The Globular Amphora culture (GAC, (KAK); ), c. 3400–2800 BC, is an
archaeological culture
An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of types of artifacts, buildings and monuments from a specific period and region that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between thes ...
in
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...
.
Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas ( lt, Marija Gimbutienė, ; January 23, 1921 – February 2, 1994) was a Lithuanian archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of " Old Europe" and for her Kurgan hypothesis ...
assumed an
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...
origin, though this is contradicted by newer genetic studies that show a connection to the earlier wave of
Early European Farmers
Early European Farmers (EEF), First European Farmers (FEF), Neolithic European Farmers, Ancient Aegean Farmers, or Anatolian Neolithic Farmers (ANF) are names used to describe a distinct group of early Neolithic farmers who brought agriculture to E ...
rather than to
Western Steppe Herders from the
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
and western-southern
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
n steppes.
The GAC preceded the
Corded Ware culture
The Corded Ware culture comprises a broad archaeological horizon of Europe between ca. 3000 BC – 2350 BC, thus from the late Neolithic, through the Copper Age, and ending in the early Bronze Age. Corded Ware culture encompassed a v ...
in its central area. Somewhat to the south and west, it was bordered by the
Baden culture
The Baden culture was a Chalcolithic culture from 3520–2690 BC.
It was found in Central and Southeast Europe, and is in particular known from Moravia (Czech Republic), Hungary, southern Poland, Slovakia, northern Croatia and eastern Austria. I ...
. To the northeast was the
Narva culture
Narva culture or eastern Baltic was a European Neolithic archaeological culture found in present-day Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kaliningrad Oblast (former East Prussia), and adjacent portions of Poland, Belarus and Russia. A successor of ...
. It occupied much of the same area as the earlier
Funnelbeaker culture
The Funnel(-neck-)beaker culture, in short TRB or TBK (german: Trichter(-rand-)becherkultur, nl, Trechterbekercultuur; da, Tragtbægerkultur; ) was an archaeological culture in north-central Europe.
It developed as a technological merger of lo ...
. The name was coined by
Gustaf Kossinna
Gustaf Kossinna (28 September 1858 – 20 December 1931) was a German philologist and archaeologist who was Professor of German Archaeology at the University of Berlin.
Along with Carl Schuchhardt he was the most influential German prehisto ...
because of the characteristic pottery, globular-shaped pots with two to four handles.
Extent
The Globular Amphora culture was located in an area defined by the
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...
catchment on the west and that of the
Vistula
The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland.
The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...
on the east, extending southwards to the middle
Dniester
The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and t ...
and eastwards to reach the
Dnieper
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine an ...
. West of the Elbe, some globular amphorae are found in megalithic graves. The GAC finds in the steppe area are normally attributed to a rather late expansion between 2950 and 2350 cal. BC from a centre in
Wolhynia and
Podolia
Podolia or Podilia ( uk, Поділля, Podillia, ; russian: Подолье, Podolye; ro, Podolia; pl, Podole; german: Podolien; be, Падолле, Padollie; lt, Podolė), is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the west-centra ...
.
Economy
The economy was based on raising a variety of livestock, pigs particularly in its earlier phase, in distinction to the Funnelbeaker culture's preference for cattle. Settlements are sparse, and these normally just contain small clusters pits. No convincing house-plans have yet been excavated. It is suggested that some of these settlements were not year-round, or indeed may have been temporary.
Burials
The GAC is primarily known from its burials.
Inhumation
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
was in a pit or
cist
A cist ( or ; also kist ;
from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle Ea ...
. A variety of grave offerings were left, including animal parts (such as a pig's jaw) or even whole animals, e.g., oxen. Grave gifts include the typical globular amphorae and stone axes. There are also cattle-burials, often in pairs, accompanied by grave gifts. There are also secondary burials in
Megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
ic graves.
Interpretation
The inclusion of animals in the grave is seen as an intrusive cultural element by
Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas ( lt, Marija Gimbutienė, ; January 23, 1921 – February 2, 1994) was a Lithuanian archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of " Old Europe" and for her Kurgan hypothesis ...
. The practice of
suttee
Sati or suttee is a Hindu practice, now largely historical, in which a widow sacrifices herself by sitting atop her deceased husband's funeral pyre. Quote: Between 1943 and 1987, some thirty women in Rajasthan (twenty-eight, according to offic ...
, hypothesized by Gimbutas is also seen as a highly intrusive cultural element. The supporters of the
Kurgan
A kurgan is a type of tumulus constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into much of Central As ...
hypothesis point to these distinctive burial practices and state this may represent one of the earliest migrations of
Indo-Europeans into Central Europe. In this context and given its area of occupation, this culture has been claimed as the underlying culture of a
Germanic-
Baltic
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
*Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
-
Slavic continuum.
[J. P. Mallory and D. Q. Adams, ''Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture'', Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, London and Chicago, 1997., "Globular Amphora culture"]
Genetics
Tassi et al. (2017) extracted fifteen samples of
mtDNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA ...
