Duane Beckett
When we picture old battlefields, we usually think of weapons, military regalia, and everything that comes with war. Yet battlefields sometimes serve up less obvious items, and sometimes outright strange ones. Check out these five strange things found on old battlefields.
1. A live 160-year-old artillery shell (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
In 2023, archaeologists working at the Little Round Top battlefield in Pennsylvania found a Civil War artillery shell nearly two feet underground. The fact that it was live is what makes this discovery strange.
Live Science reported that the 10-pound shell had to be removed and destroyed by the U.S. Army’s 55th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company.
This wasn’t some relic for a museum shelf; it was genuinely dangerous even after about 160 years. Live Science stated it was only the fifth unexploded round found at Gettysburg since 1980.
2. An arrowhead made from a meteorite (Mörigen, Switzerland)
At the Mörigen site near Lake Biel in Switzerland, archaeologists confirmed that a Bronze Age arrowhead had been made from meteoritic iron, joining the strange things found on old battlefields.
IFLScience found that the small weapon weighed just 2.9 grams and dated to the Mörigen dwelling period, around 900 to 800 BCE.
The strange part is where the metal came from. IFLScience states that aluminum-26 isotopes, which point to material from beyond Earth’s atmosphere, were detected in the arrowhead.
The iron was linked to an IAB meteorite, with Kaalijarv in Estonia named as the most likely source. That means these ancient people were using fallen material in weapons. Amazing.
3. Bullets carved into chess pieces (Cedar Creek Battlefield, Virginia)
Soldiers at the Cedar Creek battlefield in Virginia weren’t only fighting. According to the National Park Service, archaeologists found bullets that had been hand-carved into art or game pieces, along with other camp-life items.
These were objects designed for war, reshaped during downtime into something closer to play. It’s strange because it shows the human side of a brutal setting. Men waited, worried, killed time, and tried to stay sane.
The National Park Service states that these finds helped show how soldiers spent free time in camp before the Battle of Cedar Creek.
4. A warrior’s toolkit including metalworking tools (Tollense Valley, Germany)
Europe’s oldest known battlefield, the Tollense Valley in Germany, produced one of those finds that feels like it belongs in an old adventure movie. Long Now states that archaeologists found artifacts tied to a roughly 3,300-year-old battle, including unusual objects that suggested the conflict may have drawn fighters from far away.
The item was strange because the kit included what looked like practical metalworking gear, not just weapons. As Long Now put it, one Bronze Age specialist questioned why a warrior would be carrying “a lot of scrap metal.” That’s the puzzle. Was this a fighter, a craftsman, a trader, or all three?
5. Voting tokens (Cedar Creek Battlefield, Virginia)
Information from the National Park Service shows archaeologists found a patriotic voting token with a U.S. flag and the slogan, “If anybody attempts to tear it down, shoot them on the Spot.”
The battlefield was Cedar Creek in Virginia, and the item was tied to absentee voting in the 1864 presidential election.
These soldiers were surrounded by weapons, cannon primers, and the machinery of war, yet they were also preparing to vote. The National Park Service states that many states allowed soldiers to vote absentee during the Civil War.