The Tollense (, from Slavic ''dolenica'' "lowland, (flat) valley") is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

in northeastern

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, right tributary of the

Peene The Peene (; ) is a river in Germany. Geography The Westpeene, with the Ostpeene as its longer tributary, and the Kleine Peene/Teterower Peene (with a ''Peene '' without specification (or ''Nordpeene'') as its smaller and shorter affluent) f ...

. It has a total length of 95.8 km. The upper course begins near a small lake named ''Mürzsee'', near the village of Blumenholz. A part of it is traditionally called Ziemenbach, flowing to lake Lieps. From this lake to Lake Tollense (''Tollensesee'') it is nowadays called ''Liepskanal''. The section from Lake Tollense to the junction with the

river near

Demmin Demmin () is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in north-eastern Germany. It was the capital of the former district of Demmin. Geography Demmin lies on the West Pomeranian plain at the confluen ...

has a length of 68 km. At this junction, the discharge and basin of Tollense is larger than the discharge and upstream basin of Peene river. The first kilometer of the outflow in

Neubrandenburg Neubrandenburg (, Low German ''Niegenbramborg'', both lit. ''New Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg'') is a city in the southeast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located on the shore of a lake called Tollensesee and forms the urban c ...

is called ''Oberbach''. Afterwards, it is reached by two major tributaries, Linde river from the east and Malliner Wasser from the west. The middling section of Tollense river is joined to Zarow river by three different Pseudo-bifurcations.

Tollense battle site

Human remains from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

have been found in the Tollense valley (''Tollensetal'') since 1997 AD and excavated since 2007. Thousands of bone fragments belonging to a very large number of persons have since been discovered along with further corroborating evidence of battle; current estimates indicate that perhaps 4,000 warriors took part in a battle on the site circa 1250 BC. These findings were possible due to the preservation of the former

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...

ground and the fact that the Tollense has never really changed its course. Since the population density then was about 5 people per square kilometer, this would have been the most significant battle in Bronze Age period Germany yet to be discovered. Moreover, the Tollense valley is so far the largest excavated battle site of this age anywhere in the world. Further investigation of the site took place between 2010 and 2015. The vast scale of the battle indicates there were organized battles occurring in Bronze Age northern Europe with trained warriors and workers providing food to the warriors, which allowed the warriors to train full-time. Since writing would not reach Northern Europe for another millennia and a half, there are no records of the battle.

References

{{Authority control Rivers of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Rivers of Germany