Multi-cordoned ware culture


Multi-cordoned Ware culture or Multiroller ceramics culture, translations of the Культура многоваликовой керамики Kul'tura mnogovalikovoj keramiki, also known as the Multiple-relief-band ware culture, the Babyno culture and the Mnogovalikovaya kul'tura, are archaeological names for a Middle Bronze Age culture of Eastern Europe.

Distribution

From approximately the 22nd to 18th centuries, it occupied an area stretching from the Don to Moldavia, including Dnieper Ukraine, Right-bank Ukraine, and part of the modern Ternopil Oblast, and was bordered by the Volga to the east.

Origins

KMK succeeded the western Catacomb culture.

Characteristics

In 1929, the archaeologist Ya. Brik studied four kurgans of this culture near Ostapye village, Podvolochisk raion, Ukraine. He found ceramics, flint tools, bone and bronze decorations. Bottoms, walls and ceilings of the graves are layered with rocks. Skeletons are laid in contracted position towards the east.
The name of this culture is related to its ceramic goods, such as pots, which were decorated with multiple strips of clay before firing. The culture also featured various other distinctive ornaments
KMK tribes practiced herding and made widespread use of chariots.

Physical type

The physical type of the Multi-cordoned Ware culture has been designated as dolichocephalic.

Ethnicity

Circumstantial evidence links KMK to the spread of one or more Indo-European languages. Leo Klejn identifies its bearers with the early Thracians. Other scholars suggest that KMK may have been connected to the Bryges and/or Phrygians.

Successors

It was increasingly influenced, assimilated and eventually displaced by the Timber grave or Srubna/Srubnaya culture. In c. 2000 – 1800 bearers of KMK migrated southward into the Balkans.

Literature