Unetice culture

Osady i cmentarzyska ludności kultury unietyckiej z Wojkowic st. 15 i Ślęzy, st. 13 w powiecie wrocławskim, Early bronze age Únětice culture settlements and cementeries at Wojkowice, site 15, and Ślęza, site 13, district Wrocław, Śląskie Sprawozdania Archeologiczne, t. 48, s. 157-180.

Doposud se lokalizovaly možné trasy jantarových stezek hlavně na základě četnosti nálezů jantarové suroviny a šperků. V Německu se podařilo objevit sídliště z doby bronzové v místě nazývaném podle jantaru – Bernstorf 1. Dá se tenhle postup použít i na území Čech?
So far they localize possible routes of amber routes mainly based on the frequency of discoveries of amber jewelry and raw materials. In Germany, discovered a settlement from the Bronze Age in the place called by amber – Bernstorf. It is this technique used in Bohemia?
Bisher Localize Sie Mögliche Routen von Bernsteinstraßen vor allem auf die Häufigkeit der Entdeckungen von Bernsteinschmuck und Rohstoffe. In Deutschland Entdeckt aus der Bronzezeit eine Siedlung in der Platz von Bernstein benannt – Bernstorf. Es ist diese Technik verwendet in Böhmen?
KW: Bernstorf, Bernstein, Knovíz, amber, route, bronz age, Bronzezeit, Bernsteinstraßen, jantarová, stezka,

Settlements and landscape of the Únětice Culture in Saxony-Anhalt – the settlement components, their structure and location: Over the past approximately twenty years, Saxony-Anhalt has become another area where settlement features from the Únětice Culture are discovered with some regularity and in significant numbers. Aside from the known settlement pits, a multitude of individual components of the settlement and economic fabric have now come to light. The ground-plans of long houses as they have now become known represent the domestic and probably also the stabling areas and thus the cores of the settlements. Features including hearth, wells and loam extraction pits – together with special finds and possibly associated graves – have provided us with initial insights into the structure of the settlements and their access to important everyday resources. Components of an overarching organisation and communication, such as features linked with logistics and boundaries, can also be reconstructed. The overview that we have now gained thanks to large-scale open-area excavations and excavations along traffic routes has finally allowed us to make statements on the Early Bronze Age settlement landscape. The standard types of settlements were self-sufficient farmyards, homesteads and hamlets located quite close to each other in topographically favourable locations with access to water. We are gradually gaining a picture of an open, decentralised and relatively dense rural settlement system, which stands in stark contrast to the outstanding finds and princely graves characteristic of this culture.

H. Meller, Armeen in der Frühbronzezeit? In: H. Meller/M. Schefzik (Hrsg.), Krieg – eine archäologische Spurensuche. Begleitband zur Sonderausstellung im Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale) 6. November 2015 bis 22. Mai 2016 (Halle [Saale] 2015) 243-252.

At the beginning of the 5th millennium BC a specific type of ditched earthwork with a circular ground plan was created – commonly known as a circular ditched enclosure or so-called Kreisgrabenanlagen – which flourished for about 3oo years in Central Europe. Similar rondels were constructed in Central Europe from the transition to the 4th millennium BC and until the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Interpretations to their function remained hypothetical, mainly due to limited trial trenching investigations and little evidence. The comprehensive analysis of the extensively excavated rondel Pömmelte-Zackmünde has yielded a decisive gain in knowledge. The polythetic synthesis of all indices allows the Pömmelte-Zackmünde rondel to be interpreted as a monumental building with the primary function as and meaning of a sanctuary. Perhaps it was the metaphorical representation of a complex cosmology and was understood as an iconic warrant. Within the framework of a structured multifunctionality, proven and conjectural secondary and tertiary functions of subordinate relevance - for example as a burial ground, trading post, arena or fortification - may have stood in a close relationship with its primary function as a sacred building.

Chapter 11 - the excerpt of the monograph available here - places the findings of the Pömmelte-Zackmünde rondel into a wider context. It offers insights into the rondel phenomenon of the 4th–1st millennium BC in Central Europe – a field of research which has so far barely been discussed in science. The chapter is a contribution to resolve this desideratum.

