Pit Grave culture

E826734

The Pit Grave culture, better known as the Yamnaya culture, was a late Copper Age–early Bronze Age pastoralist society of the Pontic–Caspian steppe often linked to the spread of Indo-European languages across Eurasia.

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Statements (53)

Predicate Object
instanceOf archaeological culture
pastoralist society
alternateName Pit-grave culture NERFINISHED
Yamna culture NERFINISHED
Yamnaya culture NERFINISHED
ancestralTo Afanasievo culture (genetically and culturally related) NERFINISHED
Corded Ware culture (partly, genetically and culturally) NERFINISHED
archaeologistAssociated David W. Anthony NERFINISHED
Marija Gimbutas NERFINISHED
associatedWith early use of wagons
associatedWithTheory Steppe hypothesis of Indo-European origins NERFINISHED
burialCustom pit graves under kurgan mounds
single and multiple burials
supine inhumations
use of red ochre on bodies
chronologicalPhase early Bronze Age
late Copper Age
coreArea north of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea
domesticatedAnimal cattle
goats
horses
sheep
economyType pastoralism
geneticProfile high proportion of steppe ancestry
graveGoods animal offerings
copper or bronze ornaments
flint tools
stone battle-axes
housingType temporary camps and seasonal settlements
linkedTo expansion into eastern and central Europe
expansion toward the Balkans and the Danube region
expansion toward the Caucasus and Central Asia
locatedInPresentDay Moldova NERFINISHED
Romania NERFINISHED
Ukraine NERFINISHED
southern Russia NERFINISHED
western Kazakhstan NERFINISHED
locatedInRegion Pontic–Caspian steppe NERFINISHED
materialCulture cord-impressed pottery
early metal objects
simple undecorated pottery
stone maces and axes
mobilityPattern semi-nomadic
nameEtymology named after its characteristic pit graves or burial pits
significance major vector for the spread of Indo-European languages
socialOrganization clan-based groups
patriarchal society
subsistenceStrategy limited agriculture
mobile herding of cattle
mobile herding of sheep and goats
temporalRangeEnd early 3rd millennium BCE
temporalRangeStart late 4th millennium BCE
YChromosomeHaplogroup R1b-M269 (frequent)

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Yamnaya culture alsoKnownAs Pit Grave culture