Celtic from the West 3: Atlantic Europe in the Metal Ages — questions of shared language

PART ONE

ARCHAEOLOGY

CHAPTER ONE

BEHIND THE WARRIORS: BELL BEAKERS AND IDENTITIES IN ATLANTIC EUROPE (THIRD MILLENNIUM B.C.)

Laure Salanova

1. Introduction

THE definition of identities, both geographically and chronologically, constitutes a founding principle of the historical disciplines, especially for periods without written resources. In archaeology, this question is generally approached from a burial context, in which the differences between individuals are the most visible. The architecture of the grave, its visibility in the landscape and the time and effort involved in its building, in addition to the quality and quantity of grave goods deposited with the dead, allow different groups to be distinguished among the population. For the oldest periods of history, it is clearly more difficult to detect these differences in domestic contexts, as the houses forming a dwelling generally indicate uniformity in the way of life of their inhabitants. This gap between the observations made in burial and domestic contexts demonstrates that our understanding of the diversity of social categories composing past societies is far from complete (Hofman & Bickle 2011). This situation likely explains the difficulties in defining some cultural patterns from archaeological remains. Hence, this contribution proposes decomposition of the various social and cultural identities recognized throughout the Bell Beaker phenomenon, which marked European countries with a uniform material culture (beakers, copper daggers, wrist guards, arrowheads) from the Atlantic shores to Poland and from North Africa to Scotland and Norway for several centuries of the 3rd millennium

BC

(Salanova 2005).

Because of the wide distribution of the Bell Beaker ‘phenomenon’, an extensive range of publications has focused on the political and social aspects of Europe during the 3rd millennium

BC

. These publications generally take into account the most common artefacts in Europe and the most visible: the objects connected with a male and warrior ‘ideology’ (defined by Strahm 1995). However, many questions remain regarding the rest of the population. For example, did this ideology concern all categories of the society, and how did the contemporaries of the warriors consider their identities?

2. From archaeological remains to identities

The ambiguity of the term identity, referring both to individual behaviours and to collective norms, has been highlighted many times, as have the difficulties in differentiating all scales of identity in archaeological contexts (Díaz-Andreu & Lucy 2005; Fowler 2010).

Since the advent of post-processual archaeology, material culture has been analysed regarding the social and symbolic meaning it could have represented for the population who produced and used it (Hodder 1982). Nevertheless, some other components of archaeological remains, even in a funerary context, reveal another aspect of identity, perhaps the truest part, because they are impossible to transform.

2.1 Interdisciplinarity and the quest for identity

The anthropological analyses currently being undertaken on the dead (analyses of aDNA, stable isotopes, non-metric traits, and activity stress markers) allow reconstruction of the characteristics of each individual and their relationships with the other persons in a group, often demonstrating multi-identities rather than uniformity among a community. For instance, the existence of a low frequency of migrants among graves from central European cemeteries, despite the homogeneity of the material culture that defines an Eastern Bell Beaker Province, has been demonstrated using several methods of physical anthropology (Price et al. 1998; 2004; Desideri 2011).

These interdisciplinary approaches allow archaeologists to be distinguish which part of the identity was biological and which part was influenced by social and cultural circumstances, necessarily linked to a contextual framework (chronology and environment). In parallel with intellectual progress, these approaches make the analyses of identity more complex. Determination of the interactions between all of the components identified, which are all essential for understanding the organization of a society, could become impossible without a hierarchy of information levels.

This confusion regarding the various scales of the identity (individual, social and cultural) likely explains the different interpretations proposed for the Bell Beaker phenomenon, a term that will be used in this contribution when referring to the global situation of Europe during the second half of the 3rd millennium

BC

and the most common elements unifying a wide area under a standardized social pattern. Some scholars consider the Bell Beakers to represent a material cultural phenomenon whose widespread presence provides evidence of ‘a loose sense of ethnic boundaries and identities’ (Fowler 2010, 363). However, deconstruction of this phenomenon is necessary to indicate the different levels of the societies from the 3rd millennium

BC

that were affected. The results reveal an opposite pattern to a loose sense of identities. Compared with previous periods, the Bell Beakers reflect a more pronounced expression of social and cultural diversity, laying the basis for Bronze Age societies and even more recent ones (Salanova 2007).

2.2 Social and cultural identities

How can we avoid this frequent confusion when approaching identity between social and cultural dimensions? Concerning the social dimension, the Nouvelle Histoire trend, and the New Archaeology one, have provided methods for approaching past societies with a focus on social and intellectual progress rather than political events. Among the different publications that could provide inspiration, the book written by Le Goff (1989) is probably the best reference for a list of all of the categories that should have existed in preindustrial societies, whatever the region of Europe. These categories refer to fundamental components we can imagine to be universal, for example, persons in charge of religion, warriors, farmers, traders, craftsmen and artists. It is probably a utopian expectation to hope to obtain such a variety for a period that did not deliver written sources. Even for historians, some parts of the population are inaccessible when resources are overly scarce. Nevertheless, we can attempt to go beyond traditional social analyses performed in archaeological contexts, which are generally focused on one or two of the categories that should be detected. This restriction is increasingly being denounced in publications. For instance, in his analysis of the Nordic Bronze Age, Kristiansen distinguished three different social identities according to the goods deposited in graves, mainly based on the types of swords that are present (Kristiansen 2011, 202–3).

