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68-580: Although the privileged climatic situation would have suggested early human habitation in the Sausal mountain range, archeological finds were spurious until late 2004 when preparatory work for a new vineyard on a terrace at the Spiegelkogel mountain near St. Nikolai im Sausal uncovered the remains of an urnfield culture village, and much better preserved late Neolithic construction traces below it. Archaeologists now associate this older Copper Age settlement with

136-526: A base for the stratigraphic structure of the whole culture. No final conclusions about the linguistic character of Vučedol can be made, such as the inference that its people were linguistically Indo-European, or to what extent they mixed with native European populations, in regions of the eastern Adriatic coast, Dalmatia and Herzegovina with some parts of Bosnia as well. A February 2018 study published in Nature included an analysis of three individuals ascribed to

204-841: A cauldron-wagon and other rich grave goods accompanied an inhumation under a barrow ( Montelius III/IV). Another example comes from Ystad in Sweden. South-eastern European examples include Kanya in Hungary and Orăştie in Romania. Clay miniature wagons, sometimes with waterfowl, were known there since the middle Bronze Age ( Dupljaja , Vojvodina, Serbia). Vu%C4%8Dedol culture The Vučedol culture (Croatian: Vučedolska kultura ) flourished between 3000 and 2200 BC (the Eneolithic period of earliest copper-smithing), centered in Syrmia and eastern Slavonia on

272-432: A considerable surplus-production. On lakes of southern Germany and Switzerland, numerous pile dwellings were constructed. They consist either of simple houses made of wattle and daub, or log-built . The settlement at Zug , Switzerland, was destroyed by fire and gives important insights into the material culture and the settlement organisation of this period. It has yielded a number of dendro-dates as well. The pottery

340-450: A dominant hunter-warrior class is a preview of the changes that will be characteristic for the east and middle European early Bronze Age. Compared to earlier and contemporary cultures the Vučedol culture exploited a diversity in food sources: the Vučedol people were hunters, fishermen and agrarians, with some strong indications that they cultivated certain domesticated animals. Thus the culture

408-573: A drop of molten copper . Some researchers of the Vučedol culture have claimed that there was regular trade between the territory of the Vučedol culture and the Helladic culture to the south. Cultural elements found of the B2 phase of the Vučedol culture appear to have originated in the first phase of the middle Bronze Age of the Helladic culture of mainland Greece. The excavated settlement of Vučedol provides

476-529: A four-wheeled miniature bronze wagon bearing a large cauldron (diameter 30 cm) contained a cremation. This exceptionally rich burial was covered by a barrow . The bronze wagon model from Acholshausen in (Bavaria) comes from a male burial. Such wagons are also known from the Nordic Bronze Age . The Skallerup wagon , Denmark, contained a cremation as well. At Peckatel (Kr. Schwerin) in Mecklenburg

544-495: A leather armour. Greaves of richly decorated sheet-bronze are known from Kloštar Ivanić (Croatia) and the Paulus cave near Beuron (Germany). About a dozen wagon -burials of four wheeled wagons with bronze fittings are known from the early Urnfield period. They include Hart an der Altz (Kr. Altötting), Mengen (Kr. Sigmaringen), Poing (Kr. Ebersberg), Königsbronn (Kr. Heidenheim) from Germany and St. Sulpice ( Vaud ), Switzerland. In Alz,

612-414: A number of estates (some of which exist even today) to exert some control over the wildlife and the hunting operations. Forestry, hunting and wine culture essentially defined local life for the following centuries. This continued after 1595 when Salzburg's archbishop Wolf Dietrich gave the town of Leibnitz and the eastern part of the Sausal mountain range to the bishop of Seckau . Wine culture peaked in

680-565: A process known as Romanization . Urnfields are found in the French Languedoc and Catalonia from the 9th to 8th centuries. The change in burial custom was most probably influenced by developments further east. Evidence for an association between the Urnfield culture and a hypothetical Italo-Celtic language group has been discussed by scholars such as Peter Schrijver . Placename evidence has also been used to point to an association of

