Tumulus culture

For other uses, see Tumulus (disambiguation).

Tumulus culture

Geographical range	Europe
Period	Bronze Age Europe
Dates	circa 1,600 B.C.E. — circa 1,200 B.C.E.
Preceded by	Unetice culture
Followed by	Urnfield culture

The Tumulus culture (German: Hügelgräberkultur) dominated Central Europe during the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1600 BC to 1200 BC).

It was the descendant of the Unetice culture. Its heartland was the area previously occupied by the Unetice culture besides Bavaria and Württemberg. It was succeeded by the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture.

As the name implies, the Tumulus culture is distinguished by the practice of burying the dead beneath burial mounds (tumuli or kurgans).

In 1902, Paul Reinecke distinguished a number of cultural horizons based on research of Bronze Age hoards and tumuli in South Germany that he designated A–D. The A and C periods were further divided into A1, A2 and C1 and C2 horizons. The time periods covered by these cultural horizons are shown in the table below. The Tumulus culture was prevalent during the Bronze Age periods B, C1, and C2. Tumuli have been used elsewhere in Europe from the Stone Age to the Iron Age and the term "Tumulus culture" specifically refers to the South German variant of the Bronze Age. In the table, Ha designates Hallstatt. Archaeological horizons Hallstatt A–B are part of the Bronze Age Urnfield culture, while horizons Hallstatt C–D are the type site for the Iron Age Hallstatt culture.

Central European Bronze Age
Late Bronze Age
Ha B2/3	800–950 BC
Ha B1	950–1050 BC
Ha A2	1050–1100 BC
Ha A1	1100–1200 BC
Bz D	1200–1300 BC
Middle Bronze Age
Bz C2	1300–1400 BC
Bz C1	1400–1500 BC
Bz B	1500–1600 BC
Early Bronze Age
Bz A2	1600–2000 BC
Bz A1	2000–2200 BC

See also

• Beaker culture
• Urnfield culture

References

• Nora Kershaw Chadwick, J. X. W. P. Corcoran, The Celts (1970), p. 27.[1]
• Barbara Ann Kipfer, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology (2000)