Beaker Culture

  General Description   In the late 3rd millennium BCE, new forms of material culture spread across the former megalithic zone of Neolithic Europe. ^{[1] [2] [3]} The Beaker, or Bell-Beaker, ^[4] phenomenon is named after a characteristic drinking vessel, which had an inverted bell shape and was decorated with incisions. ^[5] Other features of this cultural ’package’ include individual burials in round mounds, sets of weapons and metals, and other precious items. ^[6]
The phenomenon started in what is now the Netherlands and expanded into Britain, Brittany, southern Spain and then into most of continental France, Belgium, Switzerland and Western Europe in the form of small pockets of activity. ^{[7] [8]}
Population and political organization
Beaker society was organized into myriad stratified polities of varying sizes. Some were composed of small, dispersed communities with 10 to 20 domestic units, ^[9] but larger groups could gather into fortified settlements: Los Millares in Spain was home to 1000-1500 people. ^[6] The Beaker culture is also associated with demographic growth in Europe, as the small-scale polities moved into previously marginal lands. ^[6]
The spread of this material culture has been interpreted as evidence for a wide set of circulation networks, fuelled by elite demand for prestige goods. ^[6] The items may have been exchanged on the occasion of social rituals consolidating the power of emerging leaders. ^[6] In this interpretation, the archaeologically visible spread of Beaker culture would not be tied to immigration but to the emergence of mobile ways of life, ^[10] with independent leaders affirming their belonging to a wider cultural sphere through the consumption and display of valuable items. ^[6]
Beaker people built on the legacy of their early Neolithic predecessors, reusing and modifying ceremonial structures such as Stonehenge. ^[11] However they distinguished themselves through their burial customs, preferring single burials in grave pits to passage and gallery graves. In certain areas, such as the Iberian Peninsula or southern France, they occasionally reused ancient megalithic structures. ^[12]

[1]: (McIntosh 2006, 55) McIntosh, J. 2006. Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/B5R92FJH.

[2]: (Sherratt 1994, 250) Sherratt, Andrew. 1994. "The emergence of elites: earlier Bronze Age Europe, 2500-1300 BC." in B. Cunliffe (ed.) The Oxford illustrated prehistory of Europe: 244-276. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/STUGR4MM.

[3]: (Milisauskas and Kruk 2002, 252) Milisauskas, Sarunas, and Janusz Kruk. 2002. “Late Neolithic Crises, Collapse, New Ideologies, and Economies, 3500/3000-2200/2000 BC.” In European Prehistory: A Survey, edited by Sarunas Milisauskas, 247-69. New York: Springer US. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ERGSEABJ.

[4]: (Milisauskas and Kruk 2002, 248) Milisauskas, Sarunas, and Janusz Kruk. 2002. “Late Neolithic Crises, Collapse, New Ideologies, and Economies, 3500/3000-2200/2000 BC.” In European Prehistory: A Survey, edited by Sarunas Milisauskas, 247-69. New York: Springer US. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ERGSEABJ.

[5]: (Sherratt 1994, 250-251) Sherratt, Andrew. 1994. "The emergence of elites: earlier Bronze Age Europe, 2500-1300 BC." in B. Cunliffe (ed.) The Oxford illustrated prehistory of Europe: 244-276. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/STUGR4MM.

[6]: (Clop Garcia 2001, 26) Garcia, Xavier Clop. 2001. “Bell Beaker.” In Encyclopedia of Prehistory, edited by Peter Neal Peregrine and Melvin Ember, 4:24-31. New York: Springer US. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/XHZC4QMJ.

[7]: (Sherratt 1994, 246) Sherratt, Andrew. 1994. "The emergence of elites: earlier Bronze Age Europe, 2500-1300 BC." in B. Cunliffe (ed.) The Oxford illustrated prehistory of Europe: 244-276. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/STUGR4MM.

[8]: (Milisauskas and Kruk 2002, 214) Milisauskas, Sarunas, and Janusz Kruk. 2002. “Late Neolithic Crises, Collapse, New Ideologies, and Economies, 3500/3000-2200/2000 BC.” In European Prehistory: A Survey, edited by Sarunas Milisauskas, 247-69. New York: Springer US. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ERGSEABJ.

[9]: (Clop Garcia 2001, 25) Garcia, Xavier Clop. 2001. “Bell Beaker.” In Encyclopedia of Prehistory, edited by Peter Neal Peregrine and Melvin Ember, 4:24-31. New York: Springer US. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/XHZC4QMJ.

[10]: (Sherratt 1994, 250-251) Sherratt, Andrew. 1994. "The emergence of elites: earlier Bronze Age Europe, 2500-1300 BC." in B. Cunliffe (ed.) The Oxford illustrated prehistory of Europe: 244-276. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/STUGR4MM.

[11]: (Clop Garcia 2001, 28) Garcia, Xavier Clop. 2001. “Bell Beaker.” In Encyclopedia of Prehistory, edited by Peter Neal Peregrine and Melvin Ember, 4:24-31. New York: Springer US. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/XHZC4QMJ.

[12]: (Clop Garcia 2001, 28-29) Garcia, Xavier Clop. 2001. “Bell Beaker.” In Encyclopedia of Prehistory, edited by Peter Neal Peregrine and Melvin Ember, 4:24-31. New York: Springer US. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/XHZC4QMJ.