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Lusatian culture

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Lusatian culture
Lusatian culture's furthest extent (green)
Alternative namesLausitz culture
Geographical rangeCentral Europe
PeriodLate Bronze Age to early Iron Age
Datesc. 1200–500 BC
Preceded byTrzciniec culture, Tumulus culture, Nordic Bronze Age, Urnfield culture
Followed byPomeranian culture, Cimmerians

The Lusatian culture existed in the later Bronze Age and early Iron Age (1300–500 BC) in most of what is now Poland and parts of what are now the Czech Republic, Slovakia, eastern Germany and western Ukraine. It covers the Periods Montelius III (early Lusatian culture) to V of the Northern European chronological scheme.[1] It has been associated or closely linked with the Nordic Bronze Age.[2] Hallstatt influences can also be seen particularly in ornaments (fibulae, pins) and weapons.

Origins

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Reconstructed Biskupin (Poland)

The Lusatian culture developed as the preceding Trzciniec culture experienced influences from the Tumulus culture of the Middle Bronze Age, essentially incorporating the local communities into the socio-political network of Iron Age Europe.[3] It formed part of the Urnfield systems, origin of the Celts and Italic peoples, including the Romans,[4][5][6][7] found from eastern France, southern Germany and Austria, to Hungary and the Nordic Bronze Age in northwestern Germany and Scandinavia. It was followed by the Billendorf culture [de] of the Early Iron Age to the west. In the area that is now modern-day Poland, the Lusatian culture was succeeded by the Pomeranian culture.

Lusatian-type burials were first described by the German pathologist and archaeologist Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902). The name refers to the Lusatia area in eastern Germany (Brandenburg and Saxony) and western Poland.

Early German scholars, particularly those influenced by Gustaf Kossinna's settlement archaeology approach, sometimes interpreted the culture as an early Germanic one.[8][9] Virchow himself identified the pottery artifacts as "pre-Germanic", but did not speculate on the ethnicity of their makers.[10][11]

The Tollense valley battlefield (c. 1250 BC), located in a border zone with Nordic Bronze Age and Urnfield influences, shows evidence of mixed warrior groups with diverse material culture and genetic profiles, but does not resolve the broader ethnic or linguistic affiliation of the Lusatian complex.[12]

The Polish archeologist Józef Kostrzewski, who in 1934 started extensive excavations of a Lusatian settlement of Biskupin, hypothesised that the Lusatian culture was a forerunner of later cultures belonging to the early Slavs.[13] Modern archeologists, such as both Kazimierz Godłowski and Piotr Kaczanowski [pl], hold the view that the ethnic geography of Bronze Age Central Europe then included peoples whose languages and ethnic identity are simply unknown.[14][15]

Culture

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Burial was by cremation; inhumations are rare. The urn is usually accompanied by numerous (up to 40) secondary vessels. Metal grave gifts are sparse, but there are numerous hoards (such as Kopaniewo, Pomerania) that contain rich metalwork, both bronze and gold (hoard of Eberswalde, Brandenburg). Graves containing moulds (like at Bataune, in Saxony) and tuyeres attest to the production of bronze tools and weapons at the village level. The "royal" tomb of Seddin, Brandenburg, Germany, covered by a large earthen barrow, contained Mediterranean imports like bronze vessels and glass beads. Cemeteries can be quite large and contain thousands of graves.

Well-known settlements include Biskupin, in Poland, and Buch, near Berlin. There are both open villages and fortified settlements (burgwall or gord) on hilltops or in swampy areas. The ramparts were constructed of wooden boxes filled with soil or stones.

Its economy was mainly based on arable agriculture, as is attested by numerous storage pits. Emmer wheat and six-row barley formed the basic crops, together with millet, rye and oats, peas, broad beans, lentils, and gold of pleasure (Camelina sativa). Flax was grown, and remains of domesticated apples, pears, and plums have been found. Cattle and pigs were the most important domestic animals, followed by sheep, goats, horses, and dogs. Pictures on Iron Age urns from Silesia attest horse riding, but horses were used to draw chariots as well. Hunting was practiced, as bones of red and roe deer, boar, European bison, elk, hare, fox, and wolf attest, but it did not provide much of the meat consumed. The numerous frog bones found at Biskupin may indicate that frogs' legs were eaten as well.

