Vučedol culture , Nagyrév culture , Ottomány culture , Wietenberg culture , Vatya culture
79-612: Bell Beaker culture , Únětice culture , Nordic Bronze Age , Tumulus culture , Urnfield culture Bronze Age Britain , Bronze Age France , Armorican Tumulus culture , Bronze Age Iberia , Argaric culture , Hilversum culture , Atlantic Bronze Age Nuragic civilization , Polada culture , Terramare culture , Proto-Villanovan culture , Apennine culture , Canegrate culture , Golasecca culture The Únětice culture , Aunjetitz culture or Unetician culture ( Czech : Únětická kultura , German : Aunjetitzer Kultur , Polish : Kultura unietycka , Slovak : Únětická kultúra )
158-659: A coherent archaeological culture in its later phase. The origin of the "Bell Beaker" artefacts has been traced to the early 3rd millennium, with early examples of the "maritime" Bell Beaker design having been found at the Tagus estuary in Portugal, radiocarbon dated to c. 28th century BC. The inspiration for the Maritime Bell Beaker is argued to have been the small and earlier Copoz beakers that have impressed decoration and which are found widely around
237-567: A cylindrical or slightly conical neck, arched walls, and a relatively flat bottom. These pits often served as granaries. The vast majority of settlements consisted of several houses congregated in the communal space of the village or hamlet. Larger fortified villages, with ramparts and wooden fortifications, have been discovered as well, in, for example Bruszczewo in Greater Poland and Radłowice in Silesia . These larger villages played
316-646: A full stone setting or just a partial one (a few stones in the corners of grave) seems to be quite a common practice observed in all phases of the EBA in Central Europe. Wooden coffins were discovered at several sites such as in Lower Silesia . Únětice culture coffin burials can be divided in two types, according their construction: coffins of the stretcher type, and coffins of the canoe type. Coffins were made of single block of wood. The most prominent example of
395-729: A gold axe from Tufalau in Romania belonging to the Wietenberg culture , a gold dagger from Mala Gruda in Montenegro belonging to the Vučedol culture , a gold dagger from Dabene in Bulgaria, and gold daggers and halberds from Perșinari and Măcin in Romania belonging to the Tei culture . The Tei culture weapons were found buried with gold bracelets of Unetice type. A typical Úněticean flat grave
474-492: A kind of Bell Beaker civilization of continental scale". The Bell Beaker artefacts (at least in their early phase) are not distributed across a contiguous area, as is usual for archaeological cultures, but are found in insular concentrations scattered across Europe. Their presence is not associated with a characteristic type of architecture or of burial customs. However, the Bell Beaker culture does appear to coalesce into
553-506: A migration from the northeast, which the authors can link with the arrival of R1a-Z645, previously found in the Baltic region. Several individuals from two burial sites in Prague were tested in 2022 (both sites were used in different cultural periods), the male Y-DNA haplogroups from individuals assigned to the Únětice period were: two R1a1a1 (Z280), eight I2a2a (I6635), with an individual with
632-646: A period of cultural contact in Atlantic and Western Europe following a prolonged period of relative isolation during the Neolithic . In its mature phase, the Bell Beaker culture is understood as not only a collection of characteristic artefact types, but a complex cultural phenomenon involving metalwork in copper , arsenical bronze and gold , long-distance exchange networks, archery , specific types of ornamentation, and (presumably) shared ideological, cultural and religious ideas, as well as social stratification and
711-552: A precise morphological comparison to be made between tablets. Archeological evidence from 2000 BC onwards points to the emergence of a more complex and ranked society in central Europe and the appearance of a new aristocratic leadership on top of the traditional clan-based organisation of farmsteads and hamlets. The effects were seen across all spheres of society from technology and economy to settlement and religion. The Únětice Culture in Central Germany in particular exhibited
