From a warrior’s lost toolkit found at the oldest known battle in Europe to a legendary
Corinthian helmet found with the warrior’s skull still inside!
Here are ten of the most amazing artifacts found leftover from battle.
10: Warrior’s Lost Toolkit 3000 years ago, hundreds and maybe thousands
of soldiers wielding everything from bow-and arrows, to clubs and swords got into a huge
and bloody battle along what is today the Baltic coast of Germany.
This place is the oldest known battle site in Europe.
Throughout the years, archaeologists have uncovered amazing artifacts left behind by
this ancient war.
The first discoveries came in the 1990s, but it wasn't until in the late 2000s that researchers
began to see the full picture.
So far the remains of 140 men have been found to date.
Almost all of them were young men, with many displaying signs of injuries from the war.
Some had flint arrowheads still stuck in their bones.
Many had suffered fractures from being hit with clubs.
Some even had broken bones that had healed previously, suggesting to archaeologists that
many of these men were seasoned fighters.
Archaeologists think they have only excavated a small fraction of the battlefield, but based
on what they have found they think 2000 people were involved in this mysterious battle.
But who were they?
And what were they fighting for??
The nearby Tollense River is slowly revealing more clues.
Preserved in the mud are artifacts left over from the conflict.
One of the most exciting finds was a bundle of personal items that had likely been used
as a warrior's toolkit.
There was a collection of tools, a knife and a small sword.
This would have been carried in a wooden box or a cloth bag that is long gone.
But it is very similar to bundles found in warrior burials found all over southern Central
Europe.
This find from the battlefield is proof that people came from all over Europe to fight
at this place.
How did they get organized?
How did such a large group of people come together and go north?
This well-preserved site is probably just one of many during the Bronze Age where it
looks like battle and war was to be expected.
9: Ivan the Terrible’s Sword A medieval sword was found buried underneath
a tree in the Novosibirsk region of Russia.
Based on how it was made and where it is from, some believe that it may have belonged to
Ivan the Terrible himself!!
The sword was found completely by accident in 1975 and it is still the only sword of
its kind in Siberia.
The sword may have been passed on from the royal armory of Ivan the terrible as a gift
during the conquest of Siberia.
If true, this would be one of the most interesting archaeological breakthroughs in the history
of Russia.
And the sword definitely would have been used in a lot of battles.
Ivan the Terrible was notorious for being a battle hero and a ruthless ruler of Russia.
The sword was most likely made in Germany sometime in the late 12th century.
It eventually made its way to Sweden where the blade was adorned with a silver handle
and a rune inscription which was abbreviated that said NOMENE.
N[omine] M[atris] N[ostri] S[alva]t[ORis] Et[eRni] D[omini] S[alvatoRis] E[teRni]
It is short for a latin phrase that says, “In the name of the mother of our savior
eternal, eternal Lord and Savior.”
But how did this European sword end up in the heart of Siberia?
It was most likely carried along a trade route or taken as a spoil of war.
During Ivan’s reign, Russia began to colonize Siberia.
The sword was probably taken by the legendary warrior Ivan Koltso for the bloody conquest
in the 16th century.
The Cossacks then began to fight the Tatar forces.
They are attacked unexpectedly and I van and his troops try to escape to their horses.
Perhaps the sword fell before Ivan was killed.
The sword was found at the base of a tree in a forest less than 3 miles from where it
is said that Ivan Koltso died in battle.
The archaeologists looking at the sword says it is just like holding a sword from a medieval
knight, and that life can often be more incredible than anything fantastical!
8: Viking Battle Axe The Langeid Viking Battle Axe and a Warrior
Who Singlehandedly Held Off the Entire English Army (ancient-origins.net)
Roughly 1400 years ago, a warrior was buried inside of a boat at Valsgarde in northern
Sweden.
With this warrior were weapons, food, dogs, and even horses.
The warrior’s grave remained untouched for hundreds of years, even surviving looters,
preserved for the day that archaeologists could come and dig it up.
Today, many of these amazing relics are on display for the whole world to see.
But there is another, even more impressive artifact that was found during an archaeological
excavation in 2011.
This discovery came from Langeid in Southern Norway.
Inside of a wooden coffin, archaeologists found a sword and a battle axe.
The battle axe boasted a huge cutting edge of 9.84 inches.
This was a two-handed weapon wielded by an impressive warrior.
According to Jan Petersen, a Norwegian archaeologist, these kinds of axes were typically used from
between the 10th century to the Middle Ages.