•The ritual chief, buried with a special package of objects, characterized by exclusive use of spiral decorations, interpreted as symbols of the sun cult and of Nordic identity;

•The warrior chief, buried with an undecorated sword of international type, often resharpened, to be used for combat and, hence, associated with professional war;

•A group of migrant smiths linked to trade, characterized by swords of German origins.

Despite this great effort to detect coexisting forms of identities, the author hopes for a deeper decoding of the Bronze Age society, as ‘Hundreds of other objects types from prehistory are waiting for a similar contextual interpretation of their social and institutional meaning’ (op. cit., 204). This is a difficult wish to grant, as these objects likely did not only fulfil a social function.

The question of cultural identity has progressively been abandoned, and it is often considered to be an old-fashion way to consider archaeological remains for reconstructing the history of a population (Roberts & Vander Linden 2011). However, in my view, cultural identity, which I define as a set of common values and ways of life, is more difficult to elucidate than social identity. This task supposes the need to take in to account an extended range of data on the organization of societies and their eventual repetitive forms, not only comparing several different geographical areas, but also analysing continuities and discontinuities through different periods to ultimately reveal patterns. Several scholars have attempted to carry out this exercise with Bell Beaker data (see for instance Besse 2003; Vander Linden 2004), taking in to account typological elements. This contribution proposes another way of defining cultural patterns during the Bell Beaker period.

3. Bell Beakers, social identities and burial practices

The societies from the 3rd millennium

BC

are still mainly known through their graves. The distribution of burial structures divides Europe into two zones. In the eastern and northern parts of Europe, individual burials are the rule. In the Atlantic and Mediterranean part of Europe, the burial tradition did not change from previous periods: collective graves were used until the end of the 3rd millennium

BC

. France, similar to England and Scotland, is located in the middle of these two traditions. Recent discoveries have highlighted numerous individual burials from the Bell Beaker period, mainly in the continental part of the French territory (Salanova & Tchérémissinoff 2011). These graves provide the most precise data on the dead and their status in the society.

3.1. Biological identity and social status

In France, the most numerous individual graves have been found in the northern half of the country, where 44 burials are known (Salanova 2011). Their distribution shows a concentration eastwards from the Seine valley (Fig. 1.1). Radiocarbon dates indicate an extended period for these burials, between 2600 and 2000 cal

BC.

When the preservation state of skeletons allows precise anthropological analyses, it is possible to observe a balance between the sexes of the dead. Among the 35 burials for which this information is known, 15 men, 11 women and 9 children were buried with Bell Beakers (Salanova 2011, tab. 3).

1.1 Distribution of the Bell Beaker graves in the northern half of France. Red dots: collective graves with Bell Beakers. Black rectangles: individuals Bell Beaker graves.

From Salanova 2011

Sexual distinction

The balance between men and women in Bell Beaker graves is not only characteristic of the north of France. The same proportion has been observed in Spain, Britain and the Netherlands (Salanova 2007, 217). Although the orientations of the bodies are more diverse than in central Europe, the position of the dead follows the same rules: men are placed on the left side and women on the right side. Sexual distinction therefore appears to be an essential criterion in these individual graves. This is not the case in contemporary burials within collective graves, where kinship relationships and chronological factors are more important in explaining the spatial distribution or the position of the dead, rather than their sex (see below).

The grave goods deposited with adults constitute another difference between the collective and individual contexts. During the 4th and the 3rd millennia

BC

, some men, some women and even some children could have received special treatment among the dead deposited in collective graves, although it is generally impossible to understand the reason for these particularities, which may take the form of a specific place inside the monument, away from others, or a profusion of ornaments, despite the usual scarcity of grave goods in this kind of burial (Chambon 2003; Salanova & Sohn 2007). Among the individual Bell Beaker graves from western Europe, the richest graves are always male burials (Salanova 2007). Women are generally buried with beakers and sometimes ornaments, but their graves never contain weapons, which are elements of the classical Bell Beaker package.

The status of children

The graves of children point to a particular situation. According to data from northern France, children represent 16% of individual Bell Beaker burials. This rate is considered to be low according to reference curves for pre-industrial societies, where the mortality rate for young people should have been at least 50% in the population (Ledermann 1969). For instance, this is the case among burials in collective graves from the 4th millennium

BC

and the beginning of the 3rd, which show such a normal mortality curve: 46% mortality among children under 12 years old for the first period of burials (3700–3600 cal

BC

) at Hazleton North (Meadows et al. 2007); approximately 50% for the first period of burials (3300–2800 cal

BC

) at La Chaussée-Tirancourt in northern France (Leclerc & Masset 2006); and 54% for the earliest phase of burials at Les Mournouards in north-eastern France (Blin 2012). Thus, not all of the children from the second half of the 3rd millennium were buried with Bell Beakers; instead, these children were selected, most likely from a specific social group.

In western Europe, Bell Beaker children were never buried with the package characteristic of warriors or with grave goods, which are normally reserved for adults. They did not appear to have the same status as in central Europe, where children are sometimes associated with the package of the warriors, and some objects are even disproportionate compared with their size (Turek 2000; Heyd 2007, 354). Despite this fact, the graves of Bell Beaker children from the west often contain specific wares. They are generally associated with nothing more than beakers. However, in England, it has been suggested that children were buried with smaller pottery than adults (Case 1995). In France, a technological analysis of Bell Beakers deposited in individual graves, taking in account the quality of the vessels, also revealed their particular careful manufacture when linked to children (Salanova 2012).