Scythian incursions and decline

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During the 6th and 5th centuries BC, communities associated with the Lusatian cultural complex came into contact with the expanding Scythian cultural sphere, whose influence had already reached the Carpathian Basin and the Great Hungarian Plain. Scythian-type bronze arrowheads, weapons, horse equipment and ornaments have been found at numerous sites in present-day Poland, Slovakia and eastern Germany. In south-western Slovakia, large numbers of Scythian-type triangular bronze arrowheads associated with groups archaeologically connected with the Vekerzug culture have been interpreted as evidence of violent conflict, while in Poland and neighbouring regions similar finds occur at fortified settlements showing evidence of destruction or abandonment.[16][17]

The scale and consequences of these incursions remain debated. The archaeological evidence does not necessarily indicate a single, coordinated invasion across Central Europe, and steppe-related artefacts may in some cases reflect exchange or cultural interaction as well as warfare. Nevertheless, in several regions the combination of weapon finds, destruction and abandonment has been interpreted as evidence of violent raiding and warfare that contributed to the destabilization of Lusatian communities.[17][16]

In the following centuries, the former Lusatian cultural area underwent further cultural transformation. In northern and central Poland, Lusatian traditions were followed in many areas by the Pomeranian culture, while in southern regions increasing Hallstatt and, later, La Tène influences accompanied the appearance of Celtic settlements.[18]

Genetics

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Genetic research on populations associated with the Lusatian cultural complex has been limited by the widespread practice of cremation during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, which considerably reduces the availability of well-preserved ancient DNA. Recent archaeogenetic research has nevertheless provided data from a small number of uncremated burials associated with Lusatian and wider Urnfield contexts. These populations formed part of the broader genetic landscape of Late Bronze Age Central Europe, which itself retained ancestry ultimately derived from Bronze Age steppe populations.[19]

R1a is the most frequently reported Y-chromosomal lineage among the small number of currently published Lusatian-associated individuals, although R1b is also documented. The 2026 study identified R1a in LBP001 from Łabędy-Przyszówka and NCE005 from Nowa Cerekwia, with NCE005 assigned to R1a-Z645, while KOR015 from Kornice, associated with an early Late Bronze Age Urnfield/Lusatian context, carried an R1b-P312 lineage.[19] Earlier data also reported R1a among Lusatian-associated individuals from Turlojiske in northern Poland.[20] Because the available sample is very small and strongly affected by the predominance of cremation, it cannot establish the actual frequency of R1a, R1b or other Y-chromosomal lineages in the Lusatian population as a whole.

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See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ↑ "This Late Bronze Age belt hook from Radolinek (former Floth), woj. wielkopolskie ['Greater Poland voivodeship', Poland], shows two ships, keels facing each other, on each of which a figure stands with arms raised in worship. Above each ship, three phases of the sun's journey are shown. The sun is pulled across the sky by birds and only seems to rest at its zenith. The metal plate is framed at the edges by two more sun-ships." — Meller (2021)[22]

