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The Baalberge Group of the Early Funnel Beaker Culture

Maximilian O. Baldia

List of Figures

Map of Europe

Map of North and part of Central Europe

Map of Central Europe

Map of the Funnel Beaker Culture and its Sub-groups

Figure 1. Location of type-site Baalberge and TRB causewayed enclosures Central Germany and Moravia.

Figure 2. Baalberge artifacts from Central and East Germany.

Figure 3. The pottery hoard of Božice near Znoimo, Czech Republic (Photograph by A. Vrbka, Podborský et al. 1993 Fig. 99).

Introduction

The purpose of this text is to provide a general overview of the culture and is intended as a resource for students and teachers of European Archaeology.

Location

The Baalberge group forms the southern part of the Funnel Beaker culture interaction sphere. The type-site of Baalberge is a town near Bernburg, Central Germany (Fig. 1), where P. Höfer excavated a multiphase burial mound named Baalberg in 1901. (The culture is named after the town, not the mound.) The huge mound measured 5.75 m in height and had a 40 m diameter. The primary burial consisted of a 1.50:0.80 m cist, constructed of sub-megalithic stone slabs. It contained skeletal remains and two Baalberge pots.

Chronology

In Moravia Baalberge is considered the earliest component of the Funnel Beaker culture's South Group (C14 Dates, German Chronological Table, Moravian Chronological Table). However, not all researchers have included Baalberge in Funnel Beaker culture (TRB). In fact, in Germany the beginning of Baalberge is now thought to start around 3800 BC, i.e. after the beginning of the TRB.

In Moravia the end of Baalberge is thought to occur during TRB II, when it is gradual replaced by Baden-Boleráz. The latter starts around 3600/3400 cal BC and ends sometime between 3350-3200 cal BC. However, in Germany Baalberge it is suggested that the Baalberge pottery stile ends around 3350 BC (see TRB Table 3)

Pottery

Baalberge pottery (Fig. 2) is found primarily in Central Germany, Bohemia, and in Moravia, but similarities are recognized in adjacent regions.

In Moravia one of the most significant finds occurred in 1935. Thirteen mostly upside down pots were found in Božice near Znoimo, Czech Republic, close to the Austrian border. The pots were located in a corner of a 1.4:1.2 m pit and are thought to represent the first stage of the Moravian TRB sequence. The early Baalberge pottery shows affinities with the Late Lengyel (Late Moravian Painted Pottery) and the Michelsberg culture, centered further west.

Relative dating, based on pottery typology, traditionally divides Baalberge into an older phase (Baalberge A) and a younger one (Baalberge B). However, M. Šmíd (1993) has proposed a more detailed relative chronology (Moravian Chronological Table and Table 1).

Table 1. Relative chronology of the Baalberge culture in Moravia and associated burial mounds.

Pottery	Burial Site
Moravian TRB IA
Moravian TRB IB1	Slatinki-Boří 1
Moravian TRB IB2	Slatinki- Boří 2

Burials

The Baalberge culture frequently used burial mounds (Table 1). In Moravia only a few mounds are known from this period. These are oblong to trapezoidal long-mounds (long-barrows) covered by fieldstones. Within them small cists made of sub-megalithic stone slabs were found, containing flexed burials.

Earthworks (Enclosures)

During TRB I Baalberge earthworks were built. In Moravia the oldest Enclosure is said to be Rmíz, named after the hill on which it is built (Baldia et al. 1998, Baldia and Šmíd 2001). However,

Houses

I suspect that houses are small.

References and Credits

Baldia, M. O.

2004 A Spatial Analysis of Megalithic Tombs. Vol. 1-2. Ph.D. Dissertation. Southern Methodist University. The Comparative Archaeology WEB©. 2004. http://www.comp-archaeology.org/010_Intro_Dis_SPATIAL_ANALYSIS_MEGT.htm

Baldia, M. O.

