Returns to Ancestral Monuments. The Transition of Funerary Areas During the 4th and 3rd Millennia BC in Bohemia

Petr Kristuf; Jan Turek

doi:10.23858/APa63.2025.4138

Published: 2025-12-29

Vol. 63 (2025)

Returns to Ancestral Monuments. The Transition of Funerary Areas During the 4th and 3rd Millennia BC in Bohemia

Petr Kristuf , Jan Turek

Archaeologia Polona

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.23858/APa63.2025.4138

Abstract

The earliest manifestation of funerary monumentality in Central Europe is represented by long barrows from the 4th millennium BC. The latest discoveries suggest that it was the long barrows that initiated the tradition of shaping ritual landscapes. Besides their funerary function, these monuments also served as ancestral shrines. Current research indicates the existence of approximately a thousand-year hiatus in the use of these sacred places in Bohemia. Secondary burials associated with the Corded Ware and Únětice Cultures have been recorded in long barrows. Similar sequences can also be observed in other sites where evidence of long barrows is currently not secure. Beaker cultures of the 3rd millennium BC are represented primarily by funerary monuments in the form of round barrows. This form of funerary monuments did not evolve from the long barrows. On the contrary, it represents a new phenomenon originating from the North Pontic/Caspian region, associated with the Yamna Culture.

Keywords:

Long barrows, Round barrows, Secondary burials, Corded Ware Culture, Ancestral monuments, Czech Republic, Central Europe

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Jan Turek, The Corded Ware Phenomenon Reconsidered , Archaeologia Polona: Vol. 63 (2025): Corded World. Final Eneolithic Societies

Download files

PDF

Citation rules

Kristuf, P., & Turek, J. (2025). Returns to Ancestral Monuments. The Transition of Funerary Areas During the 4th and 3rd Millennia BC in Bohemia. Archaeologia Polona, 63, 205–227. https://doi.org/10.23858/APa63.2025.4138

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Ahola, M. 2020. Creating a Sense of Belonging: Religion and Migration in the Context of the 3rd Millennium BC Corded Ware Complex in the Eastern and Northern Baltic Sea Region. Norwegian Archaeological Review 53(2): 114–134. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00293652.2020.1852305
Google Scholar

Anthony, D. W. 2023. The Yamnaya Culture and the Invention of Nomadic Pastoralism in the Eurasian Steppes. In K. Kristiansen, G. Kroonen and E. Willerslev (eds), The Indo-European Puzzle Revisited: Integrating Archaeology, Genetics, and Linguistics, 13–33. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009261753.005
Google Scholar

Ashbee, P. 1966. Fussell’s Lodge Long Barrow Excavations 1957. London: Society of Antiquaries. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900013709
Google Scholar

Bradley, R. 2001. Orientations and origins: A symbolic dimensions to the long house in Neolithic Europe. Antiquity 75: 50–56. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00052704
Google Scholar

Bradley, R. 2002. The Past in Prehistoric Societies. London: Routledge.
Google Scholar

Bourgeois, Q. 2013. Monuments on the Horizon The formation of the barrow landscape throughout the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
Google Scholar

Bourgeois, Q. P. J., Kroon, E. J. and Olerud, S. L. 2025. Parallel societies: evidence for the co-existence of Late Funnel Beaker West and Early Corded Ware communities. In D. Hofmann, D. Mischka and S. Scharl (eds), The eve of destruction? Local groups and large-scale networks during the late fourth and early third millennium BC in central Europe, 291–310. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
Google Scholar

Chambon, P. 2020. ‘Cicéron c’est Poincaré’ Dealing with geometry: Neolithic house plans and the earliest monuments. In A. Barclay, D. Field and J. Leary (eds), Houses of the Dead?, 47–58. Oxford: Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers 17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv13gvh62.9
Google Scholar

Chmielewski, W. 1952. Zagadnienie grobowców kujawskich w świetle ostatnich badań. Łódź. Biblioteka Muzeum Archeologicznego w Łodzi 2.
Google Scholar

Furholt, M. 2020. Social Worlds and Communities of Practice: a polythetic culture model for 3rd millennium BC Europe in the light of current migration debates. Préhistoires Méditerranéennes 8 [Online]. http://journals.openedition.org/pm/2383 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/pm.2383
Google Scholar

