Funnel Beaker Culture
Origins
The Funnel Beaker People were a people who lived on the North European Plains from 4000 to 2800 BC. They are also commonly known by their German name Trichterbecher (TRB). They were the first farmers of Europe. Whether this is because they adopted farming through interactions with neighbors or moved into the area and replaced the local hunter gatherers is debated. They were eventually absorbed by the Corded Ware Culture.[1]
Culture
Lifestyle
The Funnel Beaker People were farmers, growing Emmer and Einkorn wheat, barley, spelt, flax peas, and poppies. They raised cattle sheep, goats, and hogs. The earliest evidence for the use of the plow, as well as the wheel, in Europe is associated with the Funnel Beaker People. They also made woolen textiles. Their settlements were often built around burials, the landscape surrounding them was usually divided into fields. The houses were built of wooden poles buried in the ground, hatched in straw, and with waddle and daub walls. Their settlements became larger and more elaborate later in the period. They made pots with narrow funnel shaped necks, this is the source of the name they are known by. They also made two and four handled amphorae, as well as plates and bowls.[1][2][3]
Diet
They ate beef, mutton, and pork as well as wild game. Livestock seems to have been of greater importance earlier in the period but by 3600 grains seem to have gained more importance. They also made and consumed dairy products. [2]
Burial customs
The Funnel Beaker People originally left singular flat graves usually with no mounds. But by 3600 they had begun building, megalithic, graves, mostly dolmens and passage graves. They also practice bog offering. There was often only a partial body present in the grave. Grave goods include included flint tools, (arrowheads, scrapers and daggers) Stone hammer axes and clubs, as well as Amber beads and pendants. Graves were often central to a village and both villages and graves became more elaborate later in the period. The highest concentration of Funnel Beaker Culture graves are in Gelderland Holland, Overijessel Holland, Luneberge Heath Lower Saxony, Haldensleben Saxony-Anhalt and the Isle of Rügen Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. [1][2][3]