1995 A Spatial Analysis of Megalithic Tombs. Vol. 1-2. Ph. D. Dissertation. Southern Methodist University.

Baldia, M. O., C. Baldia and D. Frink

1998/02 The Czech American Research Project: 1998 Activity Report. The Comparative Archaeology WEB©.

Baldia, M. O. and M. Šmíd.

1998/01 Rmíz: The oldest fort with stone faced rampart and its significance in the Neolithic/Copper Age Moravian landscape. Presented at the 63^rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in the symposium: Prehistoric communication: The first wheels, roads, metals, and monumental architecture. Friday, March 27, 1998 in Seattle, Washington, USA. The Comparative Archaeology WEB©.

Behrens, Hermann and Brigitte Rüster

1981 Kalibrierte C14-Daten für das Neolithikum des Mittel-Elbe-Saale-Gebietes. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 11/3:189-193.

Müller-Karpe, H.

1974 Handbuch der Vorgeschichte: Kupferzeit. III/1-3. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, München.

Podborský, Vladimír, et al.

1993 Praveké Dejiny Moravy. Vlastiveda Moravská Zeme a Lid, Nová Rada 3. Muzejní a vlastivedna spolecnost, Brno.

Müller, Johannes

2000 Zur Radiokarbondatierung des Jung- bis Endneolithkums und der Frühbronzezeit im Mittelelbe-Saale-Gebiet (4100-1500 v. Chr.). Berichte der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 80, 1999:31-90.

2001 Soziochronologische Studien zum Jung- und Spätneolithikum im Mittelelbe-Saale-Gebiet (4100-2700 v.Chr.): Eine sozialhistorische Interpretation prähistorischer Quellen. Vorgeschichtliche Forschungen 21. Verlag Marie Leidorf 2001. Rahden/Westf., Germany.

Šmíd, Miroslav

1981 Stratigrafické pozorování na výšinném eneolitiékem sidlisti Rmíz u Laškova, okr. Prostĕjov, Prehledy výzku 1979:17, Brno.

1983 Výzkum eneolitických mohyl na Kosíři u Slatinek (okr. Prostĕjov), Prehledy vyzkumu 1981:22, Brno.

1990 Prispevek k poznání eneolitických mohylových pohrebišt na strední Morave. Praveké a slovanské osídlení Moravy, 1990:67-89, Brno.

1991 Nové nálezy kultury s moravskou malovaou keramikou na Prostĕjovsku. AR XLIII:185-205.

1992 Druhé eneolitické mohylové pohrebište na katastru obce Námešt na Hané, okr. Olomouc. Pravěk, Nova rada 1, 1991:44-65.

1993 Nástin periodizace kultury s nálevkovitými poháry na Moravé. Pravěk, Nova rada 2, 1992:131-157, Brno.

1994 Ein Burgwall mit steinerner Stirnmauer aus der älteren Stufe der Trichterbecherkultur auf dem Burgwall Rmíz bei Laškov im Kataster der Gemeinde Náměšť na Hané, Kreis Olomouc, Land Mähren. Jahresschrift für mitteldeutsche Vorgeschichte, 76:201-230.

2001a Nálezy kultury s nálevkovitými poháry z Kostelce na Hane a typologie keramiky straší fáze I. Stupne KNP na Moravĕ. (Entwurf der Keramiktypologie für die Mährische Trichterbecherkultur) Pravĕk Supplementum 8, 2001:276-298.

2001b Der Kulturkomplex Boleráz und sein Einfluß auf die Entwicklung der Trichterbecherkultur in Mähren, in Cernavodã III-Boleráz. In Petre Roman, Saviana Diamandi (eds.), Cernavoda III-Boleráz. Ein vorgeschichtliches Phänomen zwischen dem Oberrhein und der unteren Donau, Studia Danubiana, Series Symposia, Bucuresti, 2001:604-622.

2003 Mohylová pohřebištĕ kultury nálevkovitých pohárů na moravĕ. (Mährische Hügelgräberfelder der Trichterbecherkultur. Pravek Supplementum 11. Ústav Archeologické Památkové péče Brno.

Please send comments or questions to Max Baldia.