Pomeranian culture

The Pomeranian culture, also known as the Face Urn culture, is an archaeological culture of the Early Iron Age on the southern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what later became Pomerania in northern Poland and Germany. It emerged around 650 BCE and lasted until the second century BCE, spreading over time across much of present-day Poland. It is best known for its striking cremation urns modelled with human faces.

Before the Pomeranian culture, much of Poland belonged to the Lusatian culture of the later Bronze Age and earliest Iron Age, dated to roughly 1300 to 500 BCE. That culture was part of the wider Urnfield world of cremation burials, with links to the Nordic Bronze Age to the north and visible influence from the Hallstatt culture to the south in its ornaments and weapons. Around 650 BCE a distinct regional group developed out of the Lusatian culture in the land between the lower Vistula and the Parsęta rivers. Archaeologists define this group, the Pomeranian culture, mainly by its graves and pottery.

The most characteristic finds are face urns: pottery vessels holding the cremated remains of the dead, shaped with eyes, nose and mouth, and often closed with lids made to look like caps or hats. Small bronze earrings were sometimes fixed to the urns' ears. The faces can be quite naturalistic, and no two are alike. Some urns bear incised scenes of hunting, chariot races or horsemen. The urns were frequently placed in boxes built of stone slabs known as stone cists. Typical metalwork includes brooches of the Certosa type and necklaces made of several bronze rings; amber ornaments, bronze cups and spiral bracelets have also been found.

The farming economy resembled that of the Lusatian culture. Rye was grown systematically for the first time in the region, although it remained a minor crop beside other cereals. Hillforts were fewer than in the Lusatian lands to the west, and goods imported from southern Europe are rare.

Later in the Iron Age the Pomeranian culture expanded south from the Baltic coast into areas formerly occupied by the Lusatian, Wysoko and Milograd cultures, eventually covering most of today's Poland. In its later stage it developed into what archaeologists call the group of bell-shaped graves, sometimes termed the Cloche culture. Whether this group is a separate culture or simply the later phase of the same one is disputed.

As with most prehistoric cultures, the language and identity of its makers are unknown. Some scholars, such as Babeş and Shchukin, have suggested that the Bastarnae, an ancient people of uncertain homeland, came from eastern Pomerania, pointing to a Pomeranian-style brooch found at a site in Moldavia. Others have proposed, on grounds of time and place, that the Pomeranian and later Oksywie cultures may be linked to the long-extinct western Baltic languages. Neither theory can be proved from the archaeological record alone.

Between about 200 and 150 BCE the Pomeranian culture gave way to new groups. In eastern Pomerania around the lower Vistula it was followed by the Oksywie culture, and in the basins of the upper Vistula and Oder by the Przeworsk culture. The Przeworsk culture appeared fairly suddenly and was quite distinct from what came before, drawing heavily on the Celtic La Tène tradition from the south-west.

Our maps label the Pomeranian culture on the 500, 400, 323, 300 and 200 BCE maps, around the lower Vistula and the Gdańsk area. Earlier maps show the region as part of the Lusatian culture.