Unetice culture

Unetice cup, " Cypriot " loop head pin, Ösenkopfnadel cast bronze objects

The term Unetice Culture ( Czech Únětická kultura named after the locality Únětice / Aunjetitz in Bohemia, north of Prague ) denotes a property, community property of the Early Bronze Age in the period from about 2300 BC to 1600/1500 BC It is based on the Late Neolithic cultures produced the Bell Beaker and Corded Ware. After 1600 BC it is replaced by the Barrow Bronze Age. The name " Úněticer culture" first appeared in 1910, published "Manual of Czech archeology " of Prague Karel prehistorians Buchtela and Lubor Niederle.

Distribution area and adjacent cultural groups

The distribution of Unetice culture during the Bz A1 Reinecke - stage runs from Thuringia, Saxony -Anhalt, Saxony, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, south-western Slovakia to Lower Austria north of the Danube.

During stage Bz A2 it can also be in the eastern Lower Saxony, Brandenburg and demonstrate the southwestern Poland. The archaeological finds of Unetice Culture in Mecklenburg -Vorpommern, however, regarded as imports.

Simultaneous, neighboring cultural groups are:

• In the West: Straubinger group, Eagle Mountain culture and Singen group
• In the Northwest: later Soegel Circle
• In the North and Northeast: Iwno group Grobia group
• In the East: Mierzanowice group Chlopice - Vesele group.
• In the southeast: Nitra group, later Mad'arovce group ( = Boeheimkirchen - Věteřov )
• In the South: Unterwölbling group Wieselburger group, later Boeheimkirchen - Věteřov

Important findings

The most famous finds of Unetice come from the grave mound of Leubingen near Erfurt in Thuringia, the grave mound of Helmsdorf in Mansfeld in Saxony- Anhalt, the grave of Dieskau and the grave of Leki Małe. The first two grave mounds, each 34 meters in diameter could be dated dendrochronological: Leubingen to 1942 ( ± 10) BC and Helmsdorf to 1840 ( ± 60) BC ( dating of the dead load of Helmsdorf ).

Custodian finds

• Depots of Dieskau, Saalekreis, Saxony- Anhalt.
• Depots of Melz, Mecklenburg Lake District, Mecklenburg- Vorpommern. 2400-1900 BC
• Custodian of Kyhna, County North Saxony, Saxony.
• Custodian of Bennewitz (OT of Gröbers in Halle / Saale), Saxony- Anhalt.
• Custodian of Guben / Bresinchen, Spree-Neisse district, Brandenburg. about 1700 BC

• See also: More Depot finds the Unetice culture

Cemeteries

Nohra, Großbrembach and Unterhautzenthal (Lower Austria )

The Unetice culture and the bronze

Compared to the surrounding cultural groups in which the transition to the Bronze Age at first shows by hammered copper and is slow to cast forms, can be found in the Aunjetitzern very early cast copper and arsenic bronze objects, which is gradually replaced by tin bronze. The production seems to have been designed as " cast in lost wax ", but also using multipart reusable shell molds.

It is not yet clear whether in the Ore Mountains, which lies in the field of culture Unetice, then mining was carried out on copper ores and rare in Europe tin. Salt also likely to have been a significant economic factor, the already Oscar Montelius in 1900 brought with the observed metal abundance in the area of ​​Halle in conjunction.

The carriers of the culture Unetice

Like the so-called Corded Ware also the carriers of culture Unetice differ physically not significantly different from the current population of Central Europe. Some linguists assume that the support of both cultures spoke Indo-European idioms. This is explained mainly with the fact that Indo-European dialects because etymologically matching river names of Indo-European origin in large parts of Central Europe ( Alteuropäische Hydronymie ) would have spread no later than during the third millennium BC in Central Europe and because of the simultaneous spread of bronze production in Central Europe. This is * ayos also attributed Indo-European -speaking groups because of the Indo-European word ( = copper, bronze, aes cf. Latin and German ore). The Munich-based Indo-Europeanist tungsten Euler believes that the support of the southern group of Unetice culture (south of the Ore Mountains and Sudetes ) preforming the later Italo- Celtic idioms were talking while the north of it settled groups spoke Präger manic idioms.