Furholt, M. 2021. Mobility and Social Change: Understanding the European Neolithic Period after the Archaeogenetic Revolution. Journal of Archaeological Research 29: 481–535. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10814-020-09153-x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-020-09153-x
Google Scholar

Haak, W., Furholt, M., Sikora, M., Rohrlach, A. B., Papac, L., Sjögren, K.-G., Heyd, V., Fischer Mortensen, M., Nielsen, A. B., Müller, J., Feeser, I., Kroonen, G. and Kristiansen, K. 2023. The Corded Ware Complex in Europe in Light of Current Archaeogenetic and Environmental Evidence. In K. Kristiansen, G. Kroonen, and E. Willerslev (eds), The Indo-European Puzzle revisited: Integrating Archaeology, Genetics, and Linguistics, 63–80. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009261753.009
Google Scholar

Heyd, V., Kulcsár, G. and Preda-Bălănică, B. (eds). 2021. Yamnaya Interactions. Proceedings of the International Workshop held in Helsinki, 25–26 April 2019. Budapest: Archaeolingua. The Yamnaya Impact on Prehistoric Europe 1.
Google Scholar

Hofmann, D. Mischka, D. and Scharl, S. 2025. The pre-Corded Ware horizon in central Europe and why it matters – an introduction to the volume. In D. Hofmann, D. Mischka and S. Scharl (eds), The eve of destruction? Local groups and large-scale networks during the late fourth and early third millennium BC in central Europe, 13–24. Leiden: Sidestone Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.59641/qq545tc
Google Scholar

Jarosz, P. Tunia, K. and Włodarczak, P. 2013a. Neolitické mohyly 2 a 3 na lokalitě 30 v Malżycích. Příspěvek k poznání pohřebního ritu kultury nálevkovitých pohárů a kultury se šňůrovou keramikou na západomalopolských sprašových vrchovinách [Neolithic Tombs 2 and 3 on the site 30 in Malżyce. Background of the Funneral Rite of the Funnel Beaker and Corded Ware Culture on Little Poland Loess]. Otázky neolitu a eneolitu našich krajín 2010. Nitra. Archeologický ústav SAV.
Google Scholar

Jarosz, P., Szczepanek, A. and Włodarczak, P. 2013b. Tomb no. 1 at Malżyce, site 31 (distr. Kazimierza Wielka) and the megalithic Funnel Beaker cemeteries in the loess region of western Małopolska. Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 65: 293–309.
Google Scholar

Jeunesse, C. 2014. Pratiques funéraires campaniformes en Europe. Faut-il remettre en cause la dichotomie Nord-Sud? La question de la reutilization des sépultures monumentales dans l’Europe du 3e millénaire. In P. Lefranc, A. Denaire, and C. Jeunesse (eds), Données récentes sur les pratiques funéraires néolithiques de la Plaine du Rhin supérieur, 211–228. Oxford: BAR Publishing. British Archaeological Reports International Series 2633.
Google Scholar

Krištuf, P. and Fišer, J. 2025. Prehistoric settlement of the Říp plateau. In J. Turek and P. Krištuf (eds), The Tombs of Forefathers. Neolithic Long Barrows in Ritual Landscapes, 153–156. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Google Scholar

Krištuf, P., Janovský, M., Turek, J., Horák, J. and Ferenczi, L. 2023. Neolithic long barrows were built on the margins of settlement zones as revealed by elemental soil analysis at four sites in the Czech Republic. Journal of Archaeological Science 160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105881 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105881
Google Scholar

Krištuf, P. and Švejcar, O. 2013. Kontinuita pohřebních areálů: struktura a vývoj pohřebiště ve Velkých Žernosekách [The continuity of burial grounds: The structure and development of the cemetery in Velké Žernoseky (Northwest Bohemia)]. Archeologické rozhledy 65: 599–617.
Google Scholar

Krištuf, P., Turek, J., Fišer, J., Gojda, M., Chimalová, E. and Křivánek, R. 2024. New evidence of Neolithic funerary monuments from the eastern margins of the long barrows territory in Central Europe. Archaeologies 20: 417–453. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-024-09489-6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-024-09489-6
Google Scholar