790-670: A prestige cult related to the production and consumption of beer, or trading links such as those demonstrated by finds made along the seaways of Atlantic Europe. Palynological studies including analysis of pollen, associated with the spread of beakers, certainly suggests increased growing of barley, which may be associated with beer brewing. Noting the distribution of Beakers was highest in areas of transport routes, including fording sites, river valleys and mountain passes, Beaker 'folk' were suggested to be originally bronze traders, who subsequently settled within local Neolithic or early Chalcolithic cultures, creating local styles. Close analysis of
869-413: A remarkably high level of social complexity. Based on the funerary record, metal hoards and architectural evidence it has been suggested that by the 20th-19th centuries BC this society had developed into a type of state , ruled by a dominant leader supported by armed troops. This is further indicated by evidence for the surplus production and centralisation of agricultural goods, as well as the production of
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#1732779763037948-565: A rich cemetery containing many of such inhumations is in Przecławice nearby Wrocław . Coffin burials appear in Central Europe in the Neolithic and are well known from Bell Beaker and Corded Ware cultures in Moravia . The culture is distinguished by its characteristic metal objects, including ingot torcs , flat axes, flat triangular daggers, bracelets with spiral ends, disk- and paddle-headed pins, and curl rings , which are distributed over
1027-756: A role as local political centres, possibly also market places, facilitating the flow of goods and supplies. The 'proto-urban' fortified settlement of Fidvár in Slovakia was an important centre for the exploitation of nearby gold and tin deposits. Hillforts are known from the Late Unetice period, such as Cezavy in the Czech Republic which featured stone fortification walls. Around 2300 BC, large circular enclosures were built at Pömmelte and nearby Schönebeck in central Germany. These were important ritual sites which remained in use until c. 1900 BC. Pömmelte
1106-521: A study from 2018 found that it was associated with genetically diverse populations. The Bell Beaker culture was partly preceded by and contemporaneous with the Corded Ware culture , and in north-central Europe preceded by the Funnelbeaker culture . The name Glockenbecher was coined for its distinctive style of beakers by Paul Reinecke in 1900. The term's English translation Bell Beaker
1185-490: A type of token-money . At the end of the Early Bronze Age rings and ribs were replaced by scrap and raw metal, indicating the development of weighing scales and the use of weighed metal as a means of payment. This weighing system may have emerged independently in central Europe through the serial production of bronze artefacts with perceptibly similar weights. In 2014 the largest known hoard of copper rib-ingots
1264-728: A typology of ceramics and metal artefacts for the Únětice culture in Bohemia was introduced by Moucha in 1963. This chronological system consisting of six sub-phases was considered valid for the Bohemian groups of the Únětice culture, and later was adapted in Poland and in Germany. Recently, the Únětice culture has been cited as a pan-European cultural phenomenon whose influence covered large areas due to intensive exchange, with Únětice pottery and bronze artefacts found from Ireland to Scandinavia,
1343-467: A very unusual practice in central Europe but common in contemporary Bronze Age Britain . A 'brotlaibidol' clay tablet was also found in the grave. The largest surviving burial mound is Barrow No. 4 at Łęki Małe, associated with the Kościan Group of the Únětice Culture – which is 50 metres in diameter and 5–6 metres in height today. In the classic phase, a typical "princely grave"
1422-444: A wide area of Central Europe and beyond. The ingots are found in hoards that can contain over six hundred pieces. Axe-hoards are common as well: the hoard of Dieskau (Saxony) contained 293 flanged axes. Thus, axes might have served as ingots as well. These hoards have formerly been interpreted as a form of storage by itinerant bronze-founders or as riches hidden because of enemy action. They have also been interpreted as evidence for
1501-413: Is also known from north-eastern Austria (in association with the so-called Böheimkirchen group), and from western Ukraine . The Aunjetitzer/Únětice culture is named after a discovery by Czech surgeon and amateur archaeologist Čeněk Rýzner (1845–1923), who in 1879 found a cemetery in Bohemia of over 50 inhumations on Holý Vrch , the hill overlooking the village of Únětice . At about the same time,