748-627: A windmill from the North American plains, and is intended to scare birds away. The local microclimate, with winter frosts relatively rare and mild, allows figs and sometimes even kiwifruit to ripen in particularly protected places. The sweet chestnut , a warmth-adapted tree, grows abundantly in the wild. Recently, the hillsides have become an attractive residential area for the more affluent strata of society in Styria's southern parts. Weekend domiciles also proliferate, not always in perfect harmony with

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816-664: A wood, bone, or antler hilt. Flange-hilted swords had organic inlays in the hilt. Swords include Auvernier, Kressborn-Hemigkofen, Erbenheim, Möhringen, Weltenburg, Hemigkofen and Tachlovice-types. Protective gear like shields , cuirasses , greaves and helmets are rare and almost never found in burials. The best-known example of a bronze shield comes from Plzeň in Bohemia and has a riveted handhold. Comparable pieces have been found in Germany, Western Poland, Denmark, Great Britain and Ireland. They are supposed to have been made in upper Italy or

884-453: Is commonly of a much more widespread distribution than pottery and does not conform to these borders. It may have been produced at specialised workshops catering for the elite of a large area. Important French cemeteries include Châtenay and Lingolsheim (Alsace). An unusual earthwork was constructed at Goloring near Koblenz in Germany . The central European Lusatian culture forms part of

952-530: Is indicated by the homogeneous surface of the vessels as well. Other vessels include cups of beaten sheet- bronze with riveted handles (type Jenišovice) and large cauldrons with cross attachments. Wooden vessels have only been preserved in waterlogged contexts, for example from Auvernier (Neuchâtel), but may have been quite widespread. The early Urnfield period (1300 BC) was a time when the warriors of central Europe could be heavily armored with body armor, helmets and shields all made of bronze, most likely borrowing

1020-531: Is normally well made, with a smooth surface and a normally sharply carinated profile. Some forms are thought to imitate metal prototypes. Biconical pots with cylindrical necks are especially characteristic. There is some incised decoration, but a large part of the surface was normally left plain. Fluted decoration is common. In the Swiss pile dwellings, the incised decoration was sometimes inlaid with tin foil . Pottery kilns were already known (Elchinger Kreuz, Bavaria), as

1088-653: The Eastern Alps and imitate wooden shields. Irish bogs have yielded examples of leather shields (Clonbrinn, Co. Wexford). Bronze cuirasses are known since Bronze D ( Čaka , grave II, Slovakia). Complete bronze cuirasses have been found in Saint Germain du Plain, nine examples, one inside the other, in Marmesse, Haute Marne (France), fragments in Albstadt-Pfeffingen (Germany). Bronze dishes (phalerae) may have been sewn on

1156-706: The Lasinja culture. The name Sausal first appeared as Susil in 970, when emperor Otto I assigned a strip of territory between the Sulm and the Laßnitz rivers to the Archbishop of Salzburg . This is supposed to be derived from Latin ( silva Solva , i.e., the "forest at the Sulm river"). During these early medieval times the steep hills were completely forested, awash with deer and boar, and ideal for hunting. The Bavarian immigrants colonizing

1224-711: The Orion's Belt disappeared from view at the end of winter, which meant the beginning of a new year. The pictographs in the boxes represent: Orion , the Sun, Cassiopeia , Cygnus , Gemini , Pegasus , and the Pleiades . If the box is empty, it means there was nothing visible at the reference point during the corresponding time. People of the Vučedol culture lived in thatched wattle-and-daub houses. Vučedol people lived on hilltop sites surrounded with palisades. Houses were half buried, mostly square or circular in plan with floors of burned clay;

1292-674: The Runder Berg ( Urach , Germany), 5-8m long in Künzig (Bavaria, Germany), others up to 20 m long. They were built with wooden posts and walls of wattle and daub. At the Velatice-settlement of Lovčičky ( Moravia , Czech Republic ) 44 houses have been excavated. Large bell shaped storage pits are known from the Knovíz culture . The settlement of Radonice (Louny) contained over 100 pits. They were most probably used to store grain and demonstrate

