Bronze Age
Early Bronze Age

Topics covered in this section:

Introduction

The early Bronze Age (2500-1300 BC) is the period when the Bell-Beaker people (so named for their bell-shaped drinking vessels) appeared in Atlantic Europe and when influences from the Levant and Near East began to be felt in the Aegean.

The early Bronze Age saw massive innovations and trading taking place in the Aegean and the Near East. Trade also expanded across the steppes of Asia. And bronze became the primary medium of wealth.

However, during this same period of time, the European landscape remained largely one of pastoral and agricultural activity.

Life in the Aegean Region

In the Aegean and the surrounding regions, we see the emergence of large urban societies, characterized especially by Troy. These city-states consisted of complex, palace-centered states with trading links across the Mediterranean to the Near East.

However, even though their spheres of influence were vast, these urban city-states had little effect on European pastoral and farming settlements.

Life on the Steppes

Pastoral steppe societies expanded eastward as shepherds and horse-centered migratory groups moved their flocks across the steppeland as far east as central Asia.

Overall, though, life on the steppes had little impact on central or eastern European settlements. The shepherds won little or no territory in eastern Europe, where the majority of the land was settled by scattered farming communities.

However, there is some evidence of their influence. For instance, these migratory steppe tribes introduced horse-rearing skills to their neighbors. And they also exported their special designs for chariots throughout eastern Europe and the Near East.

On the steppes, much of the trade that was carried out took place by the use of dugout canoes along the many inland waterways. The steppe cultures also formed an important new metallurgical community which influenced European craftsmanship.

Popularity of Bronze

During the early Bronze Age, gold and, to a lesser degree, silver objects continued to be crafted and deposited in elite tombs in Europe. But bronze grave objects clearly dominate the archaeological record. In fact, bronze was the most widely traded metal of the period and became the universal medium of prestige.

Technical innovations in bronze casting spread outward from the leading metalworking centers. These innovations were widely adopted across the European continent. Differences in the styles of particular time periods have been especially useful in archaeologically correlating the chronologies of different regions.

Common Weapon Designs

Bronze was used to manufacture weapons, ornaments, and certain kinds of tools. As common styles of fighting and warfare spread across the continent, the result was the manufacture of common weapon designs.

Tin Replaces Arsenic

The use of arsenic alloyed with copper gave way to the use of tin in the manufacture of bronze. However, naturally occurring copper was rare. And tin was even more rare. The circulation of bronze objects in trade depended on regular supplies of copper and tin. And those regions fortunate enough to have these raw materials in abundance grew wealthy.

Bronze Grave Goods

Because of their prized value, bronze objects were often buried with the dead or offered to the gods (or other supernatural powers).

Latter Part of Early Bronze Age

In the final centuries of the second millennium, we see evidence of the collapse of the first Aegean experiments with urbanism. Following the collapse, Mycenaean Greece reverted to effectively prehistoric conditions.

Meanwhile, lands along the middle and lower Danube experienced a surge of growth. The pattern of hill forts and flat-grave cemeteries spread rapidly into central Europe.

And the period of "Urnfield" expansion (see next topic in this series in the "Go Elsewhere" section below) incorporated new technologies such as sheet bronzeworking.

Barbarian Europe

Classical writers of Greece and Rome later referred to the early Bronze Age Europeans as barbarians. Part of this disparaging view was promoted by the distinct lack of elaborate, permanent dwellings accorded to the upper stratum of society, something the classical writers considered essential to a "proper" society.

Accumulation of Wealth

Unlike their Greek and Roman counterparts, success among the European elite was often measured not by the extravagance of their homes, but by the quantities of bronze that could be accumulated.

Votive hoards were quite often used to "purchase" fame or the good will of the gods. European churches grew in wealth as the local elite attempted to buy the favor of the gods.

Social Ideals and Hospitality

All was not barbarism in Europe, however. Apparently, based on recovered finds, hospitality was expressed everywhere. Archaeological sites throughout Europe have uncovered many elaborate, carefully made drinking vessels, often made from expensive materials. These were used during feasts to entertain prominent guests.

