Covering a large area in northern Europe in the 3rd millennium BCE, the Únětice (Unetice) culture is already an advanced society by the time the Nordic Bronze Age arises c.1700 BCE.
For the Únětice it's a particularly productive time. The central core of the people is near Prague, and from there the culture radiated outward into Poland, Germany, Austria, Ukraine and other countries.
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Before the advent of the northern Bronze Age, the Únětice people dominate the Baltic Coast, trade and trade routes for Baltic amber and other goods. Potters and metallurgists, they develop advanced tools and weapons, techniques and skills.
Únětice culture arises from earlier Corded Ware people. Únětice pottery and bronze objects appear in Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, and Italy as well as the Balkans. Trade wares travel far. They're a progressive group of fierce fighters, early academics and merchants.
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At least from 2000 BCE the Únětice are developing a complex, hierarchal culture, organized into a society of social and labor classes, masters, servants and slaves. Slaves are part of almost all cultures throughout the world.
In some places, they could buy their freedom. In others, they have talents appreciated by the lord, such as writing. In still others, slaves are worth a certain amount of silver on the open market, and are often chosen as sacrifices to Gods who demand human blood.
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What distinguishes the Únětice from other cultures of the time is their fine metal work. Tools, weapons and ornaments show a mastery of metallurgy.
Weapons produced from 2300 - 1950 BCE include triangular daggers, flat axes, stone wrist-guards and flint arrowheads. From 1950 - 1700 BCE come daggers with metal hilt, flanged axes, halberds and solid bracelets.
Burials, a rich source of information about long-gone people, are either inhumation or cremation style. Among early people, burial and cremation practices fall in and out of favor in cycles.
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There are two types of Úněticean graves: flat, or barrow. Occasionally the body is cremated. Únětice people build cemeteries to house the dead, preferably on a hill close to water. Cemeteries are well organized, with graves and spaces between to walk. A cemetery or graveyard is a good sign of a settled culture.
Of the barrow graves, about 50 have been found across Europe attributed to Úněticeans. Also called 'princely graves' they occupied space within a mound or tumulus. Many have been ruined or pillaged.
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The largest surviving mound today is 50 m (164 ft) across and about 1.8 m (6 ft) in height. Sometimes entire cities are erected on a grave mound, and each generation builds its living level atop the one before. The princely graves are so called because they belong to wealthy or famous people, and only the lord and sometimes family could be interred therein.
A golden axe and jewelry dating back to 1800 BCE show the value people of the 2nd millennium BCE ascribe to gold. Gold is a metal of the Sun therefore the metal of kings. Other items of gold discovered include halberds, daggers and bracelets.
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A typical flat grave is 1.8 m (6 ft) deep and the same length. The graves are oriented in a north-south placement and the person is placed inside, slightly bent or flexed, always facing east.
Únětice grave goods include 1-5 ceramic vessels, bronze jewelry and personal items, rings, hair clips, pins, bone artefacts (amulets and tools, including needles), occasionally flint tools. Even into the Bronze Age people value flint for its easy cleavage and clean sharp lines.
Coffins are made of a single block of wood, or laid out like a stretcher for the body. People might be buried with no covering, or just a woven mat on top of the corpse.
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Únětice culture is especially known for its metal objects, including ingot torcs, flat axes, flat triangular daggers, bracelets with spiral ends, disk- and paddle-headed pins, and curl rings. The Únětice objects are distributed over Central Europe and beyond.
Important trade links are established between the Únětice and the British Wessex people, which is the predominant culture in England during the Bronze Age. Throughout Europe, hoards can contain over 600 pieces. A hoard in Saxony had close to 300 flanged axes.
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The Nebra Sky Disc is one of the best known Únětice items. Gold and tin for the disc comes from Cornwall, south England. Copper comes from Austria. The gold plate technique on the disc originates in Britain. A similar technique is found on Switzerland's Thun-Renzenbühl axe, which also appears in Mycenaenean Greece.
Early Bronze Age rings, ribs and axe blades from across central Europe are created according to roughly standardized weights. They would be assigned a certain value on the market. Throughout the known world trade took on standard measures creating consistent levels of worth.
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The so-called enigmatic tablets are source of debate for scientists. These clay tablets are inscribed with formula and progressions of geometric figures such as circles, lines, arrows and crosses. Current thinking gives them a function in trade, as calculators or accounts of credit. Over one hundred have been found.
The Únětice also develop a luni-solar calendar with widespread use. Marks and signs on architecture and building angles help define the sun's place in the sky, and when it's time for sowing, when the equinox falls.
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Social structure is organized around aristocratic leadership on top of traditional clan-based layouts of farmsteads and hamlets. There is evidence of armed troops for defense. In later times, some elements of Úněticean pottery-making traditions appear in the Trzciniec culture as well.
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