1580-455: Is also strongly culturally related to it. All of these groups are alternatively seen as local variants of a broader Únětice culture. According to Marija Gimbutas these cultures were, in a broad sense, "one unit", with the same burial rites, economy, habitation patterns, and pottery, which she groups together as 'early Únětice'. According to Sergent (1995) the Polada culture in northern Italy and
1659-580: Is an archaeological culture at the start of the Central European Bronze Age , dated roughly to about 2300–1600 BC. The eponymous site for this culture, the village of Únětice ( Czech pronunciation: [ˈuːɲɛcɪtsɛ] ), is located in the central Czech Republic , northwest of Prague . There are about 1,400 documented Únětice culture sites in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, 550 sites in Poland, and, in Germany, about 500 sites and loose finds locations. The Únětice culture
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#17327797630371738-736: Is considered to be part of a wider pan-European cultural phenomenon, arising gradually between the second half of the 3rd millennium and the beginning of the 2nd. According to Pokutta, "The role of the Únětice Culture in the formation of Bronze Age Europe cannot be overrated. The rise and the existence of this original, expansive and dynamic population mark one of the most interesting moments in European prehistory." The influence of this culture covered much larger areas mainly due to intensive exchange. Únětice pottery and bronze objects are thus found in Britain , Ireland , Scandinavia , and Italy as well as
1817-478: Is described as a central place of supra-regional importance. The largest known Early Bronze Age settlement in central Europe was built next to the Pömmelte enclosure. The remains of 130 large timber houses have been found on the site; they were typically 20 metres in length with some up to 30.5 metres in length, and with floor areas ranging from 80m² to 360m². Some Unetice buildings were exceptionally large, such as
1896-508: Is rather derivative of Corded Ware traditions. British and American archaeology since the 1960s have been sceptical about prehistoric migration in general, so the idea of "Bell Beaker Folk" lost ground. A theory of cultural contact de-emphasizing population movement was presented by Colin Burgess and Stephen Shennan in the mid-1970s. Under the "pots, not people" theory, the Beaker culture
1975-470: Is thought to depict a calendar rule for harmonising the solar and lunar years, enabling the creation of a lunisolar calendar . The cluster of stars next to the crescent moon is thought to represent the Pleiades , known from other ancient contexts as 'calendar stars', whilst the gold arcs on the edge of the disc (one of which is now missing) represent the angle between the solstices at the latitude where
2054-636: The Balkans . The strong impact of Úněticean metallurgical centres and pottery-making traditions can be seen in other EBA groups, for example, in the Adlerberg , Straubing , Singen , Neckar -Ries, and Upper-Rhine groups in Germany and Switzerland, as well as the Unterwölbling in Austria. The Nitra group, inhabiting southern Slovakia , not only precedes the Únětice culture chronologically, but
2133-554: The Bell Beaker complex or Bell Beaker phenomenon , is an archaeological culture named after the inverted-bell beaker drinking vessel used at the very beginning of the European Bronze Age , arising from around 2800 BC. Bell Beaker culture lasted in Britain from c. 2450 BC, with the appearance of single burial graves, until as late as 1800 BC, but in continental Europe only until 2300 BC, when it
2212-529: The Dermsdorf longhouse (44m x 11m) and Zwenkau longhouse (57m x 9m), both in central Germany. These may have been elite residences, cult buildings, meeting halls, or 'men's houses' for groups of warriors or soldiers under the command of individual rulers. The Dermsdorf longhouse was built a short distance from a settlement at Leubingen , in direct alignment with the nearby Leubingen burial mound . A large number of axes were ritually deposited together in front of
2291-659: The Rhône culture in France and Switzerland also represent southern variants of the Únětice culture. In later times, some elements of the Úněticean pottery-making traditions can be found in the Trzciniec culture as well. Haak et al. 2015 examined the remains of 8 individuals of the Unetice culture buried in modern-day Germany c. 2200–1800 BC. The 3 samples of Y-DNA extracted belonged to Y-haplogroups I2a2 , I2c2 and I2 , while
2370-634: The Tagus estuary were maritime. A southern move led to the Mediterranean where 'enclaves' were established in south-western Spain and southern France around the Golfe du Lion and into the Po Valley in Italy , probably via ancient western Alpine trade routes used to distribute jadeite axes. A northern move incorporated the southern coast of Armorica . The enclave established in southern Brittany