Textile manufacturing vastly improved during the period. And amber necklaces and metal dress pins (needed to hold together loosely woven cloth) became visible signs of wealth.

Fortified Settlements

In a few areas of Europe, large fortified settlements appeared, primarily on the trade routes.

Still by the standards of the Aegean and the Near East, these defense centers and hill forts remained "barbaric." In Bronze Age Hungary and Slovakia, for example, there are no archaeological traces of great halls and palaces like those found in city-states such as Troy.

Ore-Rich Carpathians

Many of these fortified settlements were established along the edges of the ore-rich Carpathian Mountains, where trade contacts existed in all directions — east to the steppes, south to the Aegean, north to Scandinavia, and westward as far as the British Isles via a chain of wealthy merchant groups.

Metalsmiths in Hungary

Another example can be found among the master metalsmiths in Hungary, who produced and traded bronze daggers throughout the region.

Scandinavia Metal-Less

Far to the north during the early Bronze Age, Scandinavia remained largely metal-less. Even the occasional imports of bronze axes and daggers were quickly copied into flint by the local Scandinavian craftsmen. Centuries later, however, Scandinavia began to adopt European metal technology.

European Development Zones

The archaeological record divides early Bronze Age Europe roughly into two developmental zones:

In other words, Romania sits smack dab in the middle of the dividing line.

Note

These two regions don't imply a simple division between "farmers" and "pastoralists." Both farming and herding were practiced in both zones in somewhat equal proportions. Rather, the division refers to the emphasis and social value placed on these opposite activites in each region.

Pastoralists

To the north and west of the Carpathians, farming appears to have been an "experiment" that lasted a short while before turning the region over to grazing. The rapidly cleared forests apparently didn't prove to be good farmland.

In this region, the possession of grazing land seems to have been the main component of various social strategies meant to accumulate wealth. Tumuli (burial mounds), which dominate steppe cultures as well, with their votive deposits ("hoards") are common in all areas north and west of the Carpathians.

Farmers

South and east of the Carpathians, the possession of cultivatable land seems to have been the main social strategy. Here we find flat-grave cemeteries with a large number of burials, but with little apparent social differentiation.

It is in this region that we find the most evidence of local intrusions by the tumulus (mound) building groups from the steppes. To protect their crops from the occasional migratory invaders, the farms were often situated within fortified settlements.

Despite these occasional intrusions, we see the persistence of a stable, sedentary pattern throughout the southern and immediate eastern regions.

Carpathian Zone

Now let's turn our attention to the early Bronze Age region around the Carpathian Mountains, since that's where present-day Romania and its neighbors are.

Early Immigrants

During the early third millennium BC, tumulus building steppe dwellers migrated to the Carpathian basin. They settled primarily on the open flood plains of eastern Hungary, occupying the low terraces, which were drained and seasonally flooded by the Tisza River and its tributary, the Koros.

Competition with the indigenous agrarian population was largely avoided because of the use of the light plow, which had opened up the surrounding foothills to farmers. The agriculturists willingly moved up the hillside, away from the seasonal flooding, which might ruin their crops.

By the mid-third millennium BC, the two groups had merged into a single cultural community in Transylvania, in the northeastern Carpathian basin. There we find a mixed economy of agriculture and stock raising.

Steppe Connections

Connections with the steppe cultures of the east remained important to the Carpathian dwellers. Horses were imported from the steppes in greater numbers. There is no doubt, for example, that bridle equipment in the Carpathians and Urals are hybrids of each other. Carpathian bridle equipment is more decorated than Ural equipment, however.

Clay models of spoked wheels have been recovered in Transylvania, indicating the presence of chariots in the Carpathian region.

Trading links with the metalworking centers of the Caucasus region remained strong in the Carpathians.

Battleaxe Wielding Region

A metal battleaxe of foreign manufacture appears in the archaeological record, for example. It's not the type of shallow, balanced axe-adze or axe-hammer of the indigenous copperworking tradition, which was made by casting a single piece from a mold and then forged into shape. Rather, it's a more effective, deep-bladed type with a shaft hole at the end, made by metalcasting in a two-piece mold.

