Urnfield culture

archaeological culture

Key facts

Geographical range: Europe
Period: Late Bronze Age
Dates: c. 1300–750 BC
Major sites: Burgstallkogel (Sulm valley) , Ipf (mountain) , Ehrenbürg
Preceded by: Tumulus culture , Vatya culture , Encrusted Pottery culture , Vatin culture , Terramare culture , Apennine culture , Nordic Bronze Age , Noua culture , Ottomány culture
Followed by: Hallstatt culture , Lusatian culture , Proto-Villanovan culture , Villanovan culture , Canegrate culture , Golasecca culture , Este culture , Luco culture , Iron Age France , Iron Age Britain , Iron Age Iberia , Basarabi culture , Cimmerians , Thracians , Dacians , Iron Age Greece

via Wikipedia infobox

Article

The Urnfield culture (c. 1300–750 BC) 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 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 the expansion of the Celts. These links are no longer accepted.

Chronology