Catacomb Culture

The economy was essentially stockbreeding, although traces of grain have been found. There seem to have been skilled specialists, particularly metal-workers, however.

The name comes from its burial practices. These are similar to those of the Yamna culture, but with a hollowed-out space off of the main shaft, creating the 'catacomb'. Animal remains were incorporated into a small minority of graves. In certain graves there was the distinctive practice of what amounts to modelling a clay mask over the deceased's face, creating an obvious if not necessarily correct association to the famous gold funeral mask of Mycenae .

The linguistic composition of the Catacomb culture is unclear. Within the context of the Kurgan Hypothesis expounded by Marija Gimbutas , an Indo-European component is hard to deny, particularly in the later stages. Placing the ancestors of the Greek , Armenian and Paleo-Balkan dialects here is tempting, as it would neatly explain certain shared features. More recently, the Ukrainian archaeologist V. Kulbaka has argued that the Late Yamna cultures of ca. 3200-2800 BCE, esp. the Budzhak, Starosilsk, and Novotitarovka groups, might represent the Greek-Armenian-"Aryan"(=Indo-Iranian) ancestors ( Graeco-Aryan , Graeco-Armenian ), and the Catacomb culture that of the "unified" (to ca. 2500 BCE) and then "differentiated" Indo-Iranians. The Catacomb culture was ousted by the Srubna (Timber-grave) culture from ca. the 17th century, associated with an Iranian expansion or with the Cimmerians (variously classified as either Iranian, Thracian or Celt ic).

SOURCES

J. P. Mallory , "Catacomb Culture", ''Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture'', Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.

V. Kulbaka, "Indo-European populations of Ukraine in the paleometallic period", Mariupol 2000. ISBN 966-7329-30-5

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Catacomb Culture