2449-405: The migrationism vs. diffusionism debate in 20th-century archaeology , variously described as due to migration, possibly of small groups of warriors, craftsmen or traders, or due to the diffusion of ideas and object exchange. Given the unusual form and fabric of Beaker pottery, and its abrupt appearance in the archaeological record , along with a characteristic group of other artefacts, known as
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2528-567: The 'enigmatic tablets' from the Archaeological Museum of Upper Mantua in Cavriana with the collaboration of thirty-five other museums. One hundred examples of enigmatic tablets were exhibited. In 2015 an international project was launched to study the tablets involving various Italian and foreign universities. The artefacts have been analysed and categorised using a three-dimensional scanning and measuring technique that allows for
2607-434: The 8 samples of mtDNA extracted were determined to belong to haplogroup I3a (2 samples), U5a1 , W3a1 , U5b2a1b , H4a1a1 , H3 and V . The examined Unetice individuals were found to be very closely related to peoples of the earlier Yamnaya culture , Bell Beaker culture and Corded Ware culture . Their amount of steppe-related ancestry is comparable to that of some modern Europeans. Allentoft et al. 2015 examined
2686-412: The Bell Beaker "package", the explanation for the Beaker culture until the last decades of the 20th century was to interpret it as the migration of one group of people across Europe. Gordon Childe interpreted the presence of its characteristic artefact as the intrusion of "missionaries" expanding from Iberia along the Atlantic coast, spreading knowledge of copper metallurgy. Stephen Shennan interpreted
2765-534: The Bell Beaker culture was intrusive to southern Germany, and existed contemporarily with the local Corded Ware culture . The burial ritual which typified Bell Beaker sites appears to be intrusive to Western Europe, from Central Europe. Individual inhumations, often under tumuli with the inclusion of weapons contrast markedly to the preceding Neolithic traditions of often collective, weaponless burials in Atlantic/Western Europe. Such an arrangement
2844-724: The Bell Beaker zone. This overturns a previous conviction that single burial was unknown in the early or southern Bell Beaker zone, and so must have been adopted from Corded Ware in the contact zone of the Lower Rhine, and transmitted westwards along the exchange networks from the Rhine to the Loire, and northwards across the English Channel to Britain. The earliest copper production in Ireland, identified at Ross Island in
2923-640: The British Wessex culture . Únětice metalsmiths used pure copper as well as alloys of copper with arsenic, antimony, and tin to produce bronze . The cemetery of Singen contained daggers with a high tin content (up to 9%). They may have been produced in Brittany , where a few rich graves have been found from this period. Cornish tin was widely traded as well. A gold lunula of Irish design has been found as far south as Butzbach in Hessen (Germany). Amber
3002-585: The Carpathian Basin, the Bell Beaker culture came in contact with communities such as the Vučedol culture ( c. 3000 –2200 BC), which had evolved partly from the Yamnaya culture (c. 3300–2600 BC). In contrast to the early Bell Beaker preference for the dagger and bow, the favourite weapon in the Carpathian Basin during the first half of the third millennium was the shaft-hole axe. Here, Bell Beaker people assimilated local pottery forms such as
3081-621: The Central Germany groups of the Únětice culture. Gold and tin used to make the Nebra disc was imported from Cornwall in southern England, whilst the copper was imported from Austria. According to the archaeologist Sabine Gerloff the gold plating (or inlay) technique used on the disc originated in Britain. A similar gold inlay technique is seen on the contemporary Thun-Renzenbühl axe from Switzerland, and has also been connected to Mycenaean Greece . Typical Úněticean housing structures are known from
3160-422: The Czech Republic and Germany. The houses were constructed of wood, with a gabled roof, and rectangular in plan with an entrance on the western side. The roofs were thatched , and walls were constructed using the wattle and daub technique. One of the most characteristic features associated with settlements are storage pits of the Únětice type. They were located beneath the houses, and were deep and spacious, with