Zusammen mit M. Zirm. In: H. Meller/S. Friederich/M. Küßner/H. Stäuble/R. Risch (Hrsg.), Siedlungsarchäologie des Endneolithikums und der frühen Bronzezeit - Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Settlement Archaeology. 11. Mitteldeutscher Archäologentag vom 18. bis 20. Oktober 2018 in Halle (Saale) 319-324.

This volume is yet another publication
in the Studien zur Archäologie in Ostmitteleuropa/
Studia nad Pradziejami Europy
Środkowej series. It is based on the author’s
doctoral dissertation concerning defensive
settlements in Central Europe. The latter
is one of the major focus areas in the archaeology
of the period around 2000 BCE,
encompassing numerous issues relating to
the key phenomena of the Early Bronze
age, such as social stratification, trade and
exchange, warfare and metal production.
At the same time, the book contributes to
the broader discussion on Bronze Age defensive
settlements presented as part of the
SAO/SPEŚ series, supplementing general
studies (volume 5), aspectual monographs
(volume 9) and the findings from research
conducted at the site in Bruszczewo (volumes
2, 13 and 14). This publication offers
a comparative study of four areas in Central
Europe: the Alpine region, south-western
Wielkopolska, the Middle Danube Basin
and Upper Tisza Basin, outlining a comprehensive
panorama of the phenomenon
and demonstrating regional variations. The
author delivers a well-ordered disquisition
concerning chief aspects of the functioning
of settlements in the aforesaid cultural-
-geographical regions, supported by abundant
data. Given the shortage of monographic
studies on the addressed issue,
this book constitutes a significant building
block in our knowledge about Bronze Age
settlement forms, and compellingly suggests
future directions of research.

Dwellings and settlements in Thuringia from the Final Neolithic period and the Early Bronze Age between 2500 and 1500 BC

The millennium during which the transition from the Neolithic period to the Bronze Age took place is very well represented in Thuringia, by both finds and features. The Final Neolithic and to the Early Bronze Age are  qually represented in terms of burials, but the same cannot be said for settlements. Only three dozen settlements from the Corded Ware and Bell Beaker Cultures have so far been found, many of which are not,
in fact, substantiated; the paper provides a summary of these.
The distribution of the sites shows that the physiogeographical requirements of the Corded Ware and Bell Beaker populations were similar. The Únětice settlements, on the other hand, are much more numerous. The 261 substantiated settlement sites allow us to draw concrete conclusions with regard to settlement behaviours of the Únětice Culture population. Since burials and settlements were obviously located near each other at the time, with hoards and isolated finds contributing further to the density of the archaeological record, the authors have been able to carry out a detailed analysis of the layout of the settlements, the areas that were settled and the settlement progress. The paper explores three microregions in detail with a particular emphasis on settlement-geographical aspects. As expected, environmental aspects such as soil quality and climatic conditions were revealed as the dominant factors with regard to the choice of location. The seeking out of black-earth soils in non-waterlogged locations favoured by a warm climate suggests an economic focus on crop cultivation. The year-round availability of water also played a major
role. Of lesser importance in the choice of location was the availability of as varied a range of natural resources – wetlands and forests – as possible. However, both ease of access and various social factors, which in some regions led to an increased settlement density, resulted in a picture which is much more multifaceted in its detail.
The settlement at Schloßvippach in the Sömmerda district is a good example of the typical internal structure of these settlements. Located on the banks of a small stream, the site consisted of a settlement, a cemetery, a ritual area and infrastructural elements such as paths and wells. Other settlements with more fragmented overall pictures can be added here and provide evidence of the existence of isolated farmsteads
as well as hamlet-like settlements.

