Urnfield

The Late Bronze Age “Urnfield” world is famous for cremation - yet that very practice usually destroys the biological clues archaeologists need. Now, an international team has used rare inhumation burials (plus isotope work on cremations) to piece together how people in Central Europe lived, moved, ate, and died between roughly 1300 and 800 BC, in a time of major cultural change. Their results suggest continuity more than upheaval: local communities adopted new ideas - like millet and shifting burial rites - without being replaced by waves of newcomers reports the Max Planck Society. Graves with stone built walls from the Late Bronze Age excavations near Esperstedt. ( © State Office for Heritag Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt ) Ancient Burials