3239-582: The Italian Peninsula, and the Balkans. As such, it is candidate for a community connecting a continuum of already scattered, late Indo-European languages , ancestral to the Italo-Celtic , Germanic , and perhaps Balto–Slavic groups, between which words were frequently exchanged, and a common lexicon, as well as regional isoglosses were shared. The culture corresponds to Bronze A1 and A2 in
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3318-410: The Mediterranean, using sea routes that had long been in operation, was directly associated with the quest for copper and other rare raw materials. While Bell Beaker ( Glockenbecher ) was introduced as a term for the artefact type at the beginning of the 20th century, recognition of an archaeological Bell Beaker culture has long been controversial. Its spread has been one of the central questions of
3397-519: The Nebra Sky Disc. The main entrances of the Pömmelte circular enclosure were oriented towards sunrise and sunset midway between the solstices and equinoxes , indicating that it served as a monument for "ceremonies linked to calendrical rites and seasonal feasting". These alignments marked the same dates as later Celtic seasonal festivals such as Beltane and Samhain , which celebrated
3476-525: The Nebra disc allowed for "an extremely accurate positing of time, including even the capacity for predicting lunar eclipses ." As such it represents "the establishment of a new temporal order" by elites of the Unetice culture, and thereby "ultimately demonstrates their claim to state power". The site on the Mittelberg hill where the Nebra disc was found is thought to have served as an enclosed 'sacred precinct', delimited by earthen ramparts on two sides of
3555-668: The Tagus estuary in Portugal. Turek sees late Neolithic precursors in northern Africa, arguing the Maritime style emerged as a result of seaborne contacts between Iberia and Morocco in the first half of the third millennium BC. More recent analyses of the "Beaker phenomenon", published since the 2000s, have persisted in describing the origin of the "Beaker phenomenon" as arising from a synthesis of elements, representing "an idea and style uniting different regions with different cultural traditions and background." The initial moves from
3634-503: The Y-chromosome results (not including two by low coverage samples) were: 1 G2a2b2a, 1 I2a1, 8 I2a2, 7 R1a-Z645, and 8 R1b-P312. The geneticists found that: "The Y-chromosomal data suggest an even larger turnover. A decrease of Y-lineage R1b-P312 from 100% (in late Bell Beaker Culture) to 20% (in preclassical Únětice) implies a minimum 80% influx of new Y-lineages at the onset of the Early Bronze Age". The autosomal results even point to
3713-424: The artefacts as belonging to a mobile cultural elite imposing itself over the indigenous substrate populations. Similarly, Sangmeister (1972) interpreted the "Beaker folk" ( Glockenbecherleute ) as small groups of highly mobile traders and artisans. Christian Strahm (1995) used the term "Bell Beaker phenomenon" ( Glockenbecher-Phänomen ) as a compromise in order to avoid the term "culture". Heyd (1998) concluded that
3792-430: The chronological schema of Paul Reinecke : The Únětice culture originated in the territories of contemporary Bohemia. Ten local sub-groups can be distinguished in its classical phase: From a technical point of view, Úněticean graves can be divided in two categories: flat graves and barrows. The Únětice culture practiced skeletal inhumations, but occasionally cremation was also practised. A typical Úněticean cemetery
3871-1267: The derived clade PF3885, a tested male was I2a-L38, and four males had the R1b-L2 haplogroup (another tested individual had the derived R1b-L20 clade); a male had the haplogroup R1b-Y153322, which is under DF27 . Bell Beaker culture Vučedol culture , Nagyrév culture , Ottomány culture , Wietenberg culture , Vatya culture Bell Beaker culture , Únětice culture , Nordic Bronze Age , Tumulus culture , Urnfield culture Bronze Age Britain , Bronze Age France , Armorican Tumulus culture , Bronze Age Iberia , Argaric culture , Hilversum culture , Atlantic Bronze Age Nuragic civilization , Polada culture , Terramare culture , Proto-Villanovan culture , Apennine culture , Canegrate culture , Golasecca culture Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European The Bell Beaker culture , also known as