A Large Únetice Culture building and an associated deposit from Dermsdorf, Sömmerda district – a preliminary report

The eastern Thuringian Basin has a high density of Early Bronze Age settlement remains. An unusual Únětice Culturesettlement was discovered in 2o11 at Dermsdorf, a mere 3.6 km from the large barrow at Leubingen. The site yielded a solitary, large, three-aisled building measuring 44 m in length and 11 m in width. The closest Early Bronze Age features were found some 15o m away. Apart from its size of 488 m2, which is highly unusual in an Únětice Culture context, an associated
deposit of copper and bronze items placed in a vessel is also worth mentioning. A total of 98 axes and axe blanks as well as two halberd blanks had been deposited in a small pit directly in front of the north-eastern gable end of the building. The deposition in an easily identified location, which was probably emphasised by the presumed entrance nearby, and the composition of the implements, which were deposited in their function as weapons, suggest that this was a votive offering.
Apart from the absence of hafts, the blanks at least were not ready for use, which suggests that this was probably an intentional case of pars pro toto selection representing the bearers of the weapons, a jointly operating military unit.
The Dermsdorf feature is given further importance by its location near the Leubingen barrow with its diameter of more than 48 m and other potential large barrows within a micro-landscape, which was very densely settled in the Early Bronze Age. This micro-region was characterised by some very high-quality soils, a mild climate, proximity to salt and copper deposits and an extremely favourable location on various trans-European north-east to south-west and north to south communication routes.
The features from Dermsdorf and Leubingen, together with other unusual discoveries from the area, as well as its generally quite dense settlement pattern, warrant the identification of a political and administrative, and probably also ritual, centre of power for an hierarchically structured society which included at least local groups if not even coalitions of local groups. The society was led by certain singular individuals like the person who was buried in the Leubingen barrow. The territory that was controlled from here probably encompassed at least the eastern Thuringian Basin.

"Within the frame of research excavations conducted in Saxony-Anhalt in 2005, a circular ditched enclosure of the Final Neolithic and the earlier Early Bronze Age was discovered near Pömmelte-Zackmünde. In the course of the total excavation begun in 2006 the site proved to be, to date, unique for this period in central Europe. According to its structure and its dating the enclosure can be described as a henge monument with the function of a cult site. It possesses a complex construction of several concentric rings of posts, pits and the circular ditch with earthen wall. At severallocations evidence for multiple pha- ses could be established. The find situation encountered without doubt allows the con- clusion that ritual activities were carried out within the enclosure. In particular these become tangible in the deposition of vessels, stone axes, human skulls, and animal bones. That also fire played a certain role within the rituals, can till now only be indi- rectly conjectured on the basis of ash infillings and several fragments of burnt bone in the features. The intentional deposition of objects reflects a revival of the hoard practice again at the end of the 3rd millennium B.C., which experienced a climax during the advanced Early Bronze Age.
The finds recovered from Pömmelte-Zackmünde allow the henge monument to be dated approximately to between 2300-2000 B.C. and to distinguish influences of three great cultures of the Final Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age of central Europe. Propor- tionally the least represented appears to be the Corded Ware, whereas elements of the Bell Beaker culture are more common. The early Unetice culture also emerges clearly as a component in the spectrum of finds. The question arises, whether those responsible for the circular ditched enclosure are descended from three differentiated cultural identities or, forms of the Final Neolithic Corded Ware and Bell Beaker cultures represent traditio- nal elements during the formative phase of the Early Bronze Age Unetice culture.
During the second half of the 3rd millennium and the first half of the 2nd millennium B.C.circular ditched enclosures are common in different parts of Europe, like in central and south east Europe and the British Isles.
With regard to its dating and especially its construction, the site of Pömmelte-Zack- münde finds its closest equivalents in the British henge monuments, for which a long- term use is proven since the Late Neolithic until the end of the Early Bronze Age. Such cannot as yet be confirmed for the central European circular enclosures, although first indications of an earlier beginning of the »circular ditch phenomenon« exist. The conti- nuation and increase of the circular ditch idea during the later Bronze and early Iron Age can be more clearly followed on the basis of circular enclosures and in the funerary ritual."

