Beaker pottery
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| Geographical range | Europe |
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| Period | Chalcolithic Europe – Bronze Age Europe |
| Dates | c. 2900–1800 BC |
| Major sites | Castro of Zambujal |
| Preceded by | Corded Ware culture |
| Followed by | Nordic Bronze Age, Únětice culture, Atlantic Bronze Age, Elp culture, Hilversum culture |
The Bell-Beaker culture (sometimes shortened to Beaker culture, c. 2900–1800 BC is the term for a widely scattered archaeological culture of prehistoric western and Central Europe, starting in the late Neolithic or Chalcolithic and running into the early Bronze Age (in British terminology). The term was coined by John Abercromby, based on the culture's distinctive pottery beakers, which he interpreted as drinking vessels.
The Bell Beaker culture is understood as not only a particular pottery type, but also a complete and complex cultural phenomenon involving metalwork in copper, gold, archery, specific types of ornamentation and shared ideological, cultural and religious ideas. The Bell Beaker period marks a period of cultural contact in Atlantic and Western Europe on a scale not seen previously, nor seen again in succeeding periods. It can be seen initially as the western equivalent of the contemporary Corded Ware culture, though from c. 2400 BC Bell Beaker expanded eastwards over parts of Central and Eastern Europe where Corded Ware previously thrived. Thus in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, as far east as Poland, there is a sequence from Corded Ware to Bell Beaker, but this is not the case in Iberia, France or the British Isles, where Corded Ware is unknown.
It is important to note that underlying the Bell beaker superstratum existed a wide diversity in local burial styles (including incidences of cremation rather than inhumation), housing styles, economic profile and local ceramic wares (Begleitkeramik) which continued.
There are two main international Bell Beaker styles: the "All Over Ornamented" (AOO), patterned all over with impressions, of which a sub-set is the "All Over Corded" (AOC), patterned with cord-impressions, and the "Maritime" type, decorated with bands filled with impressions made with a comb or cord. Later, characteristic regional styles developed.
It has been suggested that the beakers were designed for the consumption of alcohol, and that the introduction of the substance to Europe may have fuelled the beakers' spread.Beer and mead content have been identified from certain examples. However, not all Beakers were drinking cups. Some were used as reduction pots to smelt copper ores, others have some organic residues associated with food, and still others were employed as funerary urns. They were used as status display amongst disparate elites.
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