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.

All labels observed (2)

Label Occurrences
Pit Grave culture canonical 1
Pit-grave culture 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (53)

Predicate Object
instanceOf archaeological culture
pastoralist society
alternateName Pit-grave culture
linked to: Pit Grave culture

Yamna culture
linked to: Yamnaya culture

Yamnaya culture
ancestralTo Afanasievo culture (genetically and culturally related)
linked to: Afanasievo culture

Corded Ware culture (partly, genetically and culturally)
linked to: Corded Ware culture
archaeologistAssociated David W. Anthony
Marija Gimbutas
associatedWith early use of wagons
associatedWithTheory Steppe hypothesis of Indo-European origins
linked to: Kurgan hypothesis
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
Romania
Ukraine
southern Russia
western Kazakhstan
locatedInRegion Pontic–Caspian steppe
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)

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

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

Yamnaya culture alsoKnownAs Pit Grave culture
Pit Grave culture alternateName Pit-grave culture
linked to: Pit Grave culture