In: H. Meller/F. Bertemes (Hrsg.), Der Aufbruch zu neuen Horizonten. Neue Sichtweisen zur europäischen Frühbronzezeit. Abschlusstagung der Forschergruppe FOR550 vom 26. bis 29. November 2010 in Halle (Saale). Tagungen Landesmus. Vorgesch. Halle 19 (Halle [Saale] 2019) 243-257.

This article utilises skeletal evidence (n = 57) from settlement features and graves at Unterhautzenthal, Lower Austria, to outline our methodological approach to researching motherhood in prehistory. Unterhautzenthal includes the grave of a pregnant teenager, a triple burial of a woman with two children and a family grave of a man, woman and baby; additional women's graves include remains of neonates and young children. Comparing archaeological context information with osteobiographical data allows us to draw inferences about the social status of women and the ways Bronze Age motherhood was conceptualised. The archaeological approach includes a gender and age analysis of material culture and Social Index calculations. The osteological analyses include age at death, sex, body height, health indicators, and pathologies, with an emphasis on pelvic changes. Physical traces that may relate to strain through pregnancy and childbirth were explored in detail. In addition to morphological assessment of the entire skeletal collection, we applied tooth cemen-tum annulation analysis, 14 C dating, and δ 13 C/δ 15 N isotope analysis to selected individuals. These data, in conjunction with demographic modelling, enable us to draw conclusions about women's age at first pregnancy and the average number of children per woman, as well as the cultural and social context of motherhood.

The rondel enclosure at Pömmelte-Zackmünde, Salzlandkreis, consisting of several concentric circles, dates to the transition from the Final Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Its signif- icance as a sacred site and as a place for the performance of rituals, motivated – presumably – by religious and ideolog- ical ideas, can be deduced from the complexity of the architecture, the numerous deliberate depositions, and the  nds. That it also had a social function can be seen from the way in which the sacred space was organised and from the positioning of the burials within it. Through its architec- ture, the rondel was intended to reinforce the social order.
The  nds recovered from the rondel re ect the close links between the material remains of the local late Bell Beaker Culture population groups of Central Germany and the very early Únětice Culture groups. Stratigraphic indicators and absolute dates show the bearers of the Bell Beaker Culture to have been the original builders of the complex. During a second phase of use, the coexistence and close intermeshing of Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age cultural phenomena is evident. These are joined by a third component in the ce- ramic spectrum, which can be associated with residual in u- ences of the Single Grave Culture, of northern Central Euro- pean provenience, along the northern periphery of the Únětice Culture. Although features characteristic of different archaeologically-recognised cultural groups and various geographical regions can be identi ed, the material remains should not be taken as evidence that the rondel was used by successive groups of differing archaeological cultures. Rather, they bear witness to a cultural transition from the Bell Beaker Culture to the Únětice Culture between the 23rd century BC and 2oth century BC.

"excavated between 1999 und 2001. The C14 dates range across the entire course of Central Europe’s Early Bronze Age – from the proto-Únětice phase to the “post-classical” phase of the UC. The high point of the mortuary activities occurred between 2000 and 1750 BC (classical UC). Archaeometallurgical and archaeological studies of the finds (chisel, axe, dagger blades, pins, rich amber ornaments, sea shells, etc.) reflect cultural relationships ranging from the Baltic to the Alpine region. It is to be assumed that the people of Central Bohemia during the classical UC, due to their excellent geographic location in regard to traffic routes, profited from trade in metals and amber.

In Prag-Miškovice wurde zwischen 1999 und 2001 ein Gräberfeld der Aunjetitzer Kultur (AK) mit insgesamt 44 Gräbern entdeckt. Die 14C-Daten fallen in den gesamten Verlauf der mitteleuropäischen Frühbronzezeit – von der „Protoaunjetitzer“ Phase bis zur „nachklassischen“ Phase der AK. Schwerpunkt der Bestattungsaktivitäten liegt zwischen 2000–1750 BC (Klassische AK). Archäometallurgische und archäologische Untersuchungen des Fundmaterials (Meißel, Beil, Dolchklingen Nadeln, reicher Bernsteinschmuck, Meeresmuscheln usw.) spiegeln kulturelle Beziehungen von der Ostsee bis zum Alpenraum. Es ist anzunehmen, dass die Bevölkerung Mittelböhmens während der Klassischen AK durch die exzellente verkehrsgeographische Lage vom Austausch von Metall und Bernstein profitierte."

