Lusatian culture

The Lusatian culture developed as the preceding Trzciniec culture experienced influences from the Tumulus culture of the Middle Bronze Age, essentially incorporating the local communities into the socio-political network of Iron Age Europe.^[3] It formed part of the Urnfield systems, origin of the Celts and Italic peoples, including the Romans,^[4][5][6][7] found from eastern France, southern Germany and Austria, to Hungary and the Nordic Bronze Age in northwestern Germany and Scandinavia. It was followed by the Billendorf culture [de] of the Early Iron Age to the west. In the area that is now modern-day Poland, the Lusatian culture was succeeded by the Pomeranian culture.

Lusatian-type burials were first described by the German pathologist and archaeologist Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902). The name refers to the Lusatia area in eastern Germany (Brandenburg and Saxony) and western Poland.

Early German scholars, particularly those influenced by Gustaf Kossinna's settlement archaeology approach, sometimes interpreted the culture as an early Germanic one.^[8][9] Virchow himself identified the pottery artifacts as "pre-Germanic", but did not speculate on the ethnicity of their makers.^[10][11]

The Tollense valley battlefield (c. 1250 BC), located in a border zone with Nordic Bronze Age and Urnfield influences, shows evidence of mixed warrior groups with diverse material culture and genetic profiles, but does not resolve the broader ethnic or linguistic affiliation of the Lusatian complex.^[12]

The Polish archeologist Józef Kostrzewski, who in 1934 started extensive excavations of a Lusatian settlement of Biskupin, hypothesised that the Lusatian culture was a forerunner of later cultures belonging to the early Slavs.^[13] Modern archeologists, such as both Kazimierz Godłowski and Piotr Kaczanowski [pl], hold the view that the ethnic geography of Bronze Age Central Europe then included peoples whose languages and ethnic identity are simply unknown.^[14][15]

Burial was by cremation; inhumations are rare. The urn is usually accompanied by numerous (up to 40) secondary vessels. Metal grave gifts are sparse, but there are numerous hoards (such as Kopaniewo, Pomerania) that contain rich metalwork, both bronze and gold (hoard of Eberswalde, Brandenburg). Graves containing moulds (like at Bataune, in Saxony) and tuyeres attest to the production of bronze tools and weapons at the village level. The "royal" tomb of Seddin, Brandenburg, Germany, covered by a large earthen barrow, contained Mediterranean imports like bronze vessels and glass beads. Cemeteries can be quite large and contain thousands of graves.

Well-known settlements include Biskupin, in Poland, and Buch, near Berlin. There are both open villages and fortified settlements (burgwall or gord) on hilltops or in swampy areas. The ramparts were constructed of wooden boxes filled with soil or stones.

Its economy was mainly based on arable agriculture, as is attested by numerous storage pits. Emmer wheat and six-row barley formed the basic crops, together with millet, rye and oats, peas, broad beans, lentils, and gold of pleasure (Camelina sativa). Flax was grown, and remains of domesticated apples, pears, and plums have been found. Cattle and pigs were the most important domestic animals, followed by sheep, goats, horses, and dogs. Pictures on Iron Age urns from Silesia attest horse riding, but horses were used to draw chariots as well. Hunting was practiced, as bones of red and roe deer, boar, European bison, elk, hare, fox, and wolf attest, but it did not provide much of the meat consumed. The numerous frog bones found at Biskupin may indicate that frogs' legs were eaten as well.

• 
  Lusatian weapons
• 
  Various artefacts, Bronze and Iron Age
• 
  Socketed axes and arm rings
• 
  Bronze cult wagon model, Germany
• 
  Pottery from Biskupin
• 
  Lusatian cinerary urn
• 
  Pottery and figurines, Germany
• 
  Torcs and arm rings
• 
  Bronze fibulae, Germany
• 
  Fibula and arm rings
• 
  Bronze Age ornaments, Germany
• 
  Bronze vessel, Poland, c. 950 BC
• 
  Bronze collar with sun ship motifs.^[16]
• 
  Hoard from Woskowice Małe, Poland, 550 BC
• 
  Bronze arm rings, Germany
• 
  Königsgrab von Seddin [de] contents, c. 900 BC, Germany
• 
  Belt plate with sun ship motif, Poland, 9th century BC^[17][a]
• 
  Bronze arm bands
• 
  Bronze tableware, 1200–1000 BC, Dresden, Germany
• 
  Bronze spiral 'spectacle' pendants
• 
  Gold diadem from Sichów, Poland
• 
  Bronze hanging bowls, Poland
• 
  Lusatian pottery, Germany
• 
  Burial, Poland, c. 1200 BC
• 
  Reconstruction of Lusatian artefacts
• 
  Kaliska hoard II, reconstruction
• 
  Reconstructed buildings at Biskupin
• 
  3D model of a Lusatian rampart fortification in Potsdam near Berlin

• Hallstatt culture
• Schweinert burial mounds [de]
• Heidenschanze fortified settlement [de]
• Schwedenschanze Isingerode [de]