The special treatment of children in Bell Beaker burial practices, some of whom were clearly selected from among the population, and the specific wares deposited in their graves indicate that the social position of these Bell Beaker children was acquired by filiation, calling into question the link between social identities and kinship networks (Brodie 2001).

3.2. Kinship structures

The family character is another difference that differentiates the social meaning of the Bell Beaker graves from central and western Europe. Small cemeteries found in the Upper Danube, containing approximately twenty graves, are assumed to represent family-based social units (Heyd 2007, 351–2). The same situation is observed in the Czech Republic, where the spatial distribution in Bell Beaker cemeteries involves groups of graves organized in separated areas, which are interpreted as family groupings (Matéjíčková & Dvořák 2012).

1.2 Inhumation layer from the Bury gallery grave (Picardie, France). On the left side, the wall effect of the decomposed wooden chamber.

Photo L. Salanova

Bell Beakers and families

In western Europe, family groupings of individual Bell Beaker graves do not exist. The graves are generally isolated, containing only one individual. The scarce cases of double or triple graves involve adults (mainly women) associated with young children, including new-borns (Salanova 2007, 216). This situation contrasts with the now well-established family groupings of the dead in collective graves, which were still in use during the Bell Beaker period. For instance, the collective grave found at Bury (Picardie, northern France) was constructed around the second half of the 4th millennium

BC

, like all of the collective graves from the Paris Basin. Its architecture is characterized by a long wooden chamber (20 m long) bordered by dry stone walls and an axial entrance marked by a perforated slab (‘trou d’homme’). Approximately 300 individuals and several dogs were deposited in a long-term sequence, which carried on until the end of the 3rd millennium

BC

(Fig. 1.2). The radiocarbon dates of most of the dead have revealed that the use of this grave was discontinuous, with an interval without burials being observed at the end of the 4th millennium

BC

and the beginning of the 3rd millennium

BC.

However, the good preservation of bones and the absence of collapse observed in the chamber demonstrated that the community maintained the architecture, probably for ceremonial activities (Salanova & Sohn 2007). Biological analyses of these skeletons show that some non-metric traits and activity markers distinguish certain individuals deposited in the monument at the back end of the chamber throughout the entire sequence (Salanova & Chambon et al. in press). This finding demonstrates that the location of the dead in the grave was defined by biological filiation, which simultaneously determined their activity and role in the society.

1.3 Family cells from the La Chaussée-Tirancourt gallery grave (Picardie, France).

From Leclerc & Masset 2006: fig. 19

The spatial distribution of the burials found at Bury finds echoes that in other collective graves, such as La Chaussée-Tirancourt (Picardie, northern France), which is located in the same region as Bury. In this grave, the burials from the second period (3rd millennium

BC)

are organized in separated cells containing individuals with similar non-metric traits (Leclerc & Masset 2006). Consequently, each cell could have represented a family vault (Fig. 1.3). The family characteristics of the burial practices are not specific to northern France. The megalithic necropolis found at Sion Le Petit-Chasseur in Switzerland provided the same results concerning the social meaning of these monumental constructions.

The necropolis of Sion exhibits an interesting sequence of burial practices, from the Middle Neolithic (approximately 4500 cal

BC

) until the Early Bronze Age (first half of the 2nd millennium

BC

). Five collective graves (dolmens MI, MV, MVI, MXI and MXII) date from the Late Neolithic and the Bell Beaker period (Gallay 1995, 170–1). The oldest constructions (MXII and MVI) are characterized by small stone chambers (approximately 3 m²), settled in a triangular base consisting of dry stones, measuring approximately ten meters in length. Several stone cists were subsequently built around the dolmens, mainly during the second half of the 3rd millennium

BC

, but also during the Bronze Age. Some of these cists contain several individuals, while others contain only one, but children are frequently buried in these small constructions (Bocksberger 1976). The Sion necropolis is also famous for the anthropomorphic stelae found near the entrance of its megalithic tombs or reused in the construction of monuments during the numerous reorganizations of the site. These stelae, the tallest of which are approximately 2 m high, represent male figures with weapons and ornaments (Gallay 1995). Two stylistic types have been defined according to the design pattern of their carved decorations. Type A, dating from the Late Neolithic, is characterized by spiral ornaments and daggers similar to the Italian culture of Remedello. Type B is assigned to the Bell Beaker period because of the archery symbols (bow) and the geometric designs of their clothes similar to the pottery decoration. The Sion necropolis is not an isolated case. The same architecture and stelae have been found in northern Italy, in the Aosta Valley, but the anthropological analysis of these findings is still unpublished (Mezzena 1997).

At Sion, application of the anthropological approach to the 90 individuals deposited in dolmen MXII between 3200 and 2500 cal

BC

has demonstrated restricted access of the monument and selection of the buried population on the basis of kinship criteria (Mariéthoz 2011, 189). These findings could explain the differences in cranial and dental features observed between the dead buried in dolmen MVI and dolmen MXI throughout the sequence in the 3rd millennium

BC

, including the Bell Beaker period (Desideri & Eades 2004). Each monument could have been dedicated to one family that settled in the region. The anthropomorphic stelae are assumed to express this lineage structure, representing the mythical ancestor of the family vault (Gallay 2011, 236).