The Langeid axe came from the 11th century and was probably used in the Battle of Stamford
Bridge by the most famous axe warrior in history who single handedly held off an entire English
Army.
The Battle of Stamford Bridge in September of 1066 marked the end of the Viking Age.
The battle was between King Harold Godwinson of England and the invading Viking forces
led by King Harald Sigurdsson.
Based on an Anglo-Saxon chronicle, we know that there was a massive Norse warrior armed
with a battle axe who held off almost the entire English army on his own, cutting down
up to 40 English soldiers before he was taken out.
Nobody knows what this brutal warrior's name was, but we do know that the axe found in
2011 is identical to the one described that was used to slay the English.
7: World War I Battle Artifacts Archaeologists in Israel accidentally discovered
some artifacts from modern history.
They found war relics from a battle in World War One between British forces and the Ottoman.
The artifacts were found at a site known as Rosh Ha’Ayin, near the old biblical fortress
of Antipatris which was built by Herod the Great.
Volunteer archaeologists came upon rifle cartridges, shrapnel left over from artillery shells,
and an Insignia from a unit of British forces.
What's funny about this discovery is that the archaeologists were hoping to find artifacts
thousands of years old, from Biblical times.
They didn’t expect to find such young treasures from WWI.
The team even found the remnants of a pair of old Ottoman military outposts that had
been lost in an agricultural field.
These artifacts were all left behind after a battle on Sept 19, 1918, known as the Battle
of Megiddo, but this area was just one small part.
The British had been trying to take control of Israel (then called Palestine), which was
occupied by the Ottoman Empire.
The British attacked the Ottoman fortifications with 18-pounder guns according to the shell
casings, and the Turks fired back with Mauser rifles.
In the end, the Allied Forces took Damascus on October 1 and an armistice was soon signed
that ended fighting between the British and Ottomans.
6: The Teutoburg Forest Battleground The battle at Teutoburg Forest in Germany
stopped the Roman Empire dead in their tracks.
About 20,000 soldiers accompanied by medics, slaves, traders, and several thousand women
were marching through the dark German forest on a mission to expand the Roman Empire, their
culture, and their laws into the shadowy north of Europe in the 1st century BC.
But the Germanic tribes had no intention of being absorbed by the Romans.
They ambushed the Romans in the woods and killed them by the thousands.
Within just a few minutes, the Roman forces were splintered and defeated.
Less than 1000 warriors, out of the original 20,000, survived.
For around 2000 years, the exact location of this battlefield was a complete mystery.
It wasn't until excavations in the late 20th century revealed a Roman coin from around
the same time that the massacre happened.
More excavations revealed spears, broken bones, sling projectiles, and even an ancient silver
mask that belonged to a Roman officer, undoubtedly the creepiest Roman relic ever found in Germany.
Archaeologists ended up finding a cachet of silver denarii, heaps of broken weapons, human
remains, and the undeniable remnants of one of the most brutal defeats in Roman history
– and all of it buried under the soil of the Forest.
And now for number 5, but first wanted to say a big thank you to Tyler Tollenar and
LogicPrime!
Big shout out to both of you and thank you for supporting this channel!
Be sure to subscribe and join the Origins Explained family for more incredible discoveries!!
5: Tomahawk from 1812 A new addition was recently handed over to
the Ottawa County Museum.
This new artifact is a tomahawk that was in Warren Ferrell’s family since the War of
1812.
Warren's great-great-great grandfather, John Myers, was born in 1783.
He was also part of the war effort over 200 years ago.
Not only did John fight in the War of 1812, but he also participated in several scuffles
with Native Americans near Fremont and the Sandusky River.
In 1812, John was in a scouting party searching for a group of renegade Native Americans.
During the mission, he had his tomahawk and gun, which is what most frontiersmen at the
time were equipped with.
John and his team were ambushed and during the battle, John killed one of his attackers
with his gun and another with his tomahawk.
The soldiers then took refuge in a nearby cabin and fought waves of enemies for three
days.
Miraculously they survived.
John Myers kept that tomahawk with him until he died in 1842.
The relic was passed on to his son, who kept it until he died in 1892.
The son's wife then kept the tomahawk under her pillow until she finally died, at which
point the tomahawk was then passed on to the youngest son.
Now, the family heirloom and incredible war relic is being gifted to the Ottawa County
Museum, which happens to be near the original battleground where John Myers first used the
tomahawk in battle.
4: The Battle of Marathon One of the most fascinating war relics from
ancient Greece is a Corinthian helmet made out of bronze that was discovered on the Plain
of Marathon back in 1834.