Die vor allem durch Grabfunde bekannte Aunjetitzer Kultur blickt heute auf eine über 100-jährige Forschungsgeschichte zurück. In jüngerer Zeit haben vor allem die Arbeiten von M. Bartelheim, E. Lauermann und B. Zich die Aunjetitzer Kultur wieder in das breitere Forschungsinteresse gerückt. Während die Aunjetitzer Kultur auf diese Weise für Böhmen, Ostdeutschland und Niederösterreich in den vergangenen 20 Jahren vergleichsweise gut aufgearbeitet wurde, führt die Region Mähren dagegen in der Forschung ein nahezu „stiefmütterliches“ Dasein. Vergleichbare Darstellungen fehlen hier, sind veraltet oder beleuchten nur Teilaspekte wie die soziale Differenzierung. Basierend auf einer Stichprobe von publizierten Gräberfeldern der Aunjetitzer Kultur Mährens und deren Inventar widmet sich die Arbeit daher den Unterschieden und Ähnlichkeiten zum Inventar der umgebenden Regionen. Auch räumlichen und zeitlichen Mustern wird dabei nachgegangen.

Famous especially through its grave finds the Aunjetitz (Únetice) culture today looks back on over 100 years of research history. More recently – and particularly by the research works of M. Bartelheim, E. Lauermann and B. Zich – the Aunjetitz culture has come back into the wider research interest. While the research work on the Aunjetitz culture has been done relatively well in this way for Bohemia, the eastern parts of Germany and Lower Austria in the past 20 years, the Moravian region lacks this quantity and quality of research and discussion. Similar publications are missing here, are outdated or only focus on aspects such as social differentiation. Based on a sample of published cemeteries of the Aunjetitz culture of Moravia and their inventory, this work, therefore, focuses on the differences and similarities to the inventory of the surrounding regions. Also spatial and temporal patterns are investigated.

written in 2009; authors: D. Duchniewski, A. Moser, T. Schunke, P. Viol;      Siedlung Aunjetitzer Kultur, Gehöft, Weiler, Hausgrundrisse Typ  „Zwenkau“, Grundrissvarianten, feuchte Senke, Tümpel, Steg

Early Bronze Age settlement, Unetice Culture, homestead, ground-plans “Zwenkau” type, extraordinary post construction, sometimes-waterlogged hollow, footbridge

The Únětice culture cemetery in Klecany, Central Bohemia. New research and a re-analysis of older finds enabled a rich cemetery of the Únětice culture (Early Bronze Age) in Klecany (distr. Prague-East) to be identified. One of the newly examined graves contained a dagger blade and an axe with spoon-shaped blade. The axe surface bears use wear traces, which rules out its exclusive role as a symbolic artefact. Textile remains were preserved in the corroded surface layers. A 14C date of 3478 ± 31 BP (2σ 1888–1736 and 1712–1695 BC) was obtained from the skeleton.

The purpose of the paper is to summarize current findings from the study of the chronology of Únětice Culture in Silesia and to draw attention to the challenge of fitting this culture unit into the existing chronological schemes developed for Early Bronze Age in Poland and some of the adjacent regions.
Fifty radiocarbon dates currently available for Silesia were secured at 15 sites and from features of assorted function and chronology – ritual (human burials, animal graves, a barrow, features with an unspecified ritual function, etc.) and, much less numerous, settlement features. Most of these dates were obtained from bone samples – mainly human, more rarely, animal skeletal remains. Unfortunately, most of them are not easy to interpret owing to the absence of grave goods, the complexity of imperfectly understood processes of formation and transformation of these deposits, and to the inadequate level of publication of materials or their outright lack.
Analysis of the radiocarbon dates of interest induces us to approach with caution some of the findings on periodization, especially those which base on at times inadequate empirical data and do not take into sufficient account the role of depositional and postdepositional factors. Also significant are discrepancies between the dating of artefacts and the results of radiocarbon determinations. A closer analysis of calibrated radiocarbon dates has raised questions with regard to many earlier findings, such as those related to the Nowa Cerekwia Group or to the origin of fortified settlements.
Using the series of dates from Silesia the authors propose to develop a scheme of absolute chronology of the development of local Early Bronze communities. This is possible especially for Únětice Culture, with the following dating of its successive phases: phases I-II - 2200-2100/2050 BC, phases III-IV - 2100/2050-1950 BC, phase V - 1950-1700 BC and phase VI - 1700-1600 BC. On the other hand, there is a severe shortage of dating for assemblages from the older phases of the Bronze Age.

