The Battle Axe Culture precedes the Nordic Bronze age (1700 - 500 BCE). Originally a branch of the Steppe people from the Ponti-Caspian grasslands, the Battle Axe culture came from those who went north during mass migrations of the 4th century BCE.
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Overview
The Steppe people come from Proto-Indo-European roots. They were fringe agriculturalists and the first to domesticate the horse. They were known for their fierce raiding attacks on other tribes.
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During the migrations, some groups went to the East, southern England, Spain or the Minoan island Crete. They brought with them the Proto-Indo-European language, the source of many modern languages. Blood of the warrior ran through their veins but differences abounded.
Some chose an agricultural life, some a nomadic one. Climate ruled the work of the seasons or location of the hunt, and neighbors exchanged cultural differences with the newcomers, usually on friendly terms. As use of metal weapons grew, the terms weren't always as friendly.
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The Corded Ware forged a way toward the shores of the Baltic Sea. Some Corded Ware people had evolved into Battle Axe by the time they reached the Baltic in 2800 BCE. It wasn't long before the Battle Axe absorbed another culture, the Pitted Ware, and scattered along the coasts of Scandinavia and Finland to dominate the North. Despite their name they were more fond of assimilating existing northern cultures than killing them.
Battle Axe Burials
The culture is named for the boat-shaped battle axes found in burial sites. There are about 250 Battle Axe grave sites in Sweden alone. 3000 battle axes have been found throughout Scandinavia, fewer to the far north where the Sámi or reindeer people dwell.
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In burials, the body was placed in a single flat grave with no tumulus. The graves point north-south, with the deceased in a flexed position facing East. Men are placed on their left side, women on their right.
Personal items and weapons are placed with the body. Flint axes are common to both male and female burials. With males, battle axes are placed near the head, considered to be status symbols.
Ceramics of the Corded Ware style and other grave goods such as arrowheads, weapons of antler, amber beads, and polished flint axes and chisels, are found in various graves. Animal remains in burial sites include those of red deer, sheep, and goat.
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Battle Axe graves differ from those of nearby and preceding cultures. The previous Funnelbeaker culture for example had collective megalithic graves with several sacrifices, while the Battle Axe created individual gravesites with a single sacrifice. Because of this they're often called the Single Grave culture.
The earliest evidence of cremation in Scandinavia comes from the Battle Axe culture, with a long house containing burnt remains of six people. It may be evidence of trade or close contact with central European cultures who began to practice cremation by the 12th century BCE. Cremation and earth burial create sociologic and historical trends as one is widely favored for a while, then the other prevails.
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Battle Axe Settlements
There aren't a lot of Battle Axe culture settlements remaining. In southern Sweden archaeologists find a close spatial relation between houses and graves. Farms, farmsteads and agriculture were central to the society and economy of the Battle Axe culture.
The coastal regions of the north lands is inhabited by a Pitted Ware culture and the Battle Axe is positioned slightly inland. We do know Battle Axe co-existed and eventually merged with the hunter-gatherer Pitted Ware society. Coastal distribution of settlements multiplied.
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Most of the Bronze or Copper Age habitations along the coast and inland have been plowed under or disintegrated and returned to the earth. Items of daily life were meant more for utility than permanence, although enough early pottery and stonework survives to give valuable clues to those who once walked this land.
Some people still maintained a nomadic lifestyle. As time went on, they settled into patterns of hunting, fishing and possibly short-season crop growing or natural cultivation of the land to yield more produce in seasonal cycles.
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Culture & Economy
Cattle herding and trade created much of the economic basis for the Battle Axe people. The coastal people joined in unity and a strong seafaring society emerged. The sea became the basis for commerce and travel. The Battle Axe people traveled up and down the coast exchanging goods.
Amber was a valuable contribution from the depths of the stormy northern seas. At one time, the area surrounding present day Gdansk, Poland, was the midst of a massive primeval coniferous forest.
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Amber is fossilized resin, turned to a gem-like state after hundreds of millions of years. The forest was eventually covered by the sea, and that is why the Baltic sea storms throw chunks and nuggets of amber to shore. Many ornaments, talismans and jewelry of amber find their way into Battle Axe burial sites.
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