A long-term perspective

The observed family distribution among monuments does not differ significantly from previous periods, in which stone cists of the Chamblandes type (4000–3600 cal

BC

) were grouped in small cemeteries, sometimes in a settlement context, containing all of the age groups of a population (Mezzena 1997; Von Tobel 2011). Even the stelae linked to each of the monuments from Sion Le Petit-Chasseur are known to mark the location of some Chamblandes cists as early as the Middle Neolithic (Fig. 1.4). Once again, this characteristic is not specific to this region, as the erection of stelae near the entrance of megalithic tombs has also been recorded in the Atlantic world since the 5th millennium

BC

(Rodríguez Casal 1988). This phenomenon is comparable to the small anthropomorphic schist plaques deposited in the hundreds in the megalithic tombs at Alentejo (Portugal), which date from the 5th–4th millennia

BC

(Gonçalves 1999). This finding shows that throughout western Europe, the tradition of anthropomorphic representations associated with a reference to a common ancestor began quite early, during the 5th millennium

BC

, with megalithic constructions. The graphic style of the stelae evolved with the introduction of some representations of weapons, from the second half of the 4th millennium

BC

in the Iberian Peninsula, linking the symbol of the ancestor with symbols of power and the warrior ideology, which remained important in the iconography until the Late Bronze Age (Bueno Ramírez et al. 2005).

This tradition of marking the entrance of the burials with an anthropomorphic figure appears to be a common trend in Europe that is quite old, for which it is difficult to point to an origin. Its signification refers more to the kinship structures of the population, which affect the social organization over time.

1.4 Anthropomorphic stelae from the 5th and 4th millennium

BC

.

1: stelae found near the entrance of the Parxubeira passage grave (Galicia, Spain).

2: Marking stelae of Chamblandes cists in Switzerland.

3: Schist plaque from the Anta 2 da Comenda (Alentejo, Portugal).

From Rodríguez Casal 1988; Moinat & Studer 2007; Gonçalves 1999

Construction of social identities from the 3rd millennium

BC

The results of the analyses conducted in burial contexts from the 3rd millennium

BC

have important consequences for the approach applied for the social construction of identities, especially during the Bell Beaker period.

First, the Bell Beaker package could have been used for accelerating a process of social distinction, but it occurred in relative continuity compared with the previous periods in western Europe, where the old tradition of collective graves was maintained. In 90% of cases, the Bell Beaker grave goods from France, Spain, and Portugal were found in collective monuments built one or two millennia earlier, integrating a long-term tradition of burial practices and extending the use of family vaults all along the Atlantic coast, and even on the Mediterranean coast (Salanova 2007).

Second, anthropological analyses have allowed us to understand the criteria on which the identity of each social group is based. The distribution of the buried population, either inside or by the monument, is strongly determined by biological and family relationships. Biological filiation appears to have simultaneously determined the activity and the role of each person in the society, as demonstrated in the collective grave at Bury (northern France), where the locations of the dead in some areas are linked both to biological and social (or professional) factors.

Third, in collective graves that were still being used during the second half of the 3rd millennium

BC

, burials deposited with some elements of the Bell Beaker package are associated with burials without grave goods. The radiocarbon dates of these skeletons demonstrate a strict contemporaneity of these two practices (Salanova 2007; 2011). It should be noted that before the Bell Beaker phenomenon, the identity of the dead, related to biological and social status, was discreet and was not generally marked by specific grave goods or other material markers in collective graves. This situation changed with the advent of the Bell Beaker package, especially in some inland regions in contact with central European groups, such as eastern France, where the return to individual burials appears to take place earlier.

The social organization observed in the collective graves calls into question the status of the persons buried in individual Bell Beaker graves. In some French regions located near the Seine Valley, these graves are occasionally situated close to collective graves that were still in use (Salanova 2007). The individual graves from western Europe are never organized in cemeteries, and they are generally isolated. They contain individuals who clearly had no access to the tombs with a long-term tradition representing collective graves. While some burials found in a collective context that are radiocarbon dated to the second half of the 3rd millennium

BC

contain no or few grave goods, still showing relatively egalitarian treatment of the dead, similar to previous periods, the contemporary individual Bell Beaker graves are always associated with items referring to professional activities that are not significantly different from those described for the Bronze Age (Kristiansen 2011).

3.3. Professional groups and supra-regional identities

Because of the great diversity of the Bell Beaker graves in western Europe, it is not easy to identify recurrences that could point to clear groups, the most obvious of which is represented by copper dagger graves (Salanova 1998). These graves, which always contain male skeletons, have a special status among the dead, probably ranking somewhere at the top of the hierarchy that defines the society from the 3rd millennium

BC.

The warriors

The association of a copper dagger with wrist guards and flint arrowheads defines the classical Bell Beaker package (Fig. 1.5). However, this type of association is scarce: only a few graves from western Europe contain the full package (Wallers, northern France; Lunteren, Netherlands; Fuente Olmedo, Spain; Amesbury, England). The same situation is observed in central Europe: the graves with the weapon set represent only a small percentage of the discoveries made to date (Brodie 2001; Matéjíčková & Dvořák 2012).