Further indications of weapons technology being imported from the steppes is indicated by the increased use of arsenic as an additive. Arsenic improves the casting properties of copper and gives it a harder edge.

As good as it might have been at the time, though, weapon technology on the steppes and in the Carpathian region lagged way behind German technology. Initially, Carpathian weapons were less innovative than their German counterparts.

Adding to the slow pace of weapon technology, most of the more accessible ore deposits in the Carpathians had been exhausted in the past.

The principal product of the Carpathian region was a shaft-hold battleaxe made of arsenical copper. Eastern Europe and the Caucasus soldier favored the battleaxe, such as the ones manufactured in Transylvania.

Western Europe, on the other hand, favored the German manufactured dagger.

Carpathian Invention of Swords

The one application of weapons technology that set eastern Europe apart was the invention of the broadsword. Swords were a magnificent enhancement of the western dagger tradition in a largely axe-wielding region. A dagger was rather ineffective against the long reach of a swinging battleaxe.

Swords spread westward, being traded along the Danube, in the Alpine foreland, and up the Rhine to the Atlantic.

In the west, swords tended to be narrow, thrusting dirks or rapiers. In the east, swords continued to be the broad, slashing type.

Settlements

Settlements in the Carpathian region were surrounded by deep ditches and banks, giving them more the character of fortresses. These fortified settlements were meant to protect the ever-increasing wealth of the local craftsmen.

Settlements of this period tended to be more rapidly built than the ones from earlier, longer occupied villages. Most of the fortified settlements sprang up along trade routes carved through the Carpathian mountain passes.

An innovative enhancement to these settlements was the appearance of catacomb graves, which were simply pits with a side entrance.

The pastoralists and agriculturists who settled in the Romanian territory added to the ever growing population of indigenous people. Already, they showed the signs of a mixed ethnicity that would one day become the Romanians.

Trade

Trade provided a third path to wealth in the Carpathian region. The primary two sources of wealth remained agriculture and stock raising, however. Trade was enhanced by the exploitation of rich Transylvanian ore deposits by local miners.

Rivers, principally the Danube and its tributaries, provided the links between trading centers.

Carpathian Craftsmen

Craftsmen in the Carpathian basin, using rich, locally available resources of copper and gold, supplied a vast hinterland.

As just one example of the craftsmanship of the region, archaeologists have recovered a complete set of sheet-gold cups with curvilinear ornaments from a site in the Bihar region, which is split between present-day Hungary and Romania.

Carpathian craftsmen produced quality pieces of ornaments containing incised C-scrolls and curvilinear designs. These ornaments are reminiscent of steppe horse gear such as cheek pieces, strap junctions, and whip caps. Other popular designs include concentric circles and running waves.

Influences of the Carpathian style can be found in such faraway places as Denmark, Italy, Greece, and to a lesser degree as distant as the British Isles.

Two finds illustrate the skills of Carpathian craftsmen. The first, uncovered in 1907, was a hoard dating from 1800 BC in northeastern Hungary. It included a solid-hilted sword, placed with its blade pointing due north, across which had been placed twelve shaft-hole axes with their blades to the west. The sword and three of the axes were richly decorated with incised C-scrolls and curvilinear ornament. Each item was a unique creation rather than mass produced.

The second example, a comparable sword and three battleaxes was found at Apa, just across the Romanian border. Swords similar in design to the Apa sword have been found as far away as the western Baltic.

German Competition

Competition from German craftsmen forced Carpathian craftsmen to realign some of their markets. In Scandinavia, imports shifted from the Carpathian craftsmen to German craftsmen. Germans also monopolized most of the trade with western Europe.

In the face of this stiff German competition, Carpathian craftsmen moved some of their trade southward. They increased their trade routes down the Danube to the Black Sea and then into the northern Aegean. A gold dagger manufactured in Romania has been uncovered in Mycenae.

Lathe-finished gold vessels such as drinking cups mark the spread of more advanced metalworking techniques in the Carpathian region.

