With the favored practice of naming cultures after their grave types, here comes the Catacomb culture. The progressive and prolific Catacomb people thrive on the Pontic-Caspian Steppe c. 2500 - 1950 BCE.
They follow the time of the Yamnaya, an influential semi-nomadic people. In early tribes the graves contain an in-depth look at the lives of the ancient inhabitants.
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Originating on the southern Steppe as an offshoot of the dominant Yamnaya, the Catacomb culture expands into surrounding areas and gains far-reaching influence. Population of the Catacomb culture is estimated to be 50,000-60,000.
Catacomb people are most likely Indo-European-speaking, an early language from which many others, such as English, German, French, Greek and Hungarian, derive. Proto-Indo-Europeans are among the earliest modern people.
Influences of the Catacomb culture are located as far as Mycenaean Greece. During the Bronze Age trade routes to ancient Greek Mycenae are open over land or sea. A race of warriors, the Mycenaean Greeks also love meeting and trading with others.
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They establish a special rapport with the Northerners, leading to much Baltic amber in their coffers. Mycenaean Greece is a profitable stop for merchants of amber, ivory, gold and later, glass. They import their copper from Cyprus.
Glass occurs naturally as obsidian in areas of high volcanic activity, and it's often traded in raw form or as beads and amulets. The first glass created by humans goes back to 1800 BCE in Mesopotamia. Obsidian is a common volcanic product. The more clarity it has, the more its value. Unusual colors or inclusions might be worth a couple of goats.
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The Catacomb culture occupies the Ponti-Caspian Steppe after the Yamnaya migrate in swarms in the 4th millennium BCE. Settlement of the Catacomb people spreads in a wide area throughout the Steppe. They continued to expand north and east.
No surprise, the burials of the Catacomb culture are in catacombs. It's a modest advance but identifies them as a separate culture. The Yamnaya create shaft graves and the Catacombs add a burial niche beneath the shaft, which is the namesake. Similar graves are found in Mycenaean Greece and parts of Eastern Europe.
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The flexed position is popular throughout mound-building cultures. Dead people were usually interred in a flexed position, on the right side. Grave goods include jewelry and ornaments, silver rings, stone and metal axes, arrows, maces and daggers.
Animal sacrifices include head and hooves of goats, sheep, horses and cattle. Animal sacrifice occurs in about 16% of Catacomb graves. Cattle sacrifices are more frequent than in the previous Yamnaya culture. Horse burials were also found, and previously appear in the earlier Khvalynsk and Poltavka cultures.
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Catacomb burials sometimes involve vast amounts of kurgan stelae, or stone statues and figurines. The previous Yamnaya culture honored this ritual as well. Over three hundred stelae have been found from the Yamnaya and the Catacomb cultures.
A curious trend appears as the skulls of deceased Catacomb people are modelled in clay. Again this is a rite reserved for the elite. The mouth, ears and nasal cavity are filled with clay. The artisan then models over the features of the face.
Is it to preserve the last essence of the wearer, so the person is protected from the look of rot and decay? Perhaps a face to wear if resurrected? It's a permanent fixture, not a removable mask, so seems integrated into the death rituals.
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The treatment is applied to men, women and children. The early clay death masks may have been prototypes for the later gold masks found in Mycenaean Greece. In Egyptian culture, death masks are used to guide the spirit of the dead person back to its final resting place in the body. Masks were made of wood, cloth, plaster, or for the Kingly, silver and gold.
Daily life for the Catacomb culture was busy with herding and raising cattle, goats, sheep, and pigs. Specialized occupations appear including weaver, bronze worker and weapons maker. Plows and ancient grains found at settlement sites indicate early agriculture.
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Settlements are not always settled. People continue to live a nomadic existence as they've done for thousands of years. Trade is by nature an active medium. In some regions, people might stay awhile, usually to set up camp near a water source, then move on. Matveyevka in western Russia is a more permanent settlement with several stone houses.
Ornate and elaborate ceramics work is common in the tombs and in daily use. Some elements show possible use of the flax plant, or its fibrous sister hemp.
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