1.5 The Bell Beaker set from the Wallers individual grave (Nord, France).

Photos L. Salanova

In the west, these ‘warrior’ graves are not only distinguished by their grave goods. The copper dagger is correlated with strict funerary rules: male skeletons are oriented from north–south, with the head to the north, in exactly the same way as in the male graves from central Europe (Salanova 2003). This is the only group among the Bell Beaker graves for which there are similar burial practices between western and central Europe. The dagger graves are also the richest, sometimes containing a great many items, as in Amesbury.

Were these men buried with a copper dagger professional warriors? The copper dagger found in the Bell Beaker individual graves from Wallers (Nord, France) has been used and sharpened several times (Salanova et al. 2011). Moreover, it has been demonstrated for previous periods that the social status expressed in the grave goods can represent the actual activity of the dead during his life. For example, in the Cerny burials from the Paris Basin (French Middle Neolithic, 5th millennium

BC

), some dead associated with arrowheads present activity markers that are characteristic of archery (Chambon & Thomas 2010). It is therefore plausible that the men buried with copper daggers in a Bell Beaker context were effectively warriors during their lives.

1.6 High quality (1) and clumsy Bell Beakers (2).

From Salanova 2012

Turek (2011) highlighted an interesting point concerning the appearance of new warrior symbols with the Bell Beaker package. During the first half of the 3rd millennium

BC

, the Corded Ware Cultures and their westward extensions (Single Grave Cultures) are well known for the battle-axes and mace heads associated with male burials. These weapons suggest a form of man-to-man combat based on physical strength. The archery symbols characteristic of the Bell Beaker graves (wrist guards and flint arrowheads) refer to another type of war, implying some distance between combatants and recognition based more on accuracy and skills than strength.

These graves certainly prefigure the professional warrior described by K. Kristiansen (2011) for the Bronze Age, despite the fact that it is not possible to detect a hierarchy among the Bell Beaker burials, such as the difference between ritual and warrior chiefs. However, in the same way as in the Bronze Age, the Bell Beaker warrior graves refer to foreign traditions of burial practices and grave goods, clearly indicating their affiliation with a supra-regional identity.

Specialist craftsmen

In addition to the warrior identity, some graves refer to other professional groups. Unsurprisingly, the only detectable activities (probably because they were important enough to be expressed through grave goods) concern novelties from the 3rd millennium

BC

: the production of metal and Bell Beaker pottery. However, in western Europe, these categories of individuals in the population are not visible in graves, but through the items they produced, which are associated with the richest burials. According to the reference model described by Costin (1991), I have recently proposed that this situation should be interpreted as the existence of part-time specialist craftsmen working with and closely linked to the chiefs of the 3rd millennium societies.

1.7 Maritime beakers from Portugal (on the left), Galicia (in the middle), and Brittany (on the right).

Drawings and photo from Leisner & Leisner (1959), Salanova (2000a), Prieto Martínez & Salanova 2011

The pottery deposited in Bell Beaker graves reveals the existence of this type of specialist. The differences in the manufacturing process of the Bell Beaker pottery found in domestic contexts compared with that found in burials have been highlighted by several authors (for instance Clarke 1976, 464; Salanova 2000a, 173–6). In burials, the styles and shapes of the Bell Beakers are more standardized. However, their technical quality shows great variability, with some pottery being perfectly shaped and finely decorated, while some reflect clumsy production (Fig. 1.6). There is no correlation between the style of the pots and their quality, nor between the style and the sexes of the dead (Salanova 2012). However, the frequency of twin beakers in graves, i.e., two pots presenting the same typology and the same mode of production, and the fact that the highest quality vessels are always found in burial contexts suggest the possible existence of certain kinds of production dedicated to the dead and, hence, of a form of craft specialization (Salanova 2002). The most carefully made beakers, with regular profiles, proportions and decorations, are generally associated with the richest graves, particularly the ‘warriors’’ graves (Salanova 2012). This correlation between the skill of potters and the identity of the dead demonstrates the existence of a category of specialized potters who precisely controlled the mode of production for the Bell Beakers and who could have been called on a case-by-case basis in specific contexts. If the entire production process does not reflect the existence of specialists, as imagined by Clarke (1976), one component of this production, which is easy to detect according to quality markers, points to a category of highly skilled potters. These high-quality products are scarce, but a coherent group among the Maritime type has been recognized from Brittany to Portugal (Salanova 2000b; 2003; Prieto-Martínez & Salanova 2009; 2011). They share not only manufacturing quality, but also some technical criteria, such as shell-impressed decorations using some Donax species and cockles (Fig. 1.7). As the archaeometric analyses did not reveal circulation of pots along the Atlantic coast, the circulation of highly skilled potters is more likely to explain the similarities observed at typological and technical levels. At present, this network involves only the Atlantic region. Indeed, despite the typological proximity of some beakers in other parts of Europe, the associated manufacturing process clearly distinguishes the Atlantic Bell Beakers from those found elsewhere, particularly those classified as belonging to the Maritime or International type in the Netherlands and in central Europe (Fig. 1.8).

