The Funnel Beaker Culture, also called TRB for the abbreviation of its German name (Tricherrandbecher or Trichterbecher), is a subset of the Beaker culture (such as Bell Beaker). They were the first farmers of much of Northern Europe; their history is one of transition from hunter-gatherers to crop tending of wheat, barley, legumes, and herding of cattle, sheep and goats.
The Funnel Beaker settlements were of small impermanent houses made of poles. But the villages included substantial burial monuments representing communal burials. Individuals were placed in chambers that were reopened and used for generations. Eventually, the wooden supports of the chambers were replaced with stone and creating impressive passage graves with central chambers with walls and roofs made of glacial boulders.
The Funnel Beaker artifact type is a handle-less drinking vessel shaped like a funnel. These were hand-built from local clay and decorated with modeling, stamping, incising and impressing. Elaborate flint and groundstone axes and jewelry made of amber are also in Funnel Beaker assemblages.
Funnel Beaker sites such as Sarup in the Thy region of Denmark are dated between about 4000 and 2800 BC. Sites are found throughout northern Europe to the Ukraine and Austria.
Sources
Earle, Timothy K. 2004 Culture Matters in the Neolithic Transition and Emergence of Hierarchy in Thy, Denmark: Distinguished Lecture. American Anthropologist 106(1):111-125.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