Król, D. 2021. Monumentalne cmentarzyska eneolitycznej kultury pucharów lejkowatych między Dolną Odrą a środkowym Sanem. Morfologia, chronologia i organizacja przestrzenna [Monumental Cemeteries of the Eneolithic Funnel Beaker Culture Between the Lower Oder and the Middle San. Morphology, Chronology, and Spatial Organization]. Rzeszów: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Rzeszowskiego.
Google Scholar

Květina, P., Šumberová, R., Řídký, J. and Pavlů, I. 2016. Minulost kterou nikdo nezapsal. Praha: Pavel Mervart.
Google Scholar

Neustupný, E. 2001. The origin of megalithic architecture in Bohemia and Moravia. In P. Biehl, F. Bertemes and H. Meller (eds), The Archaeology of Cult and Religion, 203–207. Budapest. Archaeolingua 13.
Google Scholar

Neustupný, E. (ed.). 2013. The Prehistory of Bohemia 3, The Eneolithic. Praha: Archeologický ústav AV ČR.
Google Scholar

Piggott, S. 1962. The West Kennet Long Barrow: Excavation 1955–6. London: Society of Antiquaries of London.
Google Scholar

Pleinerová, I. 1980. Kultovní objekty z pozdní doby kamenné v Březně u Loun. Památky archeologické 71: 10–60.
Google Scholar

Strouhalová, B., Krištuf, P., Janovský, M., Novák, J., Turek, J., Fišer, J., Grison, H., Hošková, K. and Hejcman, M. 2025. Reconstruction of the prehistoric environment on the basis of analyzing the chernozem used for the construction of the Neolithic long barrow at the Dušníky site (Czech Republic). Catena 255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2025.109010 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2025.109010
Google Scholar

Šmejda, L. 2001. Kostel nebo mohyla? Příspěvek ke studiu pohřebních areálů. Archeologické rozhledy 53: 499–514.
Google Scholar

Šmíd, M. 2003. Mohylová pohřebiště kultury nálevkovitých pohárů na Moravě. Brno: ÚAPP Brno. Pravěk Supplementum 11.
Google Scholar

Tunia, K. and Włodarczak, P. 2011. Barrow of the Funnel Beaker Culture in Malżyce, Kazimierza Wielka district. Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 63: 203–219.
Google Scholar

Turek, J. 2006. Beaker barrows and the houses of dead. In L. Šmejda, J. Turek and H. Thrane (eds), Archaeology of Burial Mounds, 170–179. Plzeň.
Google Scholar

Turek, J. and Krištuf, P. 2025. The Tombs of Forefathers. Neolithic Long Barrows in Ritual Landscapes. Oxford: Oxbow Books. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.30297087
Google Scholar

Turek, J., Krištuf, P. and Švejcar, O. 2025. Long barrows, causewayed enclosures and the long term spiritual continuity in ritual landscape around Mount Říp in Bohemia (Czech Republic). In D. Hofmann, D. Mischka and S. Scharl (eds), The eve of destruction? Local groups and large-scale networks during the late fourth and early third millennium BC in central Europe, 173–188. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
Google Scholar

Van Der Velde, H. and Bouma, N. 2023. Change or continuity in burial traditions between the TRB period and the Corded Ware culture? The case of Dalfsen, a Neolithic burial ground in the Netherlands. In B. Preda-Bălănică and M. Ahola (eds), Steppe Transmissions, 305–322. Budapest: Archaeolingua. The Yamnaya Impact on Prehistoric Europe 4.
Google Scholar

Włodarczak, P. 2021. Eastern impulses in cultural and demographic change during the end of the south-eastern Polish Eneolithic. In V. Heyd, G. Kulcsár and B. Preda-Balanica (eds), Yamnaya Interactions: Proceedings of the International Workshop held in Helsinki, 25–26 April 2019, 435–462. Budapest: Archaeolingua. The Yamnaya Impact on Prehistoric Europe, Volume 2.
Google Scholar

Zápotocký, M. 2023. Dlouhé mohyly a kamenné hrobky kultury nálevkovitých pohárů – nejstarší monumentální pohřební stavby v Čechách (ca 40./39.–34./33. stol. před Kr.). Archeologie ve středních Čechách 27: 373–539.
Google Scholar