Prehistory of Poland (until 966) - Bronze and Iron Ages

Bronze and Iron Ages

Poland's Bronze Age comprised Period I, 2,300–1,600 BC; Period II, 1,600–1,350 BC; Period III, 1,350–1,100 BC; Period IV, 1,100–900 BC; and Period V, 900–700 BC. The Early Iron Age included Hallstatt Period C, 700–600 BC, and Hallstatt Period D, 600–450 BC.

Poland's Bronze- and Iron-Age cultures are known mainly from archeological research. Poland's Early Bronze Age cultures began around 2,300-2,400 BC. The Iron Age commenced ca. 700-750 BC. By the beginning of the Common Era, the Iron Age archeological cultures described in the main article no longer existed. Given the absence of written records, the ethnicities and linguistic affiliations of the groups living in Central and Eastern Europe at that time are speculative—there is considerable disagreement. In Poland the Lusatian culture, spanning the Bronze and Iron Ages, became particularly prominent. The most famous archeological discovery from that period is the Biskupin fortified settlement (gród), representing early-Iron-Age Lusatian culture.

Bronze objects were brought to Poland around 2,300 BC from the Carpathian Basin. The native Early Bronze Age that followed was dominated by the innovative Unetice culture in western Poland, and by the conservative Mierzanowice culture in eastern Poland. These were replaced in their respective territories, for the duration of the subsequent Older Bronze Period by the (pre-Lusatian) Tumulus culture and the Trzciniec culture.

Characteristic of the remaining bronze periods were the Urnfield cultures; within their range, skeletal burials had been replaced by cremation throughout much of Europe. In Poland the Lusatian culture settlements dominated the landscape for nearly a thousand years, continuing into the Early Iron Age. A series of Scythian invasions, beginning in the 6th century BC, precipitated the demise of the Lusatian culture. The Hallstatt Period D was a time of expansion for the Pomeranian culture, while the Western Baltic kurgan culture occupied Poland's Masuria-Warmia region.