References

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  1. ↑ Ljungström, Rasmus (2001). OPIA 26. Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia (Report). Occasional Papers in Archaeology (in Swedish). Vol. 26. Uppsala, SV: Uppsala University. Archived from the original on 16 May 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2023 – via arkeologi.uu.se.
  2. ↑ Kaliff, Anders (2001). "Gothic connections: Contacts between eastern Scandinavia and the southern Baltic coast 1000 BC – 500 AD". OPIA 26 (Report). Occasional Papers in Archaeology. Vol. 26. Uppsala, SV: Uppsala University. Archived from the original on 16 May 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2011 – via arkeologi.uu.se.
  3. ↑ Dolukhanov, Pavel M. (1996). The Early Slavs: Eastern Europe from the Initial Settlement to the Kievan Rus. New York: Longman. p. 113. ISBN 0-582-23627-4.
  4. ↑ Schrijver, Peter (2016). "Sound Change, the Italo-Celtic Linguistic Unity, and the Italian Homeland of Celtic". In Koch, John T.; Cunniffe, Barry (eds.). Celtic From the West 3: Atlantic Europe in the Metal Ages: Questions of shared language. Oxford: Oxbow Books. pp. 9, 489–502.
  5. ↑ Lorrio, Alberto. "The Celts in Iberia: An Overview". E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies. 6.
  6. ↑ Quiles, Carlos (17 November 2019). "R1b-L23-rich Bell Beaker-derived Italic peoples from the West vs. Etruscans from the East". Indo-European.eu. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  7. ↑ "Early European Cultures: Urnfield Culture / Proto-Celts". historyfiles.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  8. ↑ Kossinna, Gustaf (1912). Die deutsche Vorgeschichte: eine hervorragend nationale Wissenschaft (in German).
  9. ↑ Veit, Ulrich (2002). "Gustaf Kossinna and His Concept of a National Archaeology". In Heinrich Härke (ed.). Archaeology, Ideology and Society: The German Experience (2nd, revised ed.). Frankfurt am Main; Berlin: Lang. pp. 40–64. ISBN 9780820454719.
  10. ↑ Virchow, Rudolf (1874). Über die Lausitzer Gräberfelder. (various papers on Nieder-Lausitz burials).
  11. ↑ Buck, Dietmar-Wilfried R.; Buck, Dagmar (2022). Die Lausitzer Gruppe – Studien zur Lausitzer Kultur VIII [The Lusatian Group – Studies on the Lusatian Culture VIII]. Beiträge UFG Mitteleuropa | BUFM (in German). Vol. 100. Langenweissbach, Saxony, Germany: Beier & Beran, Archäologische Fachliteratur. ISBN 978-3-95741-122-8. [Reviews of the publication (in German)].
  12. ↑ Jantzen, Detlef; Brinker, Ute; Orschiedt, Jörg; Heinemeier, Jan; Piek, Jürgen; Hauenstein, Karlheinz; Krüger, Joachim; Lidke, Gundula; Lübke, Harald; Lampe, Reinhard; Lorenz, Sebastian; Schult, Manuela; Terberger, Thomas (May 2011). "A Bronze Age battlefield? Weapons and trauma in the Tollense Valley, north-eastern Germany". Antiquity. 85 (328): 417–433. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00067843.
  13. ↑ Kostrzewski, Józef (1939). Od mezolitu do okresu wędrówek ludów, Prehistoria ziem polskich [From the Mesolithic to the Migration Period, Prehistory of Polish Lands] (in Polish).
  14. ↑ Godłowski, K. (1979). Z badań nad zagadnieniem rozprzestrzeniania Słowian w V–VII w. n.e. [From the research on the spread of the Slavs in the 5th–7th centuries AD] (in Polish). Kraków, PL: Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza im S. Staszica. LCCN 80128712.
  15. ↑ Kaczanowski, P. [in Polish] (2003). Epoka brązu – pomiędzy centrami cywilizacyjnymi Bałkanów i Alp a Skandynawią [Bronze Age – between the civilization centers of the Balkans and the Alps and Scandinavia]. Wielka historia Polski (in Polish). Vol. I. Kraków, Poland: Fogra. p. 170.
  16. 1 2 Horňák, Milan (2019). "Kolaps osídlenia kultúr popolnicových polí s dôrazom na lužickú kultúru v priestore dnešného juhozápadného Slovenska" [Collapse of settlements of Urnfield cultures with an emphasis on Lusatian culture in the area of today's south-western Slovakia]. Zborník Slovenského národného múzea – Archeológia. 29: 91–100.
  17. 1 2 Nebelsick, Louis D. (2024). "Violent Raiding, Systematic Slaving, and Sweeping Depopulation? Re-Evaluating the Scythian Impact on Central Europe through the Lens of the Witaszkowo/Vettersfelde Hoard". Arts. 13 (2): 57. doi:10.3390/arts13020057.
  18. ↑ Nowakowski, Wojciech (2018). "Eastern Central Europe: Between the Elbe and the Dnieper". The Oxford Handbook of the European Iron Age. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696826.013.41.
  19. 1 2 Orfanou, Eleftheria; Ghalichi, Ayshin; Rohrlach, Adam B.; et al. (2026). "Reconstruction of the lifeways of Central European Late Bronze Age communities using ancient DNA, isotope and osteoarchaeological analyses". Nature Communications. 17 (1) 1992. Bibcode:2026NatCo..17.1992O. doi:10.1038/s41467-026-69895-y. PMC 12932679. PMID 41735297.
  20. ↑ "The genetic origin of the Goths". Genomic Atlas. 26 October 2023.
  21. ↑ Kaczmarek, Maciej; et al. (December 2022). "Kaliska I: A Late Bronze Age metal hoard from Pomerania (Poland)". Antiquity. 96 (390): 1612–1620. doi:10.15184/aqy.2022.119. ISSN 0003-598X. S2CID 253071583. Archived from the original on 28 December 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  22. 1 2 Meller, Harald (2021). "The Nebra sky disc – astronomy and time determination as a source of power". Time is power. Who makes time?. 13th Archaeological Conference of Central Germany. Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale). ISBN 978-3-948618-22-3. Archived from the original on 13 July 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2022.

Further reading

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  • Coles, J. M.; Harding, A. F. (1979). The Bronze Age in Europe. London: Methuen.
  • Dabrowski, J. (1986). "Nordische Kreis und Kulturen Polnischer Gebiete". In Ambrosiani, B. (ed.). Die Bronzezeit im Ostseegebiet. Kgl. Schwedischen Akademie der Literatur-Geschichte und Altertumsforschung über das Julita-Symposium 1986. Konferenser 22: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien (in German and Swedish). Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International (published 1989). Direct download link (41kB).
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