Pomeranian culture

The Pomeranian culture, also Pomeranian or Pomerelian Face Urn culture[1] was an Iron Age culture in Pomerania, northern Poland. About 650 BC, it evolved from the Lusatian culture,[2] often associated with the Nordic Bronze Age,[3] and subsequently expanded southward. Between 200 and 150 BC, it was succeeded by the Oksywie culture in eastern Pomerania and the Przeworsk culture at the upper Vistula and Oder rivers.[4]

Contents

Features

The most characteristic feature was the use of burial urns with faces. The urns were often contained in stone cists. The face-urns have lids in the form of hats, often miniature ear-rings of real bronze are added. The faces are sometimes modelled very naturalistically, and no two urns show the same face. Incised drawings on the urns show hunting scenes, chariot races or riders. Brooches of Tłukom-type and necklaces of multiple bronze rings are typical examples of metal work.

The economy was similar to that of the Lusatian culture. Rye was systematically cultivated for the first time, but still formed a minor component of the cereals. There were fewer hill forts than in the area of the Lusatian culture further west. Southern imports were sparse as well.

Related cultures

A related culture of the same age was the House Urn culture in central Germany.[5]

Spread

In the later Iron Age, the Pomeranian culture spread southward, into areas formerly belonging to the Lusatian, Wysoko- and Milograd cultures. In Masovia and Poland this mixture led to the development of the group with bell-shaped burials (Glockengräbergruppe).

See also

References

  1. ^ Anthropological Literature, Tozzer Library, The Pomerelian Face Urn culture: a report on the status of the research, Acta praehistorica et archaeologica Berlin, no. 11/12, 1980/81. p. 219-304., Redgrave Pub. Co., 1982
  2. ^ Jan M Piskorski, Pommern im Wandel der Zeit, 1999, p.23, ISBN 8390618486
  3. ^ Dabrowski (1989), p. 73 .
  4. ^ J. B. Rives, Tacitus' Germania, Oxford University Press, 1999, p.8, ISBN 0199240000
  5. ^ Peter Neal Peregrine, Melvin Ember, Human Relations Area Files, inc, Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Springer, 2001, p.406, ISBN 0306462583

Literature