Yamna culture

The Yamna (from Russian яма "pit") or Pit Grave or Ochre Grave culture is a late copper age/early bronze age culture of the Bug/Dniester/Ural region, dating to the 36th–23rd centuries BC. The culture was predominantly nomadic, with some agriculture practiced near rivers and a few hillforts. Domestication of the horse, cattle, sheep and goat, use of plough and carts is attested. Characteristic for the culture are the inhumations in kurgans, (tumuli) in pit graves with the dead body placed in a supine position ...

Including:

• Yamna culture - Sources

Read more here: » Yamna culture: Encyclopedia - Yamna culture

Kurgan (кургáн) is the Russian word (of Turkic origin) for tumulus, a type of burial mound or barrow, heaped over a burial chamber, often of wood. In 1956 Marija Gimbutas introduced her Kurgan hypothesis combining kurgan archaeology with linguistics to locate the origins of the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) speaking peoples. She tentatively named the culture "Kurgan" after their distinctive burial mounds and traced its diffusion into Europe. This hypothesis has had a significant impact on Indo-European research. ...

Including:

• Kurgan - Archaeology
• Kurgan - Some excavated kurgans
• Kurgan - Literature

Read more here: » Kurgan: Encyclopedia - Kurgan

The "Kurgan hypothesis" of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origins assumes gradual expansion of the "Kurgan culture" until it encompasses the entire Pontic steppe, Kurgan IV being identified with the Yamna culture of around 3000 BC. Subsequent expansion beyond the steppes leads to hybrid cultures, such as the Globular Amphora culture to the west, the immigration of proto-Greeks to the Balkans and the nomadic Indo-Iranian cultures to the east around 2500 BC. The domestication of the horse, and later the use of early chariots is assumed to have incr ...

See also:

Kurgan hypothesis, Kurgan hypothesis - Overview, Kurgan hypothesis - Stages of expansion, Kurgan hypothesis - Timeline, Kurgan hypothesis - Secondary Urheimat, Kurgan hypothesis - Differences of interpretation, Kurgan hypothesis - Genetics

Read more here: » Kurgan hypothesis: Encyclopedia II - Kurgan hypothesis - Overview

The "Kurgan hypothesis" of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origins assumes gradual expansion of the "Kurgan culture" until it encompasses the entire Pontic steppe, Kurgan IV being identified with the Yamna culture of around 3000 BC. Subsequent expansion beyond the steppes leads to hybrid cultures, such as the Globular Amphora culture to the west, the immigration of proto-Greeks to the Balkans and the nomadic Indo-Iranian cultures to the east around 2500 BC. The domestication of the horse, and later the use of early chariots is assumed to have incr ...

See also:

Kurgan hypothesis, Kurgan hypothesis - Overview, Kurgan hypothesis - Stages of expansion, Kurgan hypothesis - Timeline, Kurgan hypothesis - Secondary Urheimat, Kurgan hypothesis - Differences of interpretation, Kurgan hypothesis - Genetics, Kurgan hypothesis - Literature

Read more here: » Kurgan hypothesis: Encyclopedia II - Kurgan hypothesis - Overview

Kurgan type barrows were characteristic of Bronze Age nomadic peoples of the steppes, from the Altai to the Caucasus and Romania. Sometimes, burial mounds are quite complex structures with internal chambers. Within the burial chamber at the heart of the kurgan, members of the elite were buried with grave goods and sacrificial offerings, sometimes including horses and chariots. K ...

See also:

Kurgan, Kurgan - Archaeology, Kurgan - Some excavated kurgans, Kurgan - Literature

Read more here: » Kurgan: Encyclopedia II - Kurgan - Archaeology

Chariot burials are tombs in which the deceased was buried together with his chariot, usually including his horses and other possessions. The earliest chariots known are from chariot burials of the Andronovo (Timber-Grave) sites of the Sintashta-Petrovka culture in modern Russia, clustering along the upper Tobol river, southeast of Magnitogorsk, from around 2000 BC, containing spoke-wheeled chariots drawn by teams of two horses. This culture is at least partially derived from the earlier Yamna culture, and is generally accepted ...

Read more here: » Chariot burial: Encyclopedia - Chariot burial

The Corded Ware culture, Battle Axe culture or Single Grave culture is an enormous European archaeological horizon that begins in the late Neolithic (stone age), flourishes through the copper age and finally culminates in the early bronze age, developing in various areas from ca. 3200 BC/2900 BC to ca. 2300 BC/1800 BC. With the Yamna culture, it represents the introduction of metal into Northern Europe, and the earliest expansion of the Indo-European family of languages. Corded Ware culture - Extent. Including:

• Corded Ware culture - Extent
• Corded Ware culture - Nomenclature
• Corded Ware culture - Origins and Development
• Corded Ware culture - Economy
• Corded Ware culture - Graves
• Corded Ware culture - Language
• Corded Ware culture - Subgroups
• Corded Ware culture - Corded Ware culture
• Corded Ware culture - Swedish-Norwegian Battle Axe culture
• Corded Ware culture - Finnish Battle Axe culture
• Corded Ware culture - Middle Dnieper and Fatyanovo-Balanovo cultures
• Corded Ware culture - Sources

Read more here: » Corded Ware culture: Encyclopedia - Corded Ware culture

Chariot was the name of a WW2 naval weapon, the British manned torpedo. A chariot is a two-wheeled, horse-drawn vehicle. In Latin biga is a two-horse chariot, and quadriga is a four-horse chariot. It was used for battle during the Bronze and Iron Ages, and continued to be used for travel, processions and in games after it had been superseded militarily. Early forms may also have had four wheels, although these are not usually referred to as chariots. The critical invention that allowed the constructi ...

Including:

• Chariot - Early forms
• Chariot - Indo-Iranians
• Chariot - China
• Chariot - Ancient Near East
• Chariot - Egyptian
• Chariot - Hittite
• Chariot - Mycenaean
• Chariot - Chariots in the Bible
• Chariot - Iron Age Mesopotamia
• Chariot - Northern Europe
• Chariot - Central and Western Europe
• Chariot - Classical Antiquity
• Chariot - Greece
• Chariot - Roman Empire
• Chariot - Russian Tachanka
• Chariot - Additional Bibliography

Read more here: » Chariot: Encyclopedia - Chariot

The various subgroups of the Indo-European family include (in historical order of their first attestation): Anatolian languages — earliest attested branch, from the 18th century BC; extinct, most notable was the language of the Hittites. Indo-Iranian languages, descending from a common ancestor, Proto-Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan, including Sanskrit, attested from the 2nd millennium BC Iranian languages, attested from roughly 1000 BC, including Avestan and Persian. Greek language — ...

See also:

Indo-European languages, Indo-European languages - Classification, Indo-European languages - Satem and Centum languages, Indo-European languages - Suggested superfamilies, Indo-European languages - History, Indo-European languages - Kurgan hypothesis, Indo-European languages - Competing hypotheses, Indo-European languages - Sound changes

Read more here: » Indo-European languages: Encyclopedia II - Indo-European languages - Classification

Also known as Copper Age, European Chalcolithic is a time of changes and confusion. The most relevant fact is the infiltration and invasion of large parts of the territory by people originating from Central Asia, considered by mainstream scholars to be the original Indo-Europeans, although there are again several theories in dispute. Other phenomena are the expansion of Megalithism and the appearance of the first significant economic stratification and, related to thi ...

See also:

Prehistoric Europe, Prehistoric Europe - Paleolithic, Prehistoric Europe - Neolithic, Prehistoric Europe - Chalcolithic, Prehistoric Europe - Bronze Age, Prehistoric Europe - Iron Age

Read more here: » Prehistoric Europe: Encyclopedia II - Prehistoric Europe - Chalcolithic

The houses were centered around a monumental grave, a symbol of social cohesion. Burial practices were varied, depending on region and changed over time. Inhumation seems to have been the rule. The oldest graves consisted of wooden chambered cairns inside long barrows, but later in the form of passage graves and dolmens. Originally, the structures were probably covered within a heap of dirt and the entrance was blocked by a stone. The Funnelbeaker culture marks the appearance of megalithic tombs at the coasts of the Baltic and of the North s ...

See also:

Funnelbeaker culture, Funnelbeaker culture - Migration patterns, Funnelbeaker culture - Settlements, Funnelbeaker culture - Religion and graves, Funnelbeaker culture - Objects, Funnelbeaker culture - Ethnicity and language, Funnelbeaker culture - Sources

Read more here: » Funnelbeaker culture: Encyclopedia II - Funnelbeaker culture - Religion and graves

Marija Gimbutas arrived in the United States as a refugee from Lithuania in 1949 after earning a PhD in archaeology in 1946 at Tübingen University in Germany, though she never forgot her Lithuanian heritage. She began immediately at Harvard University, translating Eastern European archaeological texts, and became a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology. In 1955 she was made a Fellow of Harvard's Peabody Museum. In 1956 Gimbutas introduced her "Kurgan hypothesis", which combined archaeological study of the distinctive "Kurgan" bu ...

See also:

Marija Gimbutas, Marija Gimbutas - Life, Marija Gimbutas - Work, Marija Gimbutas - Assessment, Marija Gimbutas - Influence on Neo-Pagan movement, Marija Gimbutas - Works, Marija Gimbutas - Sources

Read more here: » Marija Gimbutas: Encyclopedia II - Marija Gimbutas - Life

Chariot - Egyptian. The chariot, together with the horse itself, was introduced to Egypt during the reign of the Hyksos dynasty in the 16th century BC. In the remains of Egyptian and Assyrian art there are numerous representations of chariots, from which it may be seen with what richness they were sometimes ornamented. The chariots of the Egyptians and Assyrians, with whom the bow was the principle arm of attack, were richly mounted with quivers full of arrows. The Egyptians invented the yoke saddle for their chariot horses in ca. 1500 BC. The best preserved examples of Egyptian chariots are th ...

See also:

Chariot, Chariot - Early forms, Chariot - Indo-Iranians, Chariot - China, Chariot - Ancient Near East, Chariot - Egyptian, Chariot - Hittite, Chariot - Mycenaean, Chariot - Chariots in the Bible, Chariot - Iron Age Mesopotamia, Chariot - Northern Europe, Chariot - Central and Western Europe, Chariot - Classical Antiquity, Chariot - Greece, Chariot - Roman Empire, Chariot - Russian Tachanka, Chariot - Additional Bibliography

Read more here: » Chariot: Encyclopedia II - Chariot - Ancient Near East

The core group spread its pottery nearly everywhere. Corded Ware culture - Corded Ware culture. The prototypal Corded Ware culture, German Schnurkeramikkultur is found in Central Europe, mainly Germany and Poland, and refers to the characteric pottery of the era: wet clay was decoratively incised with cordage, i.e., string. It is known mostly from its burials, and both sexes received the characteristic cord-decorated pottery. Whether made of flax or hemp, they had rope. Corded Ware cultu ...

See also:

Corded Ware culture, Corded Ware culture - Extent, Corded Ware culture - Nomenclature, Corded Ware culture - Origins and development, Corded Ware culture - Economy, Corded Ware culture - Graves, Corded Ware culture - Language, Corded Ware culture - Subgroups, Corded Ware culture - Corded Ware culture, Corded Ware culture - Swedish-Norwegian Battle Axe culture, Corded Ware culture - Finnish Battle Axe culture, Corded Ware culture - Middle Dnieper and Fatyanovo-Balanovo cultures, Corded Ware culture - Sources

Read more here: » Corded Ware culture: Encyclopedia II - Corded Ware culture - Subgroups

The various subgroups of the Indo-European family include (in historical order of their first attestation): Anatolian languages — earliest attested branch, from the 18th century BC; extinct, most notable was the language of the Hittites. Indo-Iranian languages, descending from a common ancestor, Proto-Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan languages, including Sanskrit, attested from the 2nd millennium BC Iranian languages, attested from roughly 1000 BC, including Avestan and Persian Dardic languages ...

See also:

Indo-European languages, Indo-European languages - Classification, Indo-European languages - Satem and Centum languages, Indo-European languages - Suggested superfamilies, Indo-European languages - History, Indo-European languages - Kurgan hypothesis, Indo-European languages - Competing hypotheses, Indo-European languages - Sound changes

Read more here: » Indo-European languages: Encyclopedia II - Indo-European languages - Classification

The only Etruscan chariot found intact dates to ca. 530 BC. It is decorated with bronze plates reminiscent of the Gundestrup cauldron. Its wheels have nine spokes. It was part of a chariot burial. The Celts were famous chariot-makers, and the English word car is believed to be derived, via Latin carrum, from Gaulish karros (English chariot itself is from 13th century French charriote, an augmentative of the same word). Some 20 Iron Age chariot burials have been excavated in Britain, dating roughly fr ...