1360-721: The Tumulus culture and was succeeded by the Hallstatt culture . Some linguists and archaeologists have associated this culture with a pre-Celtic language or Proto-Celtic language family. By the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the Urnfield Tradition had spread through Italy, northwestern Europe, and as far west as the Pyrenees. It is at this time that fortified hilltop settlements and sheet‐bronze metalworking also spread widely across Europe, leading some authorities to equate these changes with

1428-554: The Wasserburg Buchau , Germany (diameter 80 cm). Bronze spoked wheels from Hassloch and Stade (in Germany) have been described as "the most ambitious craft endeavour of all Bronze Age bronze objects", representing "the highest achievement of prehistoric bronze casters in non-Greek Europe ... In terms of casting technique, they are on a par with the casting of a Greek bronze statue." In Milavče near Domažlice , Bohemia ,

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1496-472: The 17th century and slowly retreated until the late 20th century. Today, only the municipalities of Kitzeck and St. Andrä-Höch rely mainly on wine. Most recently however, several new vineyards have been planted on the southern and western slopes of the Sausal. A local peculiarity (though also found in other wine-growing areas of the region) is the Klapotez , a traditional wooden contraption which remotely resembles

1564-664: The Czech Republic, Biskupin in Poland, Ormož in Slovenia, Corneşti-Iarcuri , Sântana and Teleac in Romania, Gradište Idoš in Serbia, and Velem and Csanádpalota–Földvár in Hungary. The 30.5 ha plateau of the Bullenheimer Berg in Germany was the site of a "large, walled, city-like fortification" in the later Urnfield period. Excavations have revealed a dense settlement across

1632-606: The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania and one settlement has even been registered in Eastern Greece. The Vučedol culture developed from two older eneolithic cultures: the Baden culture , mainly in the Pannonian plain , and the Kostolac culture in northern Serbia and western Romania , so

1700-516: The Deer, womb-shaped solar motives, figures of women in clothes without sexual or fertility decoration, symbols of double axe. In pottery, new forms and a new rich decoration, are characterized by the spectacular find, the Vučedol dove. The Vučedol culture exploited native copper ores on a massive scale. The settlement sites destroyed earlier eneolithic settlements, and new Vučedol settlements also developed in regions where none previously existed. The rise of

1768-582: The Eastern Mediterranean, Anatolia and the Levant around the time of the Urnfield origins: Some scholars, among them Wolfgang Kimmig and P. Bosch-Gimpera have postulated a Europe-wide wave of migrations. The so-called Dorian invasion of Greece was placed in this context as well (although more recent evidence suggests that the Dorians moved in 1100 BC into a post Mycenaean vacuum, rather than precipitating

1836-474: The Ha B3-phase is contested, as the material consists of female burials only. As can be seen by the arbitrary 100-year ranges, the dating of the phases is highly schematic. The phases are based on typological changes, which means that they do not have to be strictly contemporaneous across the whole distribution. All in all, more radiocarbon and dendro-dates would be highly desirable. The Urnfield culture grew from

1904-794: The Runder Berg near Urach, Germany, 25 stone moulds have been found. Hillforts are interpreted as central places. Some scholars see the emergence of hill forts as a sign of increased warfare. Most hillforts were abandoned at the end of the Bronze Age. Examples of fortified settlements include Bullenheimer Berg , Ehrenbürg , Hünenburg bei Watenstedt , Heunischenburg , Hesselberg , Bürgstadter Berg , Farrenberg , Gelbe Burg and Ipf in Germany, Burgstallkogel , Thunau am Kamp and Oberleiserberg in Austria, Corent and Gannat in France, Hořovice and Plešivec in

1972-555: The Urnfield culture was only adopted in the HaA2 period. 16 pins deposited in a swamp in Ellmoosen (Kr. Bad Aibling, Germany) cover the whole chronological range from Bronze B to the early Urnfield period (Ha A). This demonstrates a considerable ritual continuity. In the Loire , Seine , and Rhône , certain fords contain deposits from the late Neolithic onward up to the Urnfield period. The origins of

