Yamna culture

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Approximate culture extent c. 3200-2300 BC.
Approximate culture extent c. 3200-2300 BC.
The Yamna culture in 4th millennium BC Europe.
The Yamna culture in 4th millennium BC Europe.
Typical Yamna burial with the skeleton in supine position, with bent knees. The bodies were typically covered with ochre.
Typical Yamna burial with the skeleton in supine position, with bent knees. The bodies were typically covered with ochre.

The Yamna (from Russian/Ukrainian яма, "pit"; also known as Pit Grave or Ochre Grave culture) is a late copper age/early Bronze Age culture of the Bug/Dniester/Ural region (the Pontic steppe), dating to the 36th–23rd centuries BC. The culture was predominantly nomadic, with some agriculture practiced near rivers and a few hillforts.

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[edit] Characteristics

Characteristic for the culture are the inhumations in kurgans (tumuli) in pit graves with the dead body placed in a supine position with bent knees. The bodies were covered in ochre. Multiple graves have been found in these kurgans, often as later insertions.

Significantly, animal grave offerings were made (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and horse), a feature associated with both Proto-Indo-Europeans and Proto-Indo-Iranians. [1].

The earliest remains in Eastern Europe of a wheeled cart were found in the "Storozhova mohyla" kurgan (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, excavated by Trenozhkin A.I.) associated with the Yamna culture.

The recently discovered Luhansk sacrificial site has been described as a hill sanctuary where human sacrifice was practised.

[edit] Spread and identity

The Yamna culture is identified with the late Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE) in the Kurgan hypothesis of Marija Gimbutas. It is one candidate for the Urheimat (homeland) of the Proto-Indo-European language, along with the preceding Sredny Stog culture.

It is said to have originated in the middle Volga based Khvalynsk culture and the middle Dnieper based Sredny Stog culture. In its western range, it is succeeded by the Catacomb culture; in the east, by the Poltavka culture and the Srubna culture.

[edit] Artifacts

From the Hermitage Museum collections

[edit] References

  1. ^ Benjamin W. Fortson, "Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction ", Blackwell Publishing, 2004. pg 43. Excerpt:"The Yamna culture certainly fits the bill of the late Proto-Indo-European culture

[edit] See also

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