The Ottomány culture, also known as Otomani culture in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

or Otomani-Füzesabony culture in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, was an early

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

culture (–1400 BC) in

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

named after the eponymous site near the village of Ottomány (), today part of

Sălacea Sălacea () is a Commune in Romania, commune in Bihor County, Crișana, Romania with a population of 3,036. It is composed of two villages, Otomani (''Ottomány'') and Sălacea. The Otomani culture, a local Bronze Age in Romania, Bronze Age culture ...

, located in modern-day

Bihor County Bihor County (, ) is a county (județ) in western Romania. With a total area of , Bihor is Romania's 6th largest county geographically and the main county in the historical region of Crișana. Its capital city is Oradea (Nagyvárad). Toponymy ...

. The Middle Bronze Age period of the Ottomány culture in eastern Hungary and western Romania ( to 1400 BC) is also known as the Gyulavarsánd culture.

Territorial extent

The Ottomány culture was located in eastern

, eastern

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Crișana Crișana (, , ) is a geographical and historical region of Romania named after the Criș (Körös) River and its three tributaries: the Crișul Alb, Crișul Negru, and Crișul Repede. In Romania, the term is sometimes extended to include areas ...

in western

, western

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

- Transcarpatia (

Zakarpattia Oblast Zakarpattia Oblast (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпатська область), also referred to as simply Zakarpattia (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпаття; Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Kárpátalja'') or Transcar ...

- within a stretch of the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

) and southeast

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

(stretch of Carpathian Mountains and nearby areas). Thus, people of the Ottomány culture secured a middle stretch of what will be later known as the

Amber Road The Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber from coastal areas of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Prehistoric trade routes between Northern and Southern Europe were defined by the amber trade. ...

, and indeed,

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...

is often found in Ottomány sites. The expansion of the Ottomány culture is associated with the end of the Hatvan culture.

Habitat, settlements, housing and material culture

People belonging to this vast culture settled along river banks and in valleys but also on strategic places like mountain passes and hills used for mighty fortified settlements. Some places like caves and natural springs were used for cult activities. This culture was contemporary with

Wietenberg culture The Wietenberg culture was a Bronze Age Europe, Middle Bronze Age archeological culture in central Romania (Prehistory of Transylvania, Transylvania) that roughly dates to 2200–1600/1500 BCE. Representing a local variant of Usatove culture, ...

, Unetice-Madarovce-Veterov-Boheimkirchen cultural complex in

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and western

Mierzanowice culture The Mierzanowice culture appeared in the area of the upper and middle basin of the Vistula, during the Early Bronze Age. It evolved from the so-called Proto-Mierzanowice cultural unit. The name of the culture comes from an eponymous site in Mie ...

and Makó/Nagyrév culture in

The high cultural level is illustrated most by fortified settlements with highly advanced defensive architecture including ditches, stone walls, ramparts, towers and complicated gates protected by bastions, as well as by urbanistically organized houses (1, 2 or three rooms), tell disposition at lowland sites (consequent use of houses made of clay, creating an artificial hill with many stratigraphic levels), the high level of

metal working Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals in order to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term, it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on e ...

(bronze, gold, silver), a high level of bone and antler working (including elements of horse harness made of antler), sophisticated pottery, often considered one of the most exquisite ceramic cultures of prehistoric Europe, with beautifully adorned

amphorae An amphora (; ; English ) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land ...

, jugs, broad bowls, small cups, pottery of milk processing, and piraunoi - transportable ceramic ovens, richly decorated, often interpreted as being used not only for profane, but also cult activities (burning incense). Some distinctive features of Ottomány ceramics are decoration with spiral or circular motifs, rich plastic ornamentation, use of a wave pattern or pattern of "running spirals", polishing of pottery to reach "metallic effect" and high firing temperatures. Metalworking is illustrated by gold jewelry, mainly earrings, small bronze objects (

pin A pin is a device, typically pointed, used for fastening objects or fabrics together. Pins can have the following sorts of body: *a shaft of a rigid inflexible material meant to be inserted in a slot, groove, or hole (as with pivots, hinges, an ...

s, personal ornaments, small tools - needles, awls), military items include

battle axe A battle axe (also battle-axe, battle ax, or battle-ax) is an axe specifically designed for combat. Battle axes were designed differently to utility axes, with blades more akin to cleavers than to wood axes. Many were suitable for use in one ha ...

s, spear-heads,

dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually one or two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a cutting or stabbing, thrusting weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or ...

knives A knife (: knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...

, and

arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling. ...

s. Although stone was still widely used for

sickle A sickle, bagging hook, reaping-hook or grasshook is a single-handed agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting or reaping grain crops, or cutting Succulent plant, succulent forage chiefly for feedi ...

s and working axes. According to Anthony (2007),

chariot A chariot is a type of vehicle similar to a cart, driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid Propulsion, motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk O ...

ry spread westwards to the Ottomány culture from the

Multi-cordoned ware culture Multi-cordoned Ware culture or Multiroller ceramics culture, () also known as the Multiple-relief-band ware culture, the Babyno culture or Babino culture or the Mnogovalikovaya kul'tura (MVK), are archaeological names for a Middle Bronze Age cul ...

Mortuary rite

Burials were typically inhumations with the body in a flexed position in large flat cemeteries in direct vicinity of settlements, with different sides for men and women, at the final stages shifting towards bi-ritual rites, with more cremations, using

urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape ...

s. Graves are equipped with rich grave goods, including personal adornments like beads (in male graves often made of animal teeth and boar tusks) and metal jewelry, tools, arms and ceramics. In a child grave at Nizna Mysla cemetery ( Eastern Slovakia), a ceramic model of a four-wheel wagon was found and has been interpreted either as child's toy or a cult object.