2040-609: The Urnfield materials with the Proto-Celtic language group in central Europe, and it has been argued that it was the ancestral culture of the Celts . The Urnfield layers of the Hallstatt culture , "Ha A" and "Ha B", are succeeded by the Iron Age "Hallstatt period" proper: "Ha C" and "Ha D" (8th-6th centuries BC), associated with the early Celts; "Ha D" is in turn succeeded by the La Tène culture ,

2108-418: The Urnfield period. Often a steep spur was used, where only part of the circumference had to be fortified. Depending on the locally available materials, dry-stone walls, gridded timbers filled with stones or soil or plank and palisade type pfostenschlitzmauer fortifications were used. Other fortified settlements used river-bends and swampy areas. Metal working is concentrated in the fortified settlements. On

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2176-565: The Urnfield tradition, but continues into the Iron Age without a notable break. The Piliny culture in northern Hungary and Slovakia grew from the Tumulus culture , but used urn burials as well. The pottery shows strong links to the Gáva culture , but in the later phases, a strong influence of the Lusatian culture is found. In Italy the late Bronze Age Canegrate and Proto-Villanovan cultures and

2244-479: The Vučedol Calendar is that each of the four lateral bands on the vessel represent the four seasons, starting with spring on the top. Each band is divided into twelve boxes, making up 12 "weeks" for each season. Each of the little boxes contains an ideogram of celestial objects that lie at a certain point on the horizon right after twilight. The place of reference on the horizon is the point at which (in those days)

2312-434: The Vučedol culture. One male carried haplogroup R1b-z2103 and T2e , while the other carried G2a2a1a2a and T2c2 . The female carried U4a . In a three-way admixture model, first male approximately had 58% Early European Farmers , 42% Western Steppe Herders and 0% Western Hunter-Gatherer -related ancestry, second male 93% EEF, 4% WSH and 3% WHG while female 37% EEF, 54% WSH and 10% WHG. According to Lazaridis, R1b-Z2103

2380-657: The archaeological culture associated with the Continental Celts of antiquity. The Golasecca culture in northern Italy developed with continuity from the Canegrate culture. Canegrate represented a completely new cultural dynamic to the area expressed in pottery and bronzework, making it a typical western example of the Urnfield culture, in particular the Rhine-Switzerland-Eastern France (RSFO) Urnfield culture. The Lepontic Celtic language inscriptions of

2448-409: The area had found the mountain range almost uninhabited, as it perhaps had been throughout Roman times, only with small Slavic settlements scattered in its larger valleys. They immediately began to convert much of the dense forests to cultured land, and started to grow wine. By the 12th century, peasants routinely paid large parts of their taxes in various viniculture products. Salzburg nobility founded

2516-658: The area show the language of the Golasecca culture was clearly Celtic making it probable that the 13th-century BC language of at least the RSEF area of the western urnfields was also Celtic or a precursor to it. The influence of the Urnfield culture spread widely and found its way to the northeastern Iberian coast, where the nearby Celtiberians of the interior adapted it for use in their cemeteries. Evidence for east-to-west early Urnfield (Bronze D-Hallstatt A) elite contacts such as rilled-ware, swords and crested helmets has been found in

2584-516: The back of the head. If the shape of the crest and carefully delineated wings and chest, prove the figure to be the domesticated dove , then it was being raised in Europe 4,500 years ago, much earlier than we commonly think. The "Vučedol Dove" is the oldest dove figure found in Europe so far. The ritual vessel was depicted on the reverse of the Croatian 20 kuna banknote, issued in 1993 and 2001. Among

2652-448: The chariot had been placed on the pyre, and pieces of bone are attached to the partially melted metal of the axles. Bronze (one-part) bits appear at the same time. Two-part horse bits are only known from late Urnfield contexts and may be due to eastern influence. Wood- and bronze spoked wheels are known from Stade (Germany), a wooden spoked wheel from Mercurago, Italy. Wooden dish-wheels have been excavated at Courcelettes, Switzerland and