3950-499: The disc was found. This feature also appears in a different form on the Bush Barrow gold lozenge from Stonehenge, dating from c. 1900 BC. The number of stars on the disc (32, or 33 if the sun is included) may represent the equivalence of 32 solar years to 33 lunar years . According to the archaeologist Christoph Sommerfeld the disc may also encode knowledge of the 19-year luni-solar Metonic cycle . According to Harald Meller
4029-657: The discovery and identification of the Únětice culture was Hans Seger (1864–1943). Seger not only discovered several Úněticean sites and supervised pioneering excavations in locations in Silesia, now in Poland as Przecławice , but he also linked Bohemian European Bronze Age (EBA) materials with similar assemblages in Lower Silesia . In Greater Poland , the first excavations at royal Úněticean necropolis of Łęki Małe were undertaken by Józef Kostrzewski in 1931, but major archaeological discoveries at this site were made only years later in 1953 and 1955. In 1935 Kostrzewski published
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#17327797630374108-409: The emergence of regional elites. A wide range of regional diversity persists within the widespread late Beaker culture, particularly in local burial styles (including incidences of cremation rather than burial), housing styles, economic profile, and local ceramic wares ( Begleitkeramik ). Nonetheless, according to Lemercier (2018) the mature phase of the Beaker culture represents "the appearance of
4187-466: The existence of organized groups of warriors or 'armies'. Hoards containing mainly jewellery are typical for the Adlerberg group. After 2000 BC a major expansion of bronze production took place, with tin bronzes becoming dominant. Ring ingots were exchanged widely. Special weapons and ornaments were produced as status symbols for high-ranking individuals. The famous Nebra sky disk is associated with
4266-651: The first data and findings of the Iwno culture , another Bronze Age culture contemporaneous with the Únětice EBA, from Western Poland. In 1960 Wanda Sarnowska (1911–1989) began excavations in Szczepankowice near Wrocław , southwest Poland, where a new group of barrows was unearthed. In 1969 she published a new monograph on the Únětice culture in which she cataloged, analysed, and described assemblages deriving from 373 known EBA Úněticean sites in Poland. The first unified chronological system (relative chronology) based on
4345-639: The first Úněticean burial ground was unearthed in Southern Moravia in Měnín by A. Rzehak. Following these initial discoveries and until the 1930s, many more sites, primarily cemeteries, were identified, including Němčice nad Hanou (1926), sites in the vicinity of Prague , Polepy (1926–1927), and Šardičky (1927). In Germany, a Princely Grave in Leubingen had already been excavated in 1877 by F. Klopfleisch; however, he incorrectly dated
4424-512: The hill. From this location, when the disc is aligned to the north, the upper terminus of the western gold arc points towards the Brocken mountain , where the sun is seen to set on the summer solstice (June 21st). Another distinctive marker on the horizon is the Kulpenberg hill, where the sun sets on May 1st (Beltane), a date also marked by the Pömmelte enclosure. Today, the Únětice culture
4503-519: The longhouse, which may have belonged to a contingent of warriors or soldiers. Experimental reconstructions of Bronze Age longhouses indicate that the builders must have had "a complex system of numbers and data for linear measurements" to manage such house building challenges. Construction techniques included the use of rectangular beams, planks and boards, mortice and tenon joints, scarf joints, single notched joints, slots, grooves, pivots, wooden pegs, and rebates. The Únětice culture had trade links with
4582-603: The monument to the Hallstatt during the Iron Age . In subsequent years, a main cluster of Úněticean sites in Central Germany were identified at Baalberge , Helmsdorf , Nienstedt , Körner , Leubingen , Halberstadt , Klein Quenstedt , Wernigerode , Blankenburg , and Quedlinburg . At the same time, Adlerberg and Straubing groups were defined in 1918 by Schumacher. In Silesia , the first archaeologist associated with
4661-514: The paternal haplogroup R1b1a and the maternal haplogroup T2e . It was found that the people of the Corded Ware culture, Bell Beaker culture, Unetice culture and Nordic Bronze Age were genetically very similar to one another, and displayed a significant amount of genetic affinity with the Yamnaya culture. Papac et al. (2021) tested some more individuals from the Únětice burial sites: their