Over a period of more than 10 years, Horsens Museum undertook a series of excavations at Østbirk, north of Horsens. These resulted in an extensive and diverse body of evidence from a settlement area with scattered houses and an associated cemetery with barrows and flat-field graves. The two areas lay together within a melt-water valley that also framed their areal extent. In dating terms, the burial ground extends from the Single Grave culture to the early Pre-Ro-man Iron Age, while the settlement is restricted to the period from the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age period IA (EBA IA), 2350-1600 BC. Neither the settlement nor the burial ground have been fully exposed , but collectively these two areas provide an excellent insight into a local agrarian community that, in the course of the Late Ne-olithic, developed under successive external cultural influences. In Late Neolithic I (LN I), these were, in the first instance, from the northern Jutish Bell Beaker environment, while in Late Neolithic II (LN II) they came from southern Sweden and the continental Únětice culture. The changes saw expression in not only a number of new artefact types but also in completely new grave forms and house types. In LN II, the latter included the hybrid house and the three-aisled longhouse, which both occurred together with the traditional two-aisled longhouse with a sunken floor. Throughout the entire habitation period, the settlement consisted of small households that, via economic cooperation, were able to practise intensive arable agriculture aimed at producing an economic surplus. The special significance of arable agriculture is demonstrated , first and foremost, by the farmsteads' utility-or economy buildings, and it was perhaps an increased need for these buildings that led to the development of new types of longhouses at the end of the period. The locality lay on one of the area's important travel and communication routes and later, in the Bronze Age, a palisade was built across the mouth of the valley, probably to regulate or control movement through this natural bottleneck.

About 4000 amber artefacts from the Bohemian Aunjetitz culture are known from a total of 112 sites, mainly burial grounds (90 sites / 312 graves). We date nearly all of the finds to the classical Aunjetitz culture (ca. 2050/2000–1750 B. C.). The amber comes from 15–20 % of all graves of this period. Analyses have confirmed the Baltic origin of the amber. Bohemia is far richer in amber than all of the surrounding regions and was the main target area for trade with amber in the central European region. If we can speak at all about an “Amber Road” for this period, it leads from
the Polish Baltic coast to Bohemia. Amber was then redistributed from Bohemia to further regions
(Moravia, the Danube Valley, central Germany).

In: H. Meller/F. Bertemes (Hrsg.), Der Aufbruch zu neuen Horizonten. Neue Sichtweisen zur europäischen Frühbronzezeit. Abschlusstagung der Forschergruppe FOR550 vom 26. bis 29. November 2010 in Halle (Saale). Tagungen Landesmus. Vorgesch. Halle 19 (Halle [Saale] 2019) 101-111.

An Early‑Bronze ‑Age settlement with an enclosure was unearthed in Brandýs nad Labem in 2007–2016. The settlement pits and the ditch yielded one of  the richest collections of  Early Bronze Age pottery in the whole of  Bohemia. Since the previous knowledge about Early Bronze Age settlements is very poor, the site of  Brandýs nad Labem offers a good opportunity to introduce the typology of  settlement pottery and to sketch the possi‑bilities of  chronology and their relation to the burials. On the basis of  the poor evidence for the classic phase of  the Únětice culture and numerous analogies in the Věteřov culture, is it possible to date the ceramic ensemble to the post ‑classic phase of  the Únětice culture, which in some cases contradicts the radiocarbon dates.