Urnfield culture

The Urnfield culture (around 1300–750 BC) was a late Bronze Age culture found across Central Europe. It is known for its special way of dealing with the dead: people were cremated, and their ashes were placed in containers called urns, which were then buried in fields. This is why it is called the Urnfield culture.

The name "Urnfield culture" was first used in the late 19th century after researchers studied grave sites in southern Germany. This culture came after the Tumulus culture and was later followed by the Hallstatt culture.

Some experts think that the people of the Urnfield culture may have spoken an early form of Celtic language, possibly a pre-Celtic or Proto-Celtic language. By the end of the second millennium BC, their way of life had spread to many places, including Italy, northwestern Europe, and even as far west as the Pyrenees.

During this time, people also began building fortified settlements on hilltops and developed new skills in working with bronze metal. These changes once led some researchers to think that the spread of the Urnfield culture was linked to the early expansion of the Celts, but this idea is not accepted today.

Chronology

See also: Bronze Age Europe

The Urnfield culture began around 1200 BC in places like southwestern Germany. It grew slowly from the Middle Bronze Age. This culture is different from the later Hallstatt culture of the Iron Age.

The Urnfield culture has some time periods, but it can be hard to know exactly when they started and ended. Some experts debate the dates. Better dating methods could help answer these questions.

Origin

The Urnfield culture came from the older Tumulus culture. Changes happened slowly, affecting pottery styles and how people buried their dead. In parts of Germany, people buried their dead by burning their bodies or placing the whole body in the ground. Some graves had a mix of Tumulus-culture pottery and Urnfield swords.

Burning the dead and putting their ashes in urns to bury started in Hungary. Even earlier, around 5500 BC, people in the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture in parts of modern-day Romania and Ukraine also burned their dead. Cremation later appeared in other cultures, like the Proto-Lusatian and Trzciniec cultures.

Distribution and local groups

The Urnfield culture spread across a wide area, from western Hungary to eastern France, and from the Alps up toward the North Sea. Different local groups were known by the shapes of their pottery.

These groups include the South-German Urnfield culture, with subgroups like the Northeast-Bavarian Group in lower Bavarian and upper Palatinate areas, and the Lower-Main-Swabian group in southern Hesse and Baden-Württemberg. Another group, the Rhenish-Swiss group, lived in Rhineland-Palatinate, Switzerland, and eastern France.

Other important cultures were the Lower-Rhine Urnfield culture with groups like the Lower Hessian and North-Netherlands-Westphalian, and the Middle-Danube Urnfield culture, which included cultures such as Velatice-Baierdorf in Moravia and Austria, and Čaka culture in western Slovakia.

Sometimes the spread of objects from these groups had clear borders, perhaps showing early political groups. Metal items were shared more widely than pottery, possibly made in special workshops for many people.

Important places in France include Châtenay and Lingolsheim in Alsace. A special earthwork was built at Goloring near Koblenz in Germany.

Related cultures

The central European Lusatian culture is part of the Urnfield tradition and lasted into the Iron Age.

The Piliny culture in northern Hungary and Slovakia also buried people in urns and used similar pottery styles to the Gáva culture.

In Italy, cultures like the Canegrate and Villanovan culture had similarities to the Urnfield culture. The Latins later became powerful and helped start the ancient Roman civilization.

Urnfields were found in France’s Languedoc and Catalonia from the 9th to 8th centuries BC.

Some experts think the Urnfield culture might be linked to early Proto-Celtic language groups. The Hallstatt culture came after, leading to the La Tène culture and early Continental Celts.

The Golasecca culture in northern Italy grew from the Canegrate culture and showed traits of Celtic language.

The Urnfield culture’s ideas reached the northeastern coast of Iberia, influencing groups like the Celtiberians.

Migrations

See also: Iron Age Greek migrations and Sea Peoples

Some scholars thought that the Urnfield culture showed signs of big changes. They looked at old treasures and strong forts called hill forts as clues.

Written records tell us about big changes happening around the same time in places like the Eastern Mediterranean, Anatolia, and the Levant. These changes include the end of the Mycenean culture around 1200 BC, the destruction of Troy around the same time, battles led by Ramses III against groups known as the Sea Peoples between 1195 and 1190 BC, the end of the Hittite empire in 1180 BC, and the Philistines settling in Canaan around 1170 BC.

Some scholars, like Wolfgang Kimmig and P. Bosch-Gimpera, suggested that many people moved across Europe during this time. They also linked this to what is called the Dorian invasion in Greece, though newer evidence shows the Dorians arrived later, around 1100 BC, after the Mycenean culture had already ended.

Ethnicity

The Urnfield culture was part of the Indo-European language family. There were many different groups in this culture. They may have been related to early groups such as the Celts, Italics, Veneti, Illyrians, Phrygians, Thracians, and Dorians. During a time called the Bronze Age collapse, new customs, styles, and beliefs spread from the Urnfield areas to other parts of Europe.

Settlements

More places where people lived appeared during the Urnfield culture time than before. Many of these places were on hilltops or near rivers. They had strong walls made from stone or wood to keep people safe. Inside, people lived in big houses with wooden frames and walls made from sticks and mud.