But the helmet had been used 2500 years earlier by a Greek hoplite.
This was a modern helmet back then, used by all the old Greek heroes.
It offered stupendous visibility and covered both the head and neck.
It was used by the Greeks and even the Romans up until the 1st century AD.
This particular helmet came from the Battle of Marathon.
On September 17, 490 BC, an army of Greeks 10,000 strong assembled on the Plain of Marathon,
ready to fight to the death.
This was the Greeks defending their home against the scourge of the Persian Empire.
This invincible army outnumbered the Greeks – just like in the movie 300.
The Greeks were supposed to be backed by reinforcements from Sparta but they never showed up.
So, the Greeks went on without any backup and fought the army over twice their number.
In the end, 6400 Persians were killed and the invasion failed.
The Greeks won the fight with their superior combat skills and perhaps better weapons.
This Corinthian helmet was lost during the battle.
When it was found, the soldier’s skull was still inside of it.
3: Ming Battlefield Chinese archaeologists recently discovered
over 10,000 extremely rare artifacts from a Ming Dynasty battlefield.
Among the artifacts was a gold imperial seal that was likely used by an heir to one of
the emperors of China.
The precious artifact came from a period in which the Ming Dynasty was collapsing, giving
rise to the Qing Dynasty.
According to Liu Zhiyan, the lead archaeologist on the project, there is no other imperial
seal like it in the world.
It was a symbol of immense royal power.
It has a knob shaped like a turtle and is made of 95% pure gold.
Even though lots of other artifacts were found, the imperial seal was one that stood out the
most!!
The battlefield where these artifacts were discovered was likely the scene of a massive
battle during the end of the legendary Ming Dynasty, today located near a small stretch
of the Minjiang River.
The Ming Dynasty had gotten rid of the pesky Mongols by maintaining a campaign against
them, with heavy Mongolian defeats throughout the 1400s.
But the Ming Dynasty declined and ultimately collapsed in 1644 at the hands of the Manchus.
The battleground where the royal seal was found had likely been part of a peasant rebellion
very near to the final fall of the Ming Empire.
2: Roman Naval Battle Underwater archaeologists have found some
pretty fascinating artifacts at the site of a naval battle that was fought over 2000 years
ago between Rome and their arch enemy Carthage.
These artifacts have unveiled clues as to how the battle probably unfolded.
Archaeologists believe that Carthage reused Roman warships that they had captured previously
during the battle, and that they had unloaded their own cargo in a desperate bid to escape
the winning Romans.
This naval battle went down on March 10, 241 BC, very close to Sicily in the Mediterranean
Sea.
The fleet from Carthage had been trying to bring supplies to one of their armies stationed
in Sicily when the Roman Navy interjected.
The Roman Navy then destroyed pretty much the entire fleet.
As for the artifacts that were discovered, archaeologists pulled metal helmets, pieces
of pottery, and bronze rams (the type you use to break ships) from the bottom of the
sea.
The rams were particularly exciting because they were almost all Roman, proving that the
Carthaginians had been using stolen Roman ships.
But it never did them much good.
Their fleet was annihilated anyway.
1: The Battle of Visby The Battle of Visby was a brutal medieval
fight that took place near the Swedish island of Gotland.
The battle was fought between the Danes and the people who lived in Gotland.
The Danes won the fight and the battle has been legendary ever since.
The archaeological artifacts discovered at Visby are nothing short of amazing.
Archaeologists have found dozens of slaughtered soldiers laying across what was once a battlefield
of blood.
They discovered fragments of bone, smashed skulls, some skeletons with spears and knives
still sticking out of them, and even skeletons still wearing chainmail armor.
During the Middle Ages, Gotland played a critical role in trade between Europe and Russia.
The city of Visby prospered greatly because of this.
But the King of Denmark was not happy about Visby’s prosperity, so in the 14th century,
1361 to be exact, King Valdemar IV attacked and slaughtered the Gotlanders, outnumbering
them with a fearsome army of both Danish and German mercenaries.
The remains of the brutal conflict were first discovered in the early 1900s.
Mass graves were excavated, at least 1100 human bodies were found, and in the following
years, thousands of individual artifacts, consisting mostly of weapons and armor, were
dug from the dirt.
The most shocking discovery was a young warrior with chainmail armor still wrapped around
his bare skull.
What’s your favorite battle from ancient history?
Which one would you like to learn more about??
Let me know in the comments and thanks for watching!
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