europe and Eurasia is such an under-researched and documented. But it is one of if not the most interesting to me and apparently everyone else here
Brilliant video Dan.. This was a fascinating discovery, I wonder what else we will learn about this site and this battle......? Your a VERY creative individual, an admirable trait.. Love your storytelling... Helps put me in the proper space and time... Context is crucial..!✌ thanks again Dan...
Fascinating! I pass by the Tollense Valley (Tollensetal) every day on my way to work. Strange to know what happend there.
Awesome. Thanks for watching.
Awesome video in such an underrated topic!!! Keep up this awesome work!!!
Thank you.
I think I've rewatched the Alternative analysis chapter 10 times by now Very thought inspiring!
There is one fact that cannot be denied. Europe's history paved way for the modern world.
Yes. Europe's pre-Christian history in particular. I used to subscribe to the mindset that "Western Civilization was created based on Judeo-Christian values." Besides the fact that "Judeo-Christian" values don't and can't exist because they are contradictory value systems, I have since realized the foundations of "Western Civilization" were set LONG before either Christianity or Judaism came into being.
Good as always Dan, you have a talent for narration!
Thank you, appreciate it.
I recently discovered your channel and I'm very impressed with the great range of resources that you bring together. Sometimes I get interested in an artifact or ancient tool or weapon and try to discover more about it but I don't get far in my research. You bring together great photos but also many layers of additional information and - most importantly - a great depth of context that is usually missing from written articles, photos and the like. Great work, Dan!
Fantastic job Dan! Subscribed! ❤
Another great video Dan.
I really like the amount of nuance in this video and others of yours, its really points to your ethics as a researcher.
GREAT Video !!!
Thanks Adam.
@@DanDavisHistory I gave you a sub looking forward for more videos Dan :)) Really amazing job
Cheers mate, I hope you enjoy the other videos.
@@AdamCeladin OMG ITS THE KNIFE THROWING DUDE! RESPECT TO BOTH OF YOU!
Great video. You put so much time, effort, and consideration into these and it shows.
Thank you, mate. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I appreciate your support.
Thanks for another great video on Bronze age warfare. I really enjoy these. I was wondering when you'd do a video on the Tollense battle, it really is such an amazing site.
Cheers mate, I appreciate it. I didn't want to do a video on it, I was going to focus on other stuff but under almost every video and post people were asking for it or asking about it. So I thought I better do it.
This is fascinating, great content thanks, and good to see the detectorists get a well deserved mention, still looking for a mayoral chain
Excellent presentation. Thank you.
Good video as always, the Tollense Valley battle is a very interesting topic.
I love that you incorporate archaeological evidence into your fiction. I love that so much, that you make a plausible scenario out of a pile of scraps and then go on to explain it.
Fascinating stuff, who knows what we might be able to see from Tollense in the future!
Yeah it's such an exciting discovery and there's so much more to find out.
@@DanDavisHistory My own Y-DNA is downstream of I2a, fascinating to think some of my own distant ancestors participating here.
@@edwardealdseaxe5253 from which company did you buy your test? Am thinking about doing it myself.
@@Peter-ri9ie I did 23andMe to get my Y-DNA, but there are other options if you just want to test for Y-DNA. Some commercial tests like AncestryDNA do not offer a sequenced Y Chromosome.
@@edwardealdseaxe5253 🙏🏻
Great video. Thank you for your work sir.
You've done a great documentary which displays in an eloquent and entartaining manner how much uncertainties history is about - and still how much information can be gathered with scientific method, as long as we are sincere about what the facts are, what are the guesses and what is mere speculation, as well as what research needs to be done, to know more.
Excellent coverage , never heard of this battle and I have read a lot of ancient history. Thank you for enlightening myself. Keep up the good work.
Either this is an incredibly interesting topic that I've never found before, or your low-key presentation puts forward so well what we can discover & what we can't know (or at least with certainty). Or, most likely, both. Thank you.
An excellent intro to the subject, very informative, subscribed.
So glad i found this channel, I wish I did sooner though. Keep the videos coming man! ✌️
Wonderful detailed & eloquent descriptions of our past which clearly started long before the Roman/ Green Mediterranean cultures or even the Kelts. Where is my time machine to see with my own eyes what you explain so nicely- thank you Dan
A time machine….oh if only such a thing existed… and that’s why we come to these channels.
Of course our history "clearly" begins long before Romans and Greeks. I supposed everyone already knew that 😎
The Celts were not far behind this time period. Perhaps, some of the combattants were "Proto Celtic".
@@abrahamdozer6273 Proto Norse, Proto Slav, Proto Teuton and many other Proto tribes might have been there.
@@tygrkhat4087 I would say so. The Yamnaya appear to have spread their seed and culture over all of the peoples that you listed a millennium or two before this battle occurred.
Check the article by professor Anatoli Klisov, which suggest a strong component of R1A haplogroups in one population (your group 2). That suggests a battle between ancient Slavs and western populations. So not North X South but clearly West X East
This was amazing! Thank you so much for making this🥇
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks for the great content, have been pondering this historic battle for some time. Nice to see all these great perspectives
Thanks for watching. It is so intriguing isn't it. Something I was going to discuss but cut out was the idea this was a sacrifice site. There are reasons to think it isn't because it doesn't look like other, later, smaller scale sacrifice sites but still that's an interesting possibility.