4740-405: The period 2400–2200 BC, was associated with early Beaker pottery. Here, the local sulpharsenide ores were smelted to produce the first copper axes used in Britain and Ireland. The same technologies were used in the Tagus region and in the west and south of France. The evidence is sufficient to support the suggestion that the initial spread of Maritime Bell Beakers along the Atlantic and into
4819-594: The polypod cup. These "common ware" types of pottery then spread in association with the classic bell beaker. The Rhine was on the western edge of the vast Corded Ware zone ( c. 3100 – c. 2350 BC ), forming a contact zone with the Bell Beaker culture. From there, the Bell Beaker culture spread further into Eastern Europe, replacing the Corded Ware culture up to the Vistula (Poland). A review in 2014 revealed that single burial, communal burial, and reuse of Neolithic burial sites are found throughout
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#17327797630374898-406: The remains of 7 individuals of the Unetice culture buried in modern-day Poland and Czech Republic from c. 2300–1800 BC. The 7 samples of mtDNA extracted were determined to belong to haplogroup U4 , U2e1f1 , H6a1b , U5a1b1 , K1a4a1 , T2b and K1b1a . An additional male from the late Corded Ware culture or early Unetice culture in Łęki Małe , Poland of c. 2300–2000 BC was found to be a carrier of
4977-403: The tablets is not clear and the meaning of the incisions has not yet been deciphered. The prevailing theory is that they served a purpose in long-distance trade, possibly of metals. According to Harald Meller they probably represent a 'sign system' involved in trade. They are often found broken in two which may indicate some sort of credit/debt system. In 2010 a major exhibition was organized on
5056-555: The tombs varies, with the largest of all originally being the Bornhöck burial mound (the largest Bronze Age burial mound in central Europe), dating from c. 1800 BC. The mound belonged to a ruler or 'prince' who was likely associated with the Nebra sky disc . It was originally around 65 metres in diameter and 15 metres in height, but was mostly destroyed in the late 19th century. The mound was originally covered with white limestone (chalk) –
5135-502: The transition of the seasons, the harvest, or commemoration of the dead. The diameter and ground plan of the Pömmelte enclosure are almost identical to those of Stonehenge in Britain (built around 2500 BC), which was aligned with the solstices and has also been interpreted as serving a calendar function. According to excavators of the Pömmelte site, the similarities between both monuments indicate that they were built by "the same culture" (the Bell Beaker culture ) with "the same view of
5214-657: The use of a decimal system. The use of approximately 1 kilogram weight is also unusual as the kilogram was first introduced as a unit of measurement in 1793. Numerous 'enigmatic tablets' [ it ; de ] ( Brotlaibidole ) made from clay (and occasionally stone) have been found across central Europe and northern Italy, dating from the Early and Middle Bronze Age, including in Unetice Culture sites. The tablets are marked with sequences of geometric figures, such as circles, lines, points, crosses, etc. The function of
5293-404: The world". It has been suggested that the close similarity between the Pömmelte enclosure and earlier earth-and-timber circular enclosures, such as the Goseck Circle in Germany (c. 4900 BC) and henges in Britain, may indicate a continuation of traditions dating back to the early Neolithic . The Nebra Sky Disc, described as 'the oldest concrete depiction of astronomical phenomena in the world',
5372-631: The year, which may indicate quite advanced prehistoric astronomical observations. To date, over fifty Úněticean barrows have been found in Central Europe ; the majority of the monuments have been published in archaeological literature, but only about 60% of that number have been excavated according to modern standards. Some of the tombs found in the early 19th century such as the many tombs in Kościan County, Poland, were incorrectly identified and robbed or otherwise destroyed. The largest concentrations of Úněticean barrows, also known in archaeological literature as "princely graves", can be found: The size of
5451-428: Was a rectangular or oval pit 1-1.9 metres long, 0.6-1.2 metres wide and 0.30-1.5 metres deep. Depending on the shape of the bottom and depth, graves can be divided into four sub-types: rectangular, concave, trapezoid, or hourglass. One of the most prominent characteristics is the position of the body in the grave pit. The deceased were always buried in a north–south alignment, with the head south and facing east. The body
