Ancient human bones are proof of 'barbarian' war rituals 2,000 years ago in Europe

If there's one thing that humans have long excelled at, it's slaughtering each other in war.

One horrific, long-forgotten battle was fought some 2,000 years ago in northern Europe, among fierce Germanic tribes. Now, archaeologists have uncovered bones of the combatants in a wetland in Denmark, the earliest evidence yet of large-scale warfare in this part of Europe, a new study suggests.

The discovery also reveals evidence of post-battle rituals by the winners, showing what they did with the bodies and bones of the losing side.

Although the fight took place during the Roman Empire's expansion into Europe, there is no evidence that Roman armies made it this far north, so the battle was likely between German "barbarian" armies.

"This was barbarian-on-barbarian," Princeton University archaeologist Peter Bogucki told National Geographic. Bogucki, who was not part of the study, added that the military organization and scale of the conflict between Germanic armies wasn't necessarily motivated or influenced by Roman incursions into barbarian areas south of Scandinavia.

Nearly 2,100 human bones and bone fragments were unearthed at the site, on about 200 acres of wetlands on the shore of Lake Mossø in Denmark's Jutland Peninsula.

The human bone fragments from 82 mostly adult males show signs of trauma before and around the time of death as well as tooth marks from animals such as dogs, pigs, and cattle. Some of the combatants were as young as 13 years old. 

Weapons like spearheads, swords, shield fragments, iron knives and an axe were also uncovered.

The research was led by archaeologist Mads Kähler Holst of Aarhus University in Denmark.

"The conflicts were extremely destructive in character, with consequently comprehensive slaughter," the study said. Also, the "absence of traces of healed sharp force trauma suggests that they had relatively little previous battle experience" before they were killed in this battle, the study said.

In addition, the discovery of cut marks on some of the bones — as well as hip bones threaded on a tree branch — suggests that human bones may have been marked and collected in the battle's aftermath, hinting at the possibility of a ritual in how the bodies of the losers were disposed.

The bones had also been tossed in the lake, something that was likely done months after the battle.

The archaeological find "provides unequivocal evidence that the people in Northern Germania had systematic and deliberate ways of clearing battlefields," the study concludes. 

The research was published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.