Это просто: вы скомпилировали свое приложение с компилятором Java более поздней версии, чем среда выполнения Java под Tomcat.
Обновление
Компилятор java, javac, поддерживает параметры
-source release
Specifies the version of source code accepted. The following values for release are allowed:
1.3 the compiler does not support assertions, generics, or other language features introduced after JDK 1.3.
1.4 the compiler accepts code containing assertions, which were introduced in JDK 1.4.
1.5 the compiler accepts code containing generics and other language features introduced in JDK 5. The compiler defaults to the version 5 behavior if the -source flag is not used.
5 Synonym for 1.5
... и, что еще важнее,
-target version
Generate class files that will work on VMs with the specified version. The default is to generate class files to be compatible with the JDK 5 VM. When the -source 1.4 or lower option is used, the default target is 1.4. The versions supported by javac are:
1.1 Generate class files that will run on VMs in JDK 1.1 and later.
1.2 Generate class files that will run on VMs in JDK 1.2 and later, but will not run on 1.1 VMs.
1.3 Generate class files that will run on VMs in JDK 1.3 and later, but will not run on 1.1 or 1.2 VMs.
1.4 Generate class files that will run on VMs in JDK 1.4 and later, but will not run on 1.1, 1.2 or 1.3 VMs.
1.5 Generate class files that are compatible only with JDK 5 VMs.
5 Synonym for 1.5
... который позволит вам скомпилировать код для определенной версии JVM.
Другими словами, вы можете продолжать использовать свой компилятор 1.6, просто добавьте в него эти опции, и вы можете заставить его генерировать код 1.5, который Tomcat сможет обрабатывать.