Fortified places on hills became common. They used natural features like steep slopes to help protect themselves and built walls from stone, wood, or both. Some think these forts show there was more fighting during this time. Examples of these strong places include Bullenheimer Berg, Ehrenbürg, and Biskupin among others.

Open settlements had houses with one or two rooms, made from wood and walls of sticks and mud. Some houses were small, while others were much larger. People also stored food in big pits in the ground.

On lakes in southern Germany and Switzerland, people built houses on wooden platforms in the water. These give us important clues about how people lived during this time.

Material culture

The Urnfield culture is known for its well-made pottery with smooth surfaces and sharp shapes. Some pots looked like metal. They had simple decorations cut into the surface, sometimes filled with shiny tin.

Warriors wore armor made of bronze, including helmets and shields. They used swords good for cutting, different from older swords. These swords had handles made of bronze, wood, or bone.

People used wagons and chariots with bronze parts. Small bronze models of wagons found in graves show they were important.

Hoards, or collections of valuable objects, were common. These were often placed in rivers or swamps, maybe as gifts to the gods. Sometimes they had broken or unfinished objects for craftsmen to reuse.

Iron

See also: Ferrous metallurgy § Iron Age Europe

An iron knife found in Slovakia from around the 18th century BC might be the oldest evidence of iron use in Central Europe. Other early iron items include a ring from Germany from about the 15th century BC, and a chisel from Germany from around 1000 BC. During the late Bronze Age, iron was used to decorate sword handles, knives, and pins. The area around the Carpathian Basin was an early center for iron technology, with iron objects dating back to the 10th century BC. Regular use of iron for tools and weapons in Central Europe started with the Hallstatt culture.

Economy

People in the Urnfield culture kept animals like cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, dogs, and geese. Their cattle were small, about 1.20 meters tall. Horses were a little bigger.

They cleared forests to make space for farming. They grew crops such as wheat, barley, pulses, and horse beans. They used poppy seeds for oil and medicine. Millet and oats were first grown in Hungary and Bohemia. Flax was less important because they mostly used wool for clothes. They collected fruits like hazel nuts, apples, pears, sloes, and acorns. Some rich graves had bronze tools.

They spun wool and wove it on special looms, using bronze needles for sewing. Copper mining was very important, especially in the northern Eastern Alps. They used wooden tools for counting and managing things. Salt production began in the Salzkammergut region, with mining of rock salt. They used scales for trade and metal pieces as a form of payment.

Numerals

Further information: Frankleben hoard

In the Bronze Age, many sickles found in central Europe had special markings. These markings might have been used to count days using the moon. Experts think these lines and dots could be an early way of writing or keeping track of numbers.

The sickles and other tools from that time also show more marks that might mean different things, like showing who owned them or keeping records. Some of these marks look like simple numbers and could have been used for trading or tracking time.

Golden hats

Main article: Golden hat

Four special cone-shaped hats made from thin gold sheets were found in Germany and France. They date from around 1500 to 800 BC, during a time called the Tumulus culture to Urnfield period. These hats might have been worn for special ceremonies by important people.

The gold hats are covered with bands of beautiful designs and symbols. These symbols include disks, circles, wheels, crescents, and shapes like triangles. Experts think some of these symbols might represent the sun and the moon.

Calendar

One of the hats, called the Berlin Gold Hat, has symbols that might show a special way to keep track of time, called a lunisolar calendar. The hat also has symbols that might represent the planet Venus. Experts think these gold hats and other decorated objects from the same time show that people back then had advanced skills and knowledge about the stars and the sky. They were likely part of a society with clear leaders and special traditions.

Funerary customs

During the Urnfield period, people usually burned their dead and put the ashes in urns buried in fields. This was different from earlier ways of burial. The urns were often placed in flat graves, sometimes under small mounds. At first, graves were shaped like people, but later, urns became the main way to bury the dead.

Burials often included small items like bowls, cups, and pieces of jewellery placed with the urn. Some graves had broken weapons or tools, showing respect for the person. Richer graves might have special wooden boxes or even tiny wagons, and sometimes held more than one person. These customs show how people honoured their dead long ago.

Cult

People from the Urnfield culture liked to show birds that live near water in pictures and sculptures. They also put special items in rivers and swamps. This suggests they had strong beliefs about water. Some think this was because there were serious droughts at the time. These water birds were sometimes shown with circles, called the sun-barque or solar boat.

Important places for worship included the Goloring earthwork in Germany, which might have helped track the calendar. Other famous sites like Pömmelte in Germany and Stonehenge in Britain share similar designs. In caves in Thuringia, scientists found bones and other items that might have been offerings. Items like grain, plant fibers, hair, and bronze tools were also left behind as offerings.

Genetics

See also: Bell Beaker culture § Genetics, Unetice culture § Genetics, Hallstatt culture § Genetics, La Tène culture § Genetics, Celts § Genetics, and Italic peoples § Genetics

Scientists studied old bones from people who lived during the Urnfield culture time. In March 2015, they looked at a man from Halberstadt, Germany, who lived around 1100–1000 BC. They learned special information about his family history.

Another study in March 2019 showed that during a big change from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, many people from north and central Europe moved to places like Iberia. This movement might be linked to the spread of the Urnfield culture. The studies also showed that in the Urnfield culture, men usually stayed in one place while women might move to join new families.