This Atlantic network does not only involve pottery. Gold metallurgy is another novelty of the 3rd millennium

BC

, particularly from the Bell Beaker period (Armbruster & Comendador 2015). Specific types of gold ornaments found in Bell Beaker graves are common to the Atlantic regions, from southern Portugal to the north of Scotland. These areas share not only the typology of objects, but also a similar know-how, which could reflect the circulation of qualified craftsmen. The situation is different for copper production. Despite the fact that Bell Beaker copper items are among the first metal objects found in several regions in the north-west of Europe, the graves of metalworkers are quite scarce, which is opposite the situation observed in central Europe, where graves of craftsmen linked to copper production are relatively frequent (Heyd 2007, 360). In the west, such graves have also been recognized in the Netherlands (Lunteren: Lanting & Waals 1976). The Amesbury Archer is probably the most western example of stone metalworking tools deposited in a Bell Beaker grave, with two others being recorded in Portuguese collective graves (Fitzpatrick 2011; Brandherm 2011).

As compositional analyses of copper daggers from France and Spain demonstrate an incredible diversity of the raw materials as well as the techniques used for their production (Figueroa Larre 2005), metalworking reflects another social category in the society: itinerant traders who were in charge of the circulation of these prestigious items.

1.8 Maritime beakers from the Netherlands (1), Czech Republic (2), and Eastern Spain (3).

Photos L. Salanova

1.9 The three AOO graves from northern France, linked to the Grand-Pressigny flint workshops and the Lower Rhine Valley.

From Salanova 2002

The traders

Three graves from northern France give rise to the question of the existence of traders, which could explain the long-distance exchanges recorded during the 3rd millennium

BC

(Fig. 1.9). These three burials share some particularities that distinguish them from other Bell Beaker graves. They contain men or women buried in oval or rectangular pits in an extended position, oriented according to an east–west axis, similar to what is observed in the Corded Wares and Single Grave Cultures. Surrounding one of these graves, located near Poitiers at La Folie, a circular ditch was found, in which postholes indicated the existence of a wooden palisade, similar to examples from the Lower Rhine Valley (Tchérémissinoff et al. 2011). In these three burials, the grave goods are invariably composed of All-Over-Ornamented (AOO) beakers, with slender profiles and cord-or spatula-impressed decorations, and of blades or daggers composed of yellow flint from the Grand-Pressigny region (Indre-et-Loire, France). The two AOO graves from the Paris Basin (Jablines and Ciry-Salsogne) are dated from 2570–2450 cal

BC

(Salanova 2011). All of the characteristics of these graves refer to foreign burial practices, from their architecture to their grave goods, which find comparisons in the Netherlands. According to archaeometric analyses, the AOO Beakers were all produced locally, despite their typology indicative of an exogenous affinity. These graves are geographically located on the road that linked the Grand-Pressigny flint workshops to the Lower Rhine Valley, where daggers and blades imported from the Grand-Pressigny region have been recorded and were frequently included as grave goods associated with AOO Beakers (Lanting & Waals 1976; Delcourt-Vlaeminck 2004). These three graves could therefore reflect an ethnic identity, including foreign traders in charge of another exchange network, linking the Atlantic coast to the Rhine Valley. This network did not remain thereafter; importations stopped at approximately 2400 cal

BC

, probably being replaced by exchanges of copper daggers.

1.10 Distribution of the main regional Bell Beaker pottery styles.

From Salanova 2005, modified

According to the observed burial practices, it is therefore possible to detect several levels of the expression of social identities. Collective and individual graves appear to define the first level, as the functions of and rules for distinguishing these two kinds of burials are significantly different. The collective graves refer to an old tradition and show relative continuity of the social organization before and during the Bell Beaker phenomenon. In contrast, the individual graves mark a break in this continuity, introducing new codes of distinction that are more distinctly based on sexual factors and professional groups. Among the observable categories, some refer to war and power, while others are linked to activities observable in importance during the 3rd millennium

BC

: long-distance exchange networks and specialized crafts. It must be considered that the most visible type of status, i.e., the most clearly expressed, and the most widely distributed at a supra-regional level should have been the most important for the population. These categories refer to common social identities that are shared at a European scale. They provide less information about the cultural and regional preferences associated with the Bell Beaker phenomenon, which are, however, clearly highlighted in the distribution of typological elements (Besse 2003; Vander Linden 2004). Beyond the visible social categories described previously, which ultimately represent a small portion of the population from the end of the 3rd millennium

BC

, how was the rest of the population structured?

4. Identity, daily life and cultural norms

Studies on the Bell Beaker phenomenon have mainly focused on the funerary sphere, and the analyses conducted in this specific context allow the reconstruction of a clear picture of the most visible social components of the communities from the 3rd millennium

BC

. Nevertheless, as highlighted previously, the representativeness of these dead individuals compared with the whole society is a question that remains to be answered. Which proportion of the population was buried under such conditions that they can be taken in to account in current studies? To answer this question, data from the Bell Beaker settlements are essential. The poor preservation of these settlements could make this research less fruitful. However, the results demonstrate that domestic contexts highlight another facet of the society, ultimately involving a greater percentage of the living population than the Bell Beaker graves.

4.1. The Bell Beaker settlements

Few data are available on settlements from the 3rd millennium

BC

, not only because of their poor preservation, but also because of their scarcity. This situation is common to all regions of Europe, though the western region most likely provides the most complete examples. Some environmental analyses indicate that this period coincides with a cooling of temperatures in western Europe (Fábregas Valcarce et al. 2003; Magny 2004). In parallel, the increasing human pressure recorded as beginning at the end of the 4th millennium

BC

appears to have intensified during the Bell Beaker period. This intensification of land appropriation and deforestation, even in high-altitude regions where no evidence of farming activities was previously recorded, characterizes the second half of the 3rd millennium

BC

, in addition to a definitive change towards a developed farming economy and stratified societies, with the appearance of more permanent settlements in the most northern and eastern parts of Europe (Galop 2005; Leroyer 2004; Castiglioni et al. 2008; Prescott & Glørstad 2011; Czebreszuk & Szmyt 2008).