2720-519: The collapse). The variety of regional groups belonging to this culture makes it possible to exclude the presence of ethnic uniformity. Marija Gimbutas connected the various Central European regional groups to as many proto-populations: proto-Celts , proto-Italics , proto-Veneti , proto-Illyrians and proto-Phrygians (as well as proto-Thracians and proto-Dorians ), who would establish themselves later, through migrations, in their historic locations. This migration (disputed by some) occurred during

2788-519: The cremation rite are commonly believed to be in Hungary , where it was widespread since the first half of the second millennium BC. The neolithic Cucuteni–Trypillia culture of modern-day northeastern Romania and Ukraine were also practicing cremation rituals as early as approximately 5500 BC. Some cremations begin to be found in the Proto-Lusatian and Trzciniec culture . The Urnfield culture

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2856-505: The density of settlements in Romania and Serbia at this time is indicative of societies that were organized under a common political framework. Kristiansen and Suchowska-Ducke (2015) describe these mega-sites as "part of a political centralisation process, a complex chiefdom, or archaic state". In 2018 the remains of a Late Bronze Age 'feasting hall' were excavated at the site of Lăpuş in Romania. Urnfield period houses were one or two-aisled. Some were quite small, 4.5 m × 5 m at

2924-478: The early Iron Age Villanovan culture show similarities with the urnfields of central Europe. The Italic peoples are descended from the Urnfield and Tumulus culture , who inhabited Italy from at least the second millennium BC onwards. Latins achieved a dominant position among these tribes, establishing the ancient Roman civilization . During this development, other Italic tribes adopted the Latin language and culture in

2992-529: The existence of buildings with lengths exceeding 40 m, including a building approximately 60 m long and 40 m wide. "Mega forts" such as Corneşti-Iarcuri, Sântana and Gradište Idoš were surrounded by numerous smaller settlements, including fortified sites. They formed part of a general movement towards large fortified sites across Europe in the Late Bronze Age, possibly in response to new styles of warfare. The general uniformity in design, material culture, and

3060-551: The expansion of the Celts. These links are no longer accepted. It is believed that in some areas, such as in southwestern Germany, the Urnfield culture was in existence around 1200 BC (beginning of Hallstatt A or Ha A), but the Bronze D Riegsee -phase already contains cremations. As the transition from the middle Bronze Age to the Urnfield culture was gradual, there are questions regarding how to define it. The Urnfield culture covers

3128-510: The expansion of the Vucedol Culture from its homeland of Slavonia into the broader region of central and southeastern Europe. Following the Baden culture , another wave of possible Indo-European speakers came to the banks of the Danube . One of the major places they occupied is present-day Vučedol , located six kilometers downstream from the town of Vukovar , Croatia . It is estimated that

3196-520: The ground linked it to the limping shaman-smith, according to the recent interpretation by Aleksandar Durman of Zagreb . The figure is a remarkable example of artistic creation and religious symbolism associated with a cult of the Great Mother . The "Vučedol Dove" is a 19,5 cm high ritual vessel made from baked clay. Three symbols of double axes and a necklace were incised on its neck with lines covering its wings and chest, and an unusual crest on

3264-429: The idea from Mycenaean Greece . The leaf-shaped Urnfield sword could be used for slashing, in contrast to the stabbing-swords of the preceding Tumulus culture. It commonly possessed a ricasso . The hilt was normally made from bronze as well. It was cast separately and consisted of a different alloy. These solid hilted swords were known since Bronze D (Rixheim swords). Other swords have tanged blades and probably had

3332-460: The landscape. The Theresienkapelle , a large chapel built in 1834 and named after St. Teresa of Ávila (although it is dedicated to the Virgin Mary) is located on one of the most prominent summits in the steeper Southern part the Sausal mountain range. From its exposed site it offers an impressive panoramic view across the upper Sulm valley. On occasion of its total refurbishment in 2002 the chapel