Collapse and legacy

The end of the Ottomány culture is connected with turbulent events at the end of Old Bronze Age in Central Europe, where there was a collapse of the whole "Old Bronze Age world" with its highly advanced culture of mighty hill-forts, rich burials, and trade over vast distances. The gradual decline in the number of fortified settlements, change of burial rites, and the decision of people to desert fortified settlements could have had several reasons, including the collapse of trade and exchange networks, the attacks of enemies, the internal

collapse of society Societal collapse (also known as civilizational collapse or systems collapse) is the fall of a complex human society characterized by the loss of cultural identity and of social complexity as an Complex adaptive system, adaptive system, the downf ...

or environmental causes. The following Middle Bronze Age/Late Bronze Age cultures are very different in their burial rites (cremation, erecting of barrows) as well as in their handling of bronze - there is an "explosion" in bronze working, and many bronze hoards found across all of Europe illustrate this change in quantity and quality of produced bronze objects. We see not only bronze ornaments and arms (including first examples of

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

s), but also bronze tools (

axe An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...

adze An adze () or adz is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing or carving wood in ha ...

s), which changed the everyday life of prehistoric man.

Gallery

File:Ottomany reconstruction.png, Reconstructed bronze dagger, axe and pendant File:Gold objects from the grave goods of Nižná Mysl'a tomb 404, Otomani-Füzesabony culture.png, Burial goods from Nižná Myšľa, Slovakia File:Gold objects from Nižná Mysl'a tomb 404, Otomani-Füzesabony culture.png, Gold burial goods from Nižná Myšľa File:Hungary, Bronze Age - Battle Axe - 1988.3 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif, Bronze battle-axe, Hungary, c. 1500 BC File:Wietenberg culture axes at National Museum of Transylvanian History 2007.jpg, Decorated axe, Romania File:00MNIRTezaurIMG 6036.JPG, alt=Gold discs from Sacueni, Romania. Gold discs from Sacueni, Romania. File:Vessel MET DP252633.jpg, Gold cup, c. 1750-1500 BC File:0367 Schmuck von der Bronzezeit zirka 11. Jh. v. Chr..jpg, Gold hair ring, Slovakia, 1450 BC File:02016 1459 Otomani-Füzesabony-Keramik, Vasen oder Gefässe von Trzcinica, Beskiden.jpg, Pottery, Poland File:0026 Otomanische Ampfora zirka 16 Jh. v. Chr..JPG, Pottery from Barca, Slovakia File:0025 Otomanische Ampfora zirka 16 Jh. v. Chr..JPG, Ceramic amphora, Slovakia, c. 1600 BC File:Ottomány-Füzesabony ceramic jug.png, Ceramic jug, Poland File:Ceramic wagon model - Déri Museum cropped.png, Ceramic wagon model from Pocsaj, Hungary, 2100–1900 BC File:Bar cheek pieces - Hungarian National Museum 52.33.125-127.jpg, Horse bridle parts made from

antler Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) Family (biology), family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally fo ...

, Hungary File:В музее - заповеднике Аркаим.jpg, Chariot model, Arkaim museum File:Horses1.png, Bronze Age horse bridles File:Aşezarea forificătă din epoca bronzului de la Otomani.jpg, Otomani fortified settlement, Romania File:Zyndram's Hill, Poland, reconstruction of Early Bronze Age stone fortification wall.jpg, Zyndram's Hill, Poland, with wall reconstruction File:02016 0051 Otomani-Füzesabony culture houses, 17th century, BC, Trzcinica.jpg, Reconstructed houses, Trzcinica, Poland File:Trzcinica Reconstructions of Ottomány culture buildings 2018 P01.jpg, Reconstructed houses, Trzcinica, Poland File:02016 1462 Otomani-Füzesabony-Beisetzung.jpg, Burial reconstruction, Poland

References

*N. Boroffka, Die Wietenberg-Kultur. Ein Beitrag zur Erforschung der Bronzezeit in Südosteuropa. Universitätsforschungen zur Prähistorischen Archäologie 19. Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH (Bonn 1994). *http://arheologie.ulbsibiu.ro/publicatii/bibliotheca/cauce2/8%20w.htm This link is by pure laymen giving no scientific sources at all. Bronze Age culture in Transylvania, Central Romania *Die prähistorische Ansiedlung auf dem "Wietenberg" bei Sighisoara-Schässburg ebundene Ausgabe*European Societies in the Bronze Age. A. F. Harding. Cambridge 2000.

External links

Bronze Age Hungary - Images and text

The Bronze Age in Hungary (Kovács Tibor 1977)

The Bronze Age - Hungarian National Museum

Hungarian archaeology at the turn of the Millennium

Transformations in the Carpathian Basin around 1600 BC (Fischl et al. 2013)

The stone fortifications of the settlement at Spišský Štvrtok. A contribution to the discussion on the long-distance contacts of the Otomani-Füzesabony culture

The Early Bronze Age Stone Fortifications of the Maszkowice Hillfort (Polish Carpathians)

Prehistoric wagon models in the Carpathian Basin (3500-1500 BC) (Bondar 2012)Wagon model, Hungary, 2100-1900 BCE, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ottomany culture Archaeological cultures of Europe Bronze Age cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures in Hungary Archaeological cultures in Romania Archaeological cultures in Slovakia Archaeological cultures in Ukraine Prehistory of Southeastern Europe Ancient history of Romania History of Transylvania