On a broad European scale, the end of the 3rd millennium

BC

must be considered to represent the completion of the Neolithization process that began several millennia before (Salanova 2000a). At a regional scale, the economic systems nevertheless appear to be different, possibly explaining the regional variability of the Bell Beaker phenomenon, which declined like a musical standard according to regional traditions.

4.2. Some norms in settlement patterns

As the preservation state of the settlements does not allow reconstruction of the details of the way of life of the population, we must work around this problem by analysing the way of life of the population through their pots (Salanova & Prieto Martínez et al. in press). We have combined typology and technology with the analysis of paste components to identify technical groups and to understand the mechanisms underlying the circulation of different Bell Beaker styles, which define coherent regional entities (Fig. 1.10). To which level of identity do these stylistic differences refer? The synthetic view of the analyses conducted on one thousand pots from nine areas in western Europe highlights the fact that these stylistic differences had real significance for the population, as their distributions are correlated with mobility and settlement patterns.

1.11 Bell Beaker settlement from La Noue Saint-Marcel (Burgundy, France). Plan of the site and associated pottery.

From Salanova & Ducreux 2005

Some Bell Beaker styles are common to all of Europe, representing the standard Bell Beakers, which refers to the classical style, decorated with hatched bands in alternating opposite directions. At a European scale, this style is predominantly found on the Atlantic seaboard, especially in Brittany and central Portugal. The Atlantic regions are also characterized by a version derived from the standard style, showing the same type of vessels with hatched bands, associated with other designs, such as triangles or a lattice pattern. (‘Epimaritime style’). This group is often contrasted with the Mediterranean type, in which vessels with more diverse shapes are mainly decorated with incisions and radial structures. Central Europe exhibits another type of Bell Beaker decoration with metope designs. In addition to decorated beakers, the domestic assemblages also provide undecorated beakers and common wares, among which some types refer to local traditions from the Late Neolithic, while others are specific to the Bell Beaker package and are more widely distributed (Besse 2003). Within the framework of our analysis, we have considered all of these categories of pottery associated with settlements (decorated beakers, undecorated beakers and common wares) to compare the circulation mechanisms of the different categories of pottery products.

In all of the areas studied, the clays used for manufacturing Bell Beakers were mainly collected around the sites in the local environment, i.e., less than 7 km around the sites, corresponding to the territory the inhabitants of a village could have crossed for daily activities (Arnold 1985; Gosselain & Livingstone Smith 2005). Nevertheless, the combination of the analyses on pottery and soil samples makes it possible to be more precise, revealing a degree of regional circulation (7 km to 30 km around the sites) and, more rarely, extra-regional circulation (further than 30 km). The observed types of pottery circulation point towards very different situations.

In eastern France and western Switzerland, where the best-preserved Bell Beaker settlements have been found, a significant number of imported pots (decorated beakers as well as domestic wares) have been recorded. At La Noue Saint-Marcel, in Burgundy, almost the entire pottery assemblage was manufactured outside of the site (Fig. 1.11). Instead, most of the pottery was likely produced on the other side of the Saône Valley, where the geology is compatible (Salanova & Ducreux 2005). Taking into account the other characteristics of the dwelling, which is located in a wet zone and shows a large number of scrapers in the flint assemblage (possibly for working with skins), this settlement is expected to have been occupied for seasonal and specialized activities. Its inhabitants brought pottery produced in more permanent dwellings from upland areas. This residential system, involving both permanent and seasonal sites, could also be proposed for the French Jura, where none of the caves contained imported vessels, in contrast to the only open-air dwelling, Derrière-Le-Château (Géovreissiat), which contained a high fraction of imported wares (Convertini 2001). This goes against the general idea that the population rarely circulated with pottery during prehistory. Our case study shows that even at the dawn of the Bronze Age, the population travelled regularly, at least on a regional scale, together with their material assets.

Compared with dwellings from the Atlantic coast and the Mediterranean, the analysed cases reveal that Bell Beakers were mainly produced and used locally. The population appears to have been less mobile than in continental regions. Along Atlantic shores (Brittany and Galicia), some pottery products circulated, but only in specific cases, such as among ceremonial sites and in burial contexts (Prieto-Martínez & Salanova 2011).

These results are corroborated by the distribution of burial structures and dwelling types, which appear to outline a well-marked frontier: in the west, collective tombs and isolated domestic stone architecture are found; in the east, rectangular wattle and daub houses grouped in small villages and isolated individual burials with wooden architectures are observed (Salanova in press). Based on clay processing and the archaeological data, it is therefore possible to identify two different cultural patterns expressed in major differences in the way of life (Fig. 1.12). In the eastern part of the area, groups of villages are associated with seasonal journeys and isolated graves; in the western part, isolated farmers are associated with collective gatherings for ritual ceremonies.

1.12 Settlement patterns. Surrounded zones correspond to the studied areas. In blue: the western pattern with isolated farms and collective graves. In orange: dwellings with rows of houses and individual graves.