3400-465: The most famous pieces is a piece of ceramics dated to 2600 BC with an astral calendar, the first one found in Europe that shows the year starting at the dusk of the first day of spring. It is based on an Orion cycle, shown by precise sequence of constellations on a vessel found in an Eneolithic mound in the very center of the modern town of Vinkovci . The climatic conditions in that latitude bring about four yearly seasons. The simple explanation of

3468-406: The most famous pieces of Vučedol is the ritual vessel made between 2800 and 2500 BCE, called by the speculative attribution of M. Seper, who found it in 1938, the "Vučedol Dove" ( vučedolska golubica ). The latest interpretation, however, is that the vessel is in the shape of the male partridge , a symbol of fertility, whose limping defensive behavior against attack by predators on a partridge nest on

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3536-421: The period called late Bronze Age collapse and was perhaps caused by climate changes. Communities of peasants and herders, led by a warrior aristocracy, introduced the new rite of cremation, new ceramic styles and the mass production of metal objects as well as a new religion and Indo-European languages in various regions of Western and Southern Europe. The number of settlements increased sharply in comparison with

3604-625: The phases Hallstatt A and B (Ha A and B) in Paul Reinecke 's chronological system, not to be confused with the Hallstatt culture (Ha C and D) of the following Iron Age . This corresponds to the Phases Montelius III-IV of the Northern Bronze Age. Whether Reinecke's Bronze D is included varies according to author and region. The Urnfield culture is divided into the following sub-phases (based on Müller-Karpe sen.): The existence of

3672-456: The preceding Tumulus culture . The transition is gradual, in the pottery as well as the burial rites. In some parts of Germany, cremation and inhumation existed simultaneously (facies Wölfersheim). Some graves contain a combination of Tumulus-culture pottery and Urnfield swords (Kressbronn, Bodenseekreis) or Tumulus culture incised pottery together with early Urnfield types (Mengen). In the North,

3740-508: The preceding Tumulus culture. Few of them have been comprehensively excavated. Fortified settlements, often on hilltops or in river-bends, are typical for the Urnfield culture. They are heavily fortified with dry-stone or wooden ramparts. Excavations of open settlements are rare, but they show that large 3-4 aisled houses built with wooden posts and wall of wattle and daub were common. Pit dwellings are known as well; they might have served as cellars. Fortified hilltop settlements become common in

3808-551: The primary region of Vučedol development is eastern Croatia and the Syrmia region. The archaeological stratigraphy of the Vučedol culture can be divided into four phases: The Vučedol culture is the final eneolithic culture of the region, displaying characteristically common use of the war axe in its "Banniabik" form. Cult objects suggest the practice of new cults very different from the Neolithic Magna Mater conception: cult of

3876-645: The right bank of the Danube river, but possibly spreading throughout the Pannonian plain and western Balkans and southward. It was thus contemporary with the Sumer period in Mesopotamia , the Early Dynastic period in Egypt and the earliest settlements of Troy (Troy I and II). Archaeogenetics link the culture from Yamnaya migrations directly from the steppes that mixed with Neolithic people. The need for copper resulted in

3944-414: The same time, stronger sexual potency. "That is why", according to Aleksandar Durman, "all eneolithic, or later gods of metallurgy are identified with fertility, and also why all gods in almost all early cultures – limp". It was a society of deep social changes and stratification that led to the birth of tribal and military aristocracy. Also, Vučedol people had enough time to express their spiritual view of

4012-468: The shapes were also combined in mushroom shapes; there were circular fireplaces. The houses at the Vučedol site were also places of birth and burial. A number of human skeletons were found in the pits that once served as food storage pits . Their bodies were placed in a ritual way, with some possible indications of human sacrifice . Also, marks on the foreheads of skulls were found that could be attributed to some kind of initiation in early childhood by

4080-569: The site had once been home to about 3,000 inhabitants, making it one of the largest and most important European centers of its time. According to Bogdan Brukner, proto- Illyrians descended from this wave of Indo-European settlers. The early stages of the culture occupied locations not far from mountain ranges, where copper deposits were located, because of their main invention: making tools from arsenical copper in series reusing double, two-part moulds. The Vučedol culture at its peak completely or partially covered 14 of today’s European countries –