. The majority of the samples belonged to subclades of
U and
Haplogroup H (mtDNA)
Haplogroup H is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup. The clade is believed to have originated in Southwest Asia, near present day Syria, around 20,000 to 25,000 years ago. Mitochondrial haplogroup H is today predominantly found in Eu ...
, along with
J,
W and
K. The remains were found to be closely related to
Early European Farmers
Early European Farmers (EEF), First European Farmers (FEF), Neolithic European Farmers, Ancient Aegean Farmers, or Anatolian Neolithic Farmers (ANF) are names used to describe a distinct group of early Neolithic farmers who brought agriculture to E ...
and
Western Hunter-Gatherer
In archaeogenetics, the term Western Hunter-Gatherer (WHG), West European Hunter-Gatherer or Western European Hunter-Gatherer names a distinct ancestral component of modern Europeans, representing descent from a population of Mesolithic hunter-gat ...
s, with little genetic relation to the
Yamnaya culture
The Yamnaya culture or the Yamna culture (russian: Ямная культура, ua, Ямна культура lit. 'culture of pits'), also known as the Pit Grave culture or Ochre Grave culture, was a late Copper Age to early Bronze Age archa ...
of
Western Steppe Herders in the east. The authors of the study suggested that the Globulara Amphora culture was non-Indo-European-speaking, but with cultural influences from Yamnaya.
Mathieson et al. (2018) included a genetic analysis of eight males of the Globular Amphora culture. Three of them carried
haplogroup I2a2a1b and a subclade of it; two carried
I2a2; one carried
I2; one carried
BT and one carried
CT. According to admixture analysis they also had approximately 70% EEF ancestry and 30% WHG ancestry, some of them with negligible
Eastern Hunter-Gatherer
In archaeogenetics, the term Eastern Hunter-Gatherer (EHG), sometimes East European Hunter-Gatherer, or Eastern European Hunter-Gatherer is the name given to a distinct ancestral component that represents descent from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers o ...
and Yamnaya traces.
Schroeder et al. (2019) examined 15 skeletons from the
Koszyce mass grave in southern
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, which is ascribed to the Globular Amphora culture. The individuals were all shown to be members of an extended family, and to have been buried with great care by someone who knew them very well. Most of them were female and children. All had been executed by a violent blow to the head, perhaps by invading Corded Ware groups. The older males of the family are missing from the grave, suggesting that they were away or had fled. Of the eight samples of
Y-DNA
The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes (allosomes) in therian mammals, including humans, and many other animals. The other is the X chromosome. Y is normally the sex-determining chromosome in many species, since it is the presence or abse ...
extracted, all were found to belong to
I2a-L801. The fifteen samples of mtDNA extracted belonged to various subclades of
T,
H,
J,
K,
HV. The skeletons were determined to have about 70% EEF ancestry and 30% WHG ancestry, meaning they had no Indo-European WSH-ancestry. The archaeological and genetic evidence collected from the grave indicated that the Globular Amphora culture was
patriarchal
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males ...
and kinship-oriented, which appears to have been the norm for Late Neolithic communities in
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...
.
Gallery
File:Globular amphora burial 1.jpg, Globular Amphora tomb
File:Smac Neolithikum 111.jpg, Copper ornament
File:Möller Derfflinger Hügel Steinkiste Beigaben 03.jpg, Globular amphora
File:02019 0038 Steinaxt der Kugelamphoren-Kultur, Polen.jpg, Stone axe
File:Danneil-Museum 037.JPG, Pottery
File:MUFT - Kalbsrieth Derfflinger Hügel Grab.jpg, Stone cist burial
File:Smac Neolithikum 075.jpg, Burial
File:Smac Neolithikum 076.jpg, Burial
File:Smac Neolithikum 078.jpg, Burial
File:Smac Neolithikum 084.jpg, Cattle burial
File:Smac Neolithikum 086.jpg, Cattle burial
File:Smac Neolithikum 085.jpg, Cattle burial
File:Großsteingrab Zörbig Kugelamphore.png, Pottery
File:Archäologisches Landesmuseum Schloss Gottorf 076.JPG, Pottery and axes
See also
*
Unetice culture
Notes
References
Sources
* Mikhail M. Charniauski et al. (eds.), Eastern exodus of the globular amphora people: 2950-2350 BC. Poznań, Adam Mickiewicz University, Institute of Prehistory 1996, Baltic-Pontic studies 4.
*
J. P. Mallory, "Globular Amphora Culture", ''Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture'', Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
*
*
*
{{Neolithic Europe
Archaeological cultures of Central Europe
Archaeological cultures of Eastern Europe
Chalcolithic cultures of Europe
Archaeological cultures in Belarus
Archaeological cultures in the Czech Republic
Archaeological cultures in Germany
Archaeological cultures in Moldova
Archaeological cultures in Poland
Archaeological cultures in Romania
Archaeological cultures in Ukraine