Wielbark Culture: Encyclopedia II - Wielbark Culture - Characteristics

Wielbark Culture - Characteristics

Between the Przeworsk Culture and the Wielbark Culture there was a clear separation and there appears to have been no detectable contacts.

The people of the Wielbark Culture used both inhumation and cremation techniques for burying their dead. Whether they used one or the other varied from site to site and it is believed to have depended on family traditions.

A characteristic of this culture, which it had in common with southern Scandinavia, was the raising of stone covered mounds, stone circles, solitary stelae and variations of cobble cladding.

There were no weapons nor tools in the Wielbark culture graves, unlike the Przeworsk culture for which it was typical to give the dead such gifts. Instead, the gifts were mostly ornaments and costumes. A few graves have shown spurs, and this would be the only warrior attribute found.

Another feature of the Wielbark culture was the use of bronze to make ornaments and accessories. Silver was used seldom and gold rarely. Iron appears to have been used extremely rarely.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Characteristics", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki