Urnfield culture

Urnfield culture

Geographical range	Europe
Period	Iron Age Europe
Dates	c. 1300 — c. 750 BCE
Major sites	Burgstallkogel (Sulm valley)
Preceded by	Tumulus culture
Followed by	Hallstatt culture

Bronze Age This box:
↑ Chalcolithic
Near East (c. 3300–1200 BC) Anatolia, Caucasus, Elam, Egypt, Levant, Mesopotamia, Sistan, Canaan Bronze Age collapse South Asia (c. 3000– 1200 BC) Ochre Coloured Pottery Cemetery H Europe (c. 3200–600 BC) Aegean, Caucasus, Catacomb culture, Srubna culture, Beaker culture, Unetice culture, Tumulus culture, Urnfield culture, Hallstatt culture, Apennine culture, Canegrate culture, Golasecca culture, Atlantic Bronze Age, Bronze Age Britain, Nordic Bronze Age China (c. 2000–700 BC) Erlitou, Erligang
arsenical bronze writing, literature sword, chariot
↓Iron Age

Near East (c. 3300–1200 BC)

South Asia (c. 3000– 1200 BC)

Europe (c. 3200–600 BC)

China (c. 2000–700 BC)

arsenical bronze
writing, literature
sword, chariot

The Urnfield culture (c. 1300 BCE – 750 BCE) was a late Bronze Age culture of central Europe. The name comes from the custom of cremating the dead and placing their ashes in urns which were then buried in fields. The Urnfield culture followed the Tumulus culture and was succeeded by the Hallstatt culture. Linguistic evidence and continuity with the following Hallstatt culture suggests that the people of this area spoke an early form of Celtic, perhaps originally proto-Celtic.

It is believed that in some areas, such as in southwestern Germany, it was in existence around 1200 BCE (beginning of Ha A), but the Bronze D Riegsee-phase already contains cremations. As the transition from the middle Bronze Age to the Urnfield culture was gradual, there are questions regarding how to define it. The Urnfield culture covers the phases Hallstatt A and B (Ha A and B) in Paul Reinecke's chronological system, not to be confused with the Hallstatt culture (Ha C and D) of the following Iron Age. This corresponds to the Phases Montelius III-IV of the Northern Bronze Age. Whether Reinecke's Bronze D is included varies according to author and region. The Urnfield culture is divided into the following sub-phases (based on Müller-Karpe sen.):

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