@@DanDavisHistory Yeah my thoughts as well. I'm from Denmark and we have a site here in Illerup Ådal where it seems all the chieftains of Jutland band together to fight off and defeated a large roman legion maybe in the same luring/baiting technique you mentioned. They then took all the weapenry, lootings and armour crushed it to pieces and dumped it in the lake not long after the battle. The same thing is could be possible for many battlesights around these parts as if was a coindence it got discovered beneith meters of dirt and debree from exposed lakebed. Even the holy roman empire seemed to draw their border around here as the tribes up north might have had quarrels among themselves but always seem to unite to fight off southern and eastern armies
Loved this one, makes the imagination flee.
Thank you, good to know. I'm never sure about the "scene setting" stuff and don't want to put people off but some people ask for more of it.
Good job!
Excellent presentation!! The quality I've been searching for, where others fall short! Earned my sub!!!
Thank you, welcome to the channel. I hope you enjoy the other videos.
Great video. Good insight & logic applied.
Thank you very much.
Just found your channel and I enjoy how you condense the information, yet maintaining the details. I have never heard of this specific area. I can't wait to check out your other videos.
Thanks very much, welcome to the channel. I hope you like the other videos too.
Just came across this channel. Outstanding narrative, solid evidence based approach and broad, open minded delivery. Can’t wait to see more
Great video. Thank you!
Very interesting and immersive. Thanks
I absolutely loved watching this. Such an amazing and mysterious site
Glad you enjoyed it, cheers mate.
Interesting video. I especially appreciate the discussion at the end about all the different possibilities these finds could mean. All too often we only hear one or a few interpretations, making findings seem more simple and clear cut than they probably are.
Thanks. Hope it goes towards a morning brew or whatever. The stories and history are great. Would you consider longer-form podcast-type stuff?
found you today and i must say i absolutly LOVE your voice and your videos already keep up the great work and hope to see more amazing videos in the future good luck and have a great day
even though I have heard about this event a number of times, your story made me feel that exciting feeling again that I felt the first time I heard about it! 👏
Dude, i really enjoyed that. We never really learned much about bronze age Europe in school. It was always Egypt and Greece.
Superbly researched.Well done fella.
Cheers Peter.
Great video!
What comes to my mind are the troubles the bronze age people of Europe and wider Mediterranean suffered in this period. Dissolving of trade routed you mentioned, migrations of large groups of people and abandonment of settlements. It is not odd at all to immagine entire tribes and peoples from northern Europe migrating southwards in search of a new home and territory, very possible resulting in battles and skirmishes as this one. A great video once again Mr.Davis! Always a great time learning more about this very interesting and important period of history.
Thank you. Yes great changes were afoot.
One of the ways you can gauge the violence of an era is the proportion of skeletons found with signs of violence versus those without. Another good gauge is the standardization of armaments found, both shape, composition, and relative age. The final gauge is the effectiveness of defensive armor, pieces of which are found around bodies that were never buried, this indicates an arms race and hence continuous warfare and a warrior caste
Excellent stuff..thank you✌️
I love your videos man. they shine a light on a massive part of history that is frequently overlooked. keep it up!
Thank you, I appreciate it.
@@DanDavisHistoryb
Another excellent video from an excellent author
Thank you very much, so glad you enjoyed it!
Very nice video. Well done
Excellent documentary!
Great video. As a kid I loved Arnold Schwarzenegger's Conan the Barbarian movie. I know that it doesn't represent this period of time but.... To this day that's what I imagine in my head when I watch videos or read about this era of human history.
It's now been demonstrated via DNA evidence that millennia ago, Western Europe was dominated by people with black hair, brown skin, and blue eyes. Very much the way Robert E. Howard described Conan and his people the Cimmerians, though this fact wasn't known in Howard's own time. So ancient Europe was inhabited by people who looked like Conan.
You’re officially my favorite KZheadr now
Wow thanks. You liked this one.
@@DanDavisHistory I’ve loved all your videos! This is by far my favorite historical period and you do such a good job at explaining everything!
That's great to hear.
Wonderful essay. Thank you.
Im so hyped, I havent even watched the vid yet but everything about Tollense is just fascinating. Thx 4 the vid in advance, Im gonna enjoy it nonetheless.
A fascinating video…enjoyed it tremendously! I found it interesting to see how flint weapons were being used alongside bronze ones.
obsidian weapons were being used alongside firearms during the Indian wars in the 19th century. It is fascinating to think about how long certain weapon types were used.
I often think it's more of a high demand kind of situation during battles when they needed to immediately supply soldiers with weapons, kinda like WW2 Sten and Grease guns, quick, easy and cheap to make.
How does this channel not have a million subscribers!
I'm glad I found this channel. Fascinating stuff 👍
I'm glad you did too. Cheers.
Awesome video 👍👍
Thank you very much.
New viewer here guy and have been doing a bit of a marathon of your videos and their really great. Buts it’s absolutely hilarious to hear how much you’ve improved with your speech flow and story telling. Listening to this and then listening to something like your “Invasion of England: John vs Louis” video it’s night and day how much better you’ve got. I did like your little funny snippets and 4th wall breaks you’d jump in with in your early vids that you don’t do as much now. But you do good stuff man and I just wanted to say that
lol yeah my first ten videos or so I was just reading out old posts from my website and my Facebook page (jokes and asides included) and they would get about 50 views each. I think I had 30 subs in January this year. And then when they started getting popular I started putting the work in. I hope in a year or two I get really good at this. Anyway welcome to the channel mate. Cheers.
Interesting that this took place within a century preceding the "bronze age collapse", which is often blamed on invasions of people from the northern coast of the Mediterranean, ie, Europe. The development of hillforts (7:12) suggests that the local population was starting to feel crowded.
Well presented
These films of yours really are exceptionally good.
Thanks Charlie.
19:45 this right here makes me want to think that one of the groups was fleeing over large distances from a superior force pillaging the region, and that they got caught at the river and were forced to fight.