Romanian Archaeology

The Bronze Age in Romania is reflected in two types of archaeological evidence. The first is the large number of hoards of bronze objects found rather unevenly distributed across all of Romania's present-day territory — weapons, personal ornaments, and even metal ingots. The second type of evidence is the succession of societal changes that can be observed in the settlements, the burial practices, and the pottery of this period.

Bronze Age Romanian archaeology can be divided into two main phases, which are covered below. A discussion of these two phases is followed by a recap of some of the Bronze Age hoards found in Romania.

Phase 1 (~2500-1600 BC)

Typical of the first phase is the Glina-Schneckenberg culture, which extends from the Danube on the south into southeastern Transylvania.

Also during this phase, on the Transylvanian plateau, we note the persistence of a primitive pottery which is decorated with lines of "pecked" incisions. This type of ornamentation is most likely derived from the earlier pottery designs of the Coţofeni culture.

Phase 2 (~1600-1100 BC)

This phase overlaps the next Bronze Age period (Urnfield) somewhat but is covered here. Although there are a number of regional cultures that appear in this phase, two cultures stand out from the rest in revealing the changes from previous periods — the Tei in southern Romania and the Periam-Pecica in western Romania.

Periam-Pecica Culture

Explorers left the Periam-Pecica area, spreading out to establish new territories in the Banat (the Vatina culture) and in Oltenia (the Verbicioara culture). Meanwhile, immigrants from Urnfield Yugoslavia moved into the areas thus vacated. The Gârla Mare and Cârna cemeteries have provided details of these immigrants.

Tei Culture

Excavations at Sărata-Monteoru have demonstrated the rich heritage of the Tei culture. The Tei extended from the hills of Wallachia to southern Moldavia. One branch of this culture reached northern Moldavia where they have been studied at Costişa. Later stages show an expansion into southeastern Transylvania.

Wietenberg Culture

The Wietenberg culture, an offshoot of the Tei culture, was first identified on a hill near Sighişoara in central Transylvania.

The large numbers of battle axes and swords (including seven Mycenaean type swords) uncovered bear witness to the warrior tradition of this tribal society. The ritual sword and dagger blades made of gold are evidence of the wealth of the tribal leaders.

The Wietenberg pottery, found at many sites belonging to this culture, is decorated with spiral and meander patterns, usually produced by excision.

Otomani Culture

The Otomani culture is best known at sites west of the Theiss River and in Slovakia, but portions of this culture have also been found in northwestern Romania.

The large number of bronze implements and especially weapons such as battle axes, swords, and arm guards indicate that his metal-working society was heavily involved in warfare.

Recent investigations at the Romanian sites of Vărşand and Socodor have produced Otomani pottery that is decorated with spiral and meander patterns produced by incision. Objects such as single-handled cups, shallow dishes, soup bowls, and storage jars have been unearthed.

Babadag Culture

The Babadag culture, located in the area between the Danube and the Black Sea, began to emerge during the Bronze Age with a marked Anatolian flair.

Bronze Hoards

As expected, the more numerous and larger hoards of bronze appear in western Romania rather than to the east and south of the Carpathians.

Transylvanian Hoards

The bronze hoards in Transylvania, arranged in order by archaeological period, are:

Non-Transylvanian Hoards

Across the Carpathians from Transylvania, in Wallachia, Moldavia, and the Dobrogea, fewer and less varied hoards have been found. The sites include Sinaia, Predeal, and Drajna de Jos.

Many of the items are clearly of Transylvanian design. However, it's unknown whether they come from peaceful trade, booty taken in war, or from a migration of Transylvanian tribes across the mountains. Among the items are also a few items that show analogies with objects found in southern Russia — such as daggers with open-work hilts and a type of sickle.

It's reasonable to infer the movement of hoard items due to the trade or other dispersion of pottery over great distances. For example, the distinctive pottery of the Nouă culture (located near Braşov in southern Transylvania) has been found as far away as Wallachia and Moldavia. And to the east, it even extends into southern Russia, where it has been found in the Sabatinovka complex.

Pronunciation Help

To help American readers, the following pronunciation guide to Romanian words used above is provided. The sounds shown are only approximations, however.

Go Elsewhere

At this point, you have a couple of options:

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