Beaker People
The Beaker People, also known as the Bell-Beaker folk, were a prehistoric group that inhabited parts of Western Europe, including regions from Iberia to France, Britain, Ireland, and further east towards the Vistula and Danube river valleys. They are primarily recognized for their distinctive bell-shaped drinking vessels, known as beakers, which were commonly found in burial sites. Unlike their Neolithic predecessors, the Beaker People practiced individual burial in graves, often placing the deceased in a fetal position and including a beaker in the grave. Additionally, their graves contained valuable items such as gold, silver, and copper jewelry, along with arrowheads, suggesting a culture that valued archery.
A significant aspect of their material culture is the introduction of copper metalworking in Europe, believed to have originated in Spain. The Beaker culture is noted for its rapid expansion and integration with other groups, particularly the Battle Ax people of Central Europe, leading to the emergence of the Unetician culture. The Beaker People represent a key transitional group in prehistoric Europe, marking shifts in burial practices and technological advancements.
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Beaker People
Related civilizations: Battle-Ax people, Unetician culture.
Date: c. 2300-1800 b.c.e.
Locale: Western Europe
Beaker People
The Beaker people lived in Western Europe, from Iberia into France (especially Brittany and the Rhone Valley), Britain, Ireland, the Low Countries, and the North German Plain, extending eastward to the Vistula and Danube River Valleys. Sometimes called Bell-Beaker folk, the Beaker people are distinguished by the geometrically decorated bell-shaped drinking vessels (beakers) that have been discovered in their burial places. Unlike the peoples of the Neolithic Age who preceded them, the Beaker people interred their dead in individual graves, in a fetal position, cradling a beaker.
Also included in Beaker graves were jewelry items in gold, silver, and copper and some arrowheads and stone wrist-protectors, indicating that archery was a valued skill (though this does not necessarily prove the existence of a warrior aristocracy, as some scholars have previously surmised). The most significant finds, however, are the tanged daggers made from copper, the first example of practical metalworking in Europe. The Beaker people may well have developed this technology in Spain, with its abundant copper lodes.
The Beaker culture and people themselves seem to have spread rapidly north and east and, in Central Europe, apparently intermingled with the Battle Ax people. This amalgamation seems to have brought about the formation of the Unetician culture.
Bibliography
Cunliffe, Barry. The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Piggott, Stuart. Ancient Europe: From the Beginnings of Agriculture to Classical Antiquity. Chicago: Aldine, 1968.
Werick, Robert. The Monument Builders. New York: Time-Life, 1973.