This residential pattern of isolated houses appears to be characteristic of Atlantic areas, at least in France. It is difficult to precisely date its origin, but it existed from the beginning to the end of the 3rd millennium

BC

in northern France and along the Atlantic coast from Brittany to Dordogne (Tinevez 2004; Pailler et al. 2010).

4.3. The Atlantic Bell Beaker identity

Finally, the results of Bell Beaker deconstruction allow us to regard more precisely the criteria used to define the Bell Beaker identity. Beyond the warrior ideology, which is well established in the burial context and involved a small fraction of the population from the 3rd millennium

BC

, several other categories can be recognized, even in domestic contexts, where social and cultural norms are generally the most difficult to observe.

The earlier portion of this contribution was mainly focused on recognition of the social categories from the Bell Beaker period compared with previous periods. The examination of domestic contexts has revealed different cultural norms in the way of life, highlighting some regional differences. How were the two sides of the Bell Beaker phenomenon connected? Beyond the common social trend that affected the 3rd millennium

BC

in Europe, cultural practices in burial and domestic contexts point to separate histories depending on regions.

A common social trend in Europe

The warrior ideology, which is easily recognized in Bell Beaker graves and iconography, can ultimately be considered to represent a unique link between the different provinces described for the second half of the 3rd millennium

BC

in Europe. The different categories of specialists (craftsmen and traders) linked to this ‘warrior’ élite also belong to this common social rank, which makes the Bell Beaker phenomenon a real material entity. This division into clearly identifiable social and professional groups, together with the previously described diversity, is probably the newest aspect that appeared with the Bell Beaker package. This aspect explains why the Bell Beaker phenomenon has often been compared with other phenomena from more recent periods (Lewthwaite 1987; Lemercier 2004). It confers a kind of modernity on the societies of the 3rd millennium

BC

, in that it allows us to imagine various categories composing a Neolithic society and their hierarchy. This is not the case for the older periods of the Neolithic, for which it is generally possible to detect only a few categories among the dead (see for instance for the Middle Neolithic Chambon & Thomas 2010). The regional expression of these social changes points to a continuity of some cultural norms.

Regional expression

Overall, a number of differences have been noted among the Bell Beakers that divide the western and eastern parts of Europe. They essentially concern the sexes and age status in graves, which are not expressed in the same way and, above all, the collective burial practice, which refers to different social and kinship structures compared with individual graves.

Within this broad geographic division, the regions along the Atlantic shores share several common characteristics, which define a coherent entity that was already perceptible during the previous periods of the Neolithic and persisted until at least the Late Bronze Age (Brun 1991; Bueno Ramírez et al. 2005; Quilliec 2007).

As observed for the Bronze Age, the Atlantic areas from the 3rd millennium

BC

are linked by common categories of metal objects and pottery, which form a spatial material group. According to recent technological analyses, this uniformity at typological and technical levels is most likely indicative of the circulation of specialists along Atlantic shores. This Atlantic entity is also defined by a common settlement pattern and a tradition of regional gathering for ritual or burial activities, which took place until the end of the 3rd millennium

BC

, mainly in collective monuments, extending the long-term sequence of ancestral vaults.

This Atlantic tradition detected from the Neolithic until the Late Bronze Age could certainly be explained by the specific conditions of the environment and, of course, the omnipresence of the ocean, which is expected to have had a strong impact on the construction of this identity. The ocean, with the implied possibility of navigation, is essential for understanding the frequent circulation of ideas, objects and craftsmen along the Atlantic shores of Europe (Salanova 2000b; Prieto-Martínez & Salanova 2009). For instance, the large similarities between the Maritime beakers found in southern Brittany, northern Galicia and central Portugal could not be explained without a rapid mode of communication between these three regions, excluding step-by-step circulation (Salanova 2008). The coastal distribution of some Spanish influences in some French Bell Beakers (concerning certain bowl shapes and incised decorations) points to the same phenomenon (Salanova et al. 2011). These vessels have been found only in specific areas, in the southwest part of Brittany, around the Loire estuary and along the Vendée coast, including some islands in the central part of France (île de Ré). This distribution provides some indication of the maritime roads that linked the different regions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the social categories of the 3rd millennium and those that are more visible from the Bell Beaker period define several identities, which reflect a society structured into different corporative groups. All of these categories making up the society certainly did not have the same way of considering their identity. Although it could appear to be unreasonably ambitious to reconstruct what these people may have thought, the archaeological data suggest some responses to the wide question of their identity. With the exception of this social trend, which was common to all of Europe, cultural norms, which could define another level of identity corresponding to regional expression, have been taken into account to a lesser extent. Beyond the typological differences in material culture, economic, settlement and mobility patterns should be a more common subject of research, which could indicate another facet of the population and allow reconstruction of the societies with their total diversity. Along the Atlantic façade of Europe, a coherent Bell Beaker entity has been recognized, defining a regional identity that prefigures the Atlantic Bronze Age Complex.

Some scholars have attempted to link the Bell Beaker package with the emergence of Proto-Indo-European or Proto-Celtic languages (for instance: Gallay 2001; Brun 2006). Due to the differences between western and central Europe and the diversity of the cultural and social categories reflected in the Bell Beaker phenomenon, it is difficult to demonstrate the existence of a common language based only on the material culture. However, the similarities described along the Atlantic coast, which involve the circulation of know-how and of craftsmen, could effectively demonstrate the existence of supra-regional languages, shared at least by this group of specialists.

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