See also:

Chariot, Chariot - Early forms, Chariot - Indo-Iranians, Chariot - China, Chariot - Ancient Near East, Chariot - Egyptian, Chariot - Hittite, Chariot - Mycenaean, Chariot - Chariots in the Bible, Chariot - Iron Age Mesopotamia, Chariot - Northern Europe, Chariot - Central and Western Europe, Chariot - Classical Antiquity, Chariot - Greece, Chariot - Roman Empire, Chariot - Russian Tachanka, Chariot - Additional Bibliography

Read more here: » Chariot: Encyclopedia II - Chariot - Central and Western Europe

It might be said that the chariot was briefly revived during the Russian civil war of 1918–1920, when the "tachanka", a cart or wagon with a machine-gun mounted on it, enjoyed a limited tactical success in the Red Army. Since the gun had to be pointed away from the horses, it operated by firing in a direction opposite or lateral to the direction in which the tachanka was moving. One man drove the horses, while ...

See also:

Chariot, Chariot - Early forms, Chariot - Indo-Iranians, Chariot - China, Chariot - Ancient Near East, Chariot - Egyptian, Chariot - Hittite, Chariot - Mycenaean, Chariot - Chariots in the Bible, Chariot - Iron Age Mesopotamia, Chariot - Northern Europe, Chariot - Central and Western Europe, Chariot - Classical Antiquity, Chariot - Greece, Chariot - Roman Empire, Chariot - Russian Tachanka, Chariot - Additional Bibliography

Read more here: » Chariot: Encyclopedia II - Chariot - Russian Tachanka

Though the use of iron was known to the Aegean peoples about 1100 BCE, it didn't reach Central Europe before 800 BCE, giving way to the Hallstatt culture, an Iron Age evolution of the culture the Urn Fields. Probably as by-product of this technological superiority of the Indo-Europeans, soon after, they clearly consolidate their positions in Italy and Iberia, penetrating deep inside those peninsulas (Rome founded in 753 BCE). Around that time the Phoenicians, benefitting form the disappearance of the Greek maritime power (Dark Ages) f ...

See also:

Prehistoric Europe, Prehistoric Europe - Paleolithic, Prehistoric Europe - Neolithic, Prehistoric Europe - Chalcolithic, Prehistoric Europe - Bronze Age, Prehistoric Europe - Iron Age

Read more here: » Prehistoric Europe: Encyclopedia II - Prehistoric Europe - Iron Age

Inhumation was characteristically done one metre deep, without any marks, in a flexed position; males lay on their right side, females on the left, with the faces of both oriented to the south. Originally, there was probably a wooden construction, since the graves are often positioned in a line. Many are also marked with small tumuli. Grave goods for men typically included a stone battle-axe. The approximately contemporary Beaker culture had similar burial traditions, and together they covered most of Western and Central Europe. While ...

See also:

Corded Ware culture, Corded Ware culture - Extent, Corded Ware culture - Nomenclature, Corded Ware culture - Origins and development, Corded Ware culture - Economy, Corded Ware culture - Graves, Corded Ware culture - Language, Corded Ware culture - Subgroups, Corded Ware culture - Corded Ware culture, Corded Ware culture - Swedish-Norwegian Battle Axe culture, Corded Ware culture - Finnish Battle Axe culture, Corded Ware culture - Middle Dnieper and Fatyanovo-Balanovo cultures, Corded Ware culture - Sources

Read more here: » Corded Ware culture: Encyclopedia II - Corded Ware culture - Graves

The Trundholm sun chariot is dated to ca. 1400 BC (see Nordic Bronze Age). The horse drawing the solar disk runs on four wheels, and the Sun itself on two. All wheels have four spokes. The "chariot" consists solely of the solar disk, the axle, and the wheels, and it is unclear if the sun is imagined as being itself a chariot, or as riding in a chariot. The presence of a model of a horse-drawn vehicle on two spoked wheels in Northern Europe at suc ...

See also:

Chariot, Chariot - Early forms, Chariot - Indo-Iranians, Chariot - China, Chariot - Ancient Near East, Chariot - Egyptian, Chariot - Hittite, Chariot - Mycenaean, Chariot - Chariots in the Bible, Chariot - Iron Age Mesopotamia, Chariot - Northern Europe, Chariot - Central and Western Europe, Chariot - Classical Antiquity, Chariot - Greece, Chariot - Roman Empire, Chariot - Russian Tachanka, Chariot - Additional Bibliography

Read more here: » Chariot: Encyclopedia II - Chariot - Northern Europe