 Distribution of the area of influence of the Bell Beaker culture | |
| Geographical range | Europe and Northwest Africa |
|---|---|
| Period | Chalcolithic – Early Bronze Age |
| Dates | c. 2800–1800 BC 2800-2300 BC (Central Western Europe) 2450-1800 BC (Britain) |
| Major sites | Castro of Zambujal, Portugal |
| Preceded by | Corded Ware culture, Funnelbeaker culture, Neolithic British Isles, Neolithic Ireland, Neolithic France, Chalcolithic Iberia, Veraza culture, Chalcolithic Italy, Baden culture, Vučedol culture, Horgen culture |
| Followed by | Únětice culture, Bronze Age Britain, Nordic Bronze Age, Bronze Age France, Armorican Tumulus culture, Rhône culture, Bronze Age Ireland, Bronze Age Iberia, Argaric culture, Levantine Bronze Age, Pyrenean Bronze, Polada culture, Nuragic culture, Cetina culture, Middle Helladic Greece, Hilversum culture, Elp culture, Mierzanowice culture |
| Bronze Age |
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The Bell Beaker culture, also known as the Bell Beaker complex or Bell Beaker phenomenon, is an archaeological culture named after the inverted-bell beaker drinking vessel used at the very beginning of the European Bronze Age, arising from around 2800 BC.
Bell Beaker culture lasted in Britain from c. 2450 BC, with the appearance of single burial graves,[1] until as late as 1800 BC,[2][3] but in continental Europe only until 2300 BC, when it was succeeded by the Únětice culture. The culture was widely dispersed throughout Western Europe, being present in many regions of Iberia and stretching eastward to the Danubian plains, and northward to the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and was also present in the islands of Sardinia and Sicily and some coastal areas in north-western Africa. The Bell Beaker phenomenon shows substantial regional variation, and a study[4] from 2018 found that it was associated with genetically diverse populations.
The Bell Beaker culture was partly preceded by and contemporaneous with the Corded Ware culture, and in north-central Europe preceded by the Funnelbeaker culture. The name Glockenbecher was coined for its distinctive style of beakers by Paul Reinecke in 1900. The term's English translation Bell Beaker was introduced by John Abercromby in 1904.[5]
In its early phase, the Bell Beaker culture can be seen as the western contemporary of the Corded Ware culture of Central Europe. From about 2400 BC the Beaker folk culture expanded eastwards, into the Corded Ware horizon.[6] In parts of Central and Eastern Europe, as far east as Poland, a sequence occurs from Corded Ware to Bell Beaker. This period marks a period of cultural contact in Atlantic and Western Europe following a prolonged period of relative isolation during the Neolithic.
In its mature phase, the Bell Beaker culture is understood as not only a collection of characteristic artefact types, but a complex cultural phenomenon involving metalwork in copper, arsenical bronze and gold,[7] long-distance exchange networks, archery, specific types of ornamentation, and (presumably) shared ideological, cultural and religious ideas, as well as social stratification and the emergence of regional elites.[8][9] A wide range of regional diversity persists within the widespread late Beaker culture, particularly in local burial styles (including incidences of cremation rather than burial), housing styles, economic profile, and local ceramic wares (Begleitkeramik). Nonetheless, according to Lemercier (2018) the mature phase of the Beaker culture represents "the appearance of a kind of Bell Beaker civilization of continental scale".[10]
- ^ Armit, Ian, and David Reich, (2022). "What do we know about the Beaker Folk", in: Antiquity Journal, Youtube, min: 1:11: "So, the Beaker Complex in terms of Great Britain and Ireland is from ... around 2450 BC, when we see in Britain the appearance of single inhumation graves ...."
- ^ Bradley 2007, p. 144.
- ^ Cunliffe 2010.
- ^ Olalde, Iñigo; Brace, Selina; Allentoft, Morten E.; Armit, Ian; Kristiansen, Kristian; Booth, Thomas; Rohland, Nadin; Mallick, Swapan; Szécsényi-Nagy, Anna; Mittnik, Alissa; Altena, Eveline (21 February 2018). "The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe". Nature. 555 (7695): 190–196. Bibcode:2018Natur.555..190O. doi:10.1038/nature25738. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 5973796. PMID 29466337.
Genome-wide data have revealed high proportions of Steppe-related ancestry in Beaker Complex-associated individuals from Germany and the Czech Republic, showing that they derived from mixtures of populations from the Steppe and the preceding Neolithic farmers of Europe. ... The Y-chromosome composition of Beaker-associated males was dominated by R1b-M269 ..., a lineage associated with the arrival of Steppe migrants in central Europe after 3000 BCE. ... [M]igration played a key role in the further dissemination of the Beaker Complex, a phenomenon we document most clearly in Britain, where the spread of the Beaker Complex introduced high levels of Steppe-related ancestry and was associated with a replacement of ~90% of Britain's gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the east-to-west expansion that had brought Steppe-related ancestry into central and northern Europe 400 years earlier ... British Beaker Complex-associated individuals show strong similarities to central European Beaker Complex-associated individuals in their genetic profile
- ^ The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology[page needed][need quotation to verify]
- ^ Papac, Luka; Ernée, Michal; Dobeš, Miroslav; Langová, Michaela; Rohrlach, Adam B.; Aron, Franziska; Neumann, Gunnar U.; Spyrou, Maria A.; Rohland, Nadin; Velemínský, Petr; Kuna, Martin; Brzobohatá, Hana; Culleton, Brendan; Daněček, David; Danielisová, Alžběta; Dobisíková, Miluše; Hložek, Josef; Kennett, Douglas J.; Klementová, Jana; Kostka, Michal; Krištuf, Petr; Kuchařík, Milan; Hlavová, Jana Kuljavceva; Limburský, Petr; Malyková, Drahomíra; Mattiello, Lucia; Pecinovská, Monika; Petriščáková, Katarína; Průchová, Erika; Stránská, Petra (2021). "Dynamic changes in genomic and social structures in third millennium BCE central Europe". Science Advances. 7 (35). Bibcode:2021SciA....7.6941P. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abi6941. PMC 8386934. PMID 34433570.
- ^ Hansen, Svend (2017). "Arsenic bronze: An archaeological introduction into a key innovation". Eurasia Antiqua. 23.
- ^ Fokkens & Nicolis 2012, p. 82.
- ^ Doce, Elisa; von Lettow-Vorbeck, Corina, eds. (September 2014). Analysis of the Economic Foundations Supporting the Social Supremacy of the Beaker Groups: Proceedings of the XVII UISPP World Congress (1-7 September, Burgos, Spain). Archaeopress. ISBN 9781784913076.
- ^ Lemercier, Olivier (December 2018). "Think and Act: Local Data and Global Perspectives in Bell Beaker Archaeology". Journal of Neolithic Archaeology. 20 (Special Issue 4): 77–96. doi:10.12766/jna.2018S.5.