4148-472: The southwest of the Iberian peninsula. The appearance of such elite status markers provides the simplest explanation for the spread of Celtic languages in this area from prestigious, proto-Celtic, early-Urnfield metalworkers. The numerous hoards of the Urnfield culture and the existence of fortified settlements ( hill forts ) were taken as evidence for widespread warfare and upheaval by some scholars. Written sources describe several collapses and upheavals in

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4216-455: The whole plateau, including courtyard-type buildings located on artificially raised terraces. The fortified settlement on the Ehrenbürg , also covering about 30 ha and surrounded by a timber and stone wall , was another regional centre and the residence of a regional elite. At the hill fort of Hořovice near Beroun (Czech Republic), 50 ha were surrounded by a stone wall. Most settlements were much smaller however. Corneşti-Iarcuri in Romania

4284-424: The world. In modern times, Vučedol ceramics have become famous worldwide. A very characteristic bi-conical shape and typical ornaments evolved, in many cases with typical "handles" which were almost non-functional, but were key to understanding ornaments that had symbolic meanings, representing ideas such as "horizon", "mountains", "sky", "underworld", "sun", "constellation of Orion ", " Venus ", et cetera. One of

4352-426: Was a late Bronze Age culture of Central Europe , often divided into several local cultures within a broader Urnfield tradition . The name comes from the custom of cremating the dead and placing their ashes in urns , which were then buried in fields. The first usage of the name occurred in publications over grave sites in southern Germany in the late 19th century. Over much of Europe, the Urnfield culture followed

4420-1241: Was adorned with a fresco by Franziska Ceski von Ferrari depicting Virgin Mary as the mother of Jesus sitting in a vineyard, with St. Catherine of Siena to her right and St. Thérèse of Lisieux to her left. The wine-growing village Kitzeck , which is uniquely situated high upon the hills and on clear days offers a beautiful vista far into the countryside, is a particularly popular tourist site. Its top-class restaurants and taverns are favorite meeting locations for business people and politicians. Other notable places include: 46°47′N 15°27′E  /  46.783°N 15.450°E  / 46.783; 15.450 Urnfield culture Vučedol culture , Nagyrév culture , Ottomány culture , Wietenberg culture , Vatya culture Bell Beaker culture , Únětice culture , Nordic Bronze Age , Tumulus culture , Urnfield culture Bronze Age Britain , Bronze Age France , Armorican Tumulus culture , Bronze Age Iberia , Argaric culture , Hilversum culture , Atlantic Bronze Age Nuragic civilization , Polada culture , Terramare culture , Proto-Villanovan culture , Apennine culture , Canegrate culture , Golasecca culture The Urnfield culture ( c.  1300–750 BC )

4488-446: Was located in an area stretching from western Hungary to eastern France, from the Alps to near the North Sea. Local groups, mainly differentiated by pottery, include: South-German Urnfield culture Lower-Rhine Urnfield culture Middle-Danube Urnfield culture Sometimes the distribution of artifacts belonging to these groups shows sharp and consistent borders, which might indicate some political structures, like tribes. Metalwork

4556-406: Was more resilient to times of want. The community chief was the shaman -smith, possessing the arcane knowledge of avoiding poisonous arsenic gas which is connected to the technology of coppersmithing as well as understanding the year cycle. Still, the whole life of shaman-smith could not pass without biological consequences of chronic arsenic exposure: slow loss of body movement coordination, and at

4624-469: Was the largest prehistoric settlement in Europe, at almost 6 km across, with four fortification lines and an inner settlement with a diameter of c. 2 km. Magnetic mapping and excavations have indicated the existence of a well-organised settlement of proto-urban character during the Urnfield period. An estimated 824,00 tonnes of earth had to be moved for the construction of the fortification walls alone. Magnetometric surveys at Sântana have revealed

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