5530-488: Was also traded, but small fossil deposits may have been used as well as Baltic amber . Analyses of Early Bronze Age rings, ribs and axe blades from across central Europe have found that they had approximately standardised weights and probably served as a form of commodity money . In the first centuries of the second millennium BC, increasing precision in exchange was achieved by the introduction of lighter ingots. Certain artefacts (e.g. ösenrings ) may have also been used as
5609-439: Was approximately 25 metres in diameter and 5 metres in height. A gold axe and jewellery dating from c. 1800 BC were discovered at Dieskau in Germany and are thought to be associated with the ruler buried in the Bornhöck mound. A gold dagger dating from the Early Bronze Age has also been recovered from Inowrocław in Poland, associated with the Iwno culture . Gold weapons are known from other parts of Europe in this period, including
5688-438: Was buried with colour flint arrowheads). A body deposited within a grave might have been protected with mats made from plant materials or a coffin , but in the majority of cases there was no additional coverage of the corpse. A well-known example of wicker-made coffin inhumation derives from Bruszczewo fortified settlement, nearby Poznań in Greater Poland . In approximately 20% of burials, stone settings were found. Erection of
5767-541: Was discovered in Oberding , Germany, consisting of 796 ingots, dating from c. 1700 BC. The find is associated with the Straubing group. Most of the ingots were tied together with tree bast in bundles of ten, each individual ingot weighing approximately 100 grams on average and the bundles weighing approximately 1 kilogram each. Forty of these bundles were further grouped into bundles of ten (or 100 ingots). This indicates
5846-405: Was introduced by John Abercromby in 1904. In its early phase, the Bell Beaker culture can be seen as the western contemporary of the Corded Ware culture of Central Europe. From about 2400 BC the Beaker folk culture expanded eastwards, into the Corded Ware horizon. In parts of Central and Eastern Europe, as far east as Poland , a sequence occurs from Corded Ware to Bell Beaker. This period marks
5925-731: Was linked closely to the riverine and landward route, via the Loire , and across the Gâtinais Valley to the Seine Valley, and thence to the lower Rhine . This was a long-established route reflected in early stone axe distributions, and via this network, Maritime Bell Beakers first reached the Lower Rhine in c. 2600 BC. Another expansion brought Bell Beaker to Csepel Island in Hungary by about 2500 BC. In
6004-430: Was seen as a 'package' of knowledge (including religious beliefs, as well as methods of copper , bronze , and gold working) and artefacts (including copper daggers, v-perforated buttons, and stone wrist-guards ) adopted and adapted by the indigenous peoples of Europe to varying degrees. This new knowledge may have come about by any combination of population movements and cultural contact. An example might be as part of
6083-417: Was situated near a settlement, usually on a hill or acclivity and in the vicinity of a creek or river. The distance between the cemetery and the adjacent settlement very rarely exceeds 1 kilometre (0.62 mi). Cemeteries were usually spatially organized, with symmetrical rows or alleys. Burials of the Únětice culture are orientated according to stars and the relative position of the sun on the horizon during
6162-491: Was succeeded by the Únětice culture . The culture was widely dispersed throughout Western Europe, being present in many regions of Iberia and stretching eastward to the Danubian plains , and northward to the islands of Great Britain and Ireland , and was also present in the islands of Sardinia and Sicily and some coastal areas in north-western Africa . The Bell Beaker phenomenon shows substantial regional variation, and
6241-605: Was usually placed in the grave in a slightly contracted position. Exceptions from this rule are sporadic. In the classic phase (approximately 1850–1750 BC), the Úněticean burial rite displays strong uniformity, regardless of the gender or age of the deceased. Men and women were buried in the same north–south position. The grave goods consisted of ceramic vessels (usually 1–5), bronze items (jewellery and private belongings, rings, hair clips, pins etc.), bone artefacts (amulets and tools, including needles), occasionally flint tools (the burial of Archer from Nowa Wieś Wrocławska , for example,
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