Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (369 page)

Class of middle Neolithic (
TRB CULTURE
) burial monuments found in the lower Vistula region of Poland dating to the later 4th millennium
bc
. Each tomb consists of a triangular or trapezoidal mound, sometimes more than 100m long and usually surrounded by a stone kerb, covering up to three flat graves containing single inhumations.

 
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Chalcolithic communities occupying southern Baluchistan in the early 3rd millennium
bc
. Distinguished by their pottery which is wheel-made, buff in colour, and with black painted decoration showing elongated zebu cattle, felines, goats, or spiky trees between zones of geometric ornament. Terracotta bull and female figurines are plentiful. Burial is by cremation; settlements comprise small tells with mud-brick architecture and are associated with evidence of water control and developed agriculture. In the late Kulli Culture there are clear signs of links to the
INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION
and also to early dynastic Mesopotamia.

 
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Mesolithic hunter-gatherer communities of the east Baltic forest zone extending eastwards into northern Russia dating to the period
c.
7000–5000 bc. Most Kunda settlements are located near the edge of the forests beside rivers, lakes, or marshes. Elk was extensively hunted, perhaps helped by trained domestic hunting-dogs. On the coast seal hunting is represented. Pike and other fish were taken from the rivers. There is a rich bone and antler industry, especially in relation to fishing gear. Tools were decorated with simple geometric designs, lacking the complexity of the contemporary
MAGLEMOSIAN
communities to the southwest. The Kunda Culture is succeeded by the
NARVA CULTURE
who use pottery and show some traces of food production.

 
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A Russian term for a mound or barrow covering a burial in a pit-grave, mortuary house, or catacomb-grave. Comparable with the
ROUND BARROW
of northern Europe, the earliest kurgans date to the 4th millennium
bc
. Kurgans carry on being built, with fluctuations in popularity, down into
SCYTHIAN
times and can also be found amongst the Sarmatians of the steppe zone.

 
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A general and long-lived grouping of successive cultures, proposed by M. Gimbutas as central to the development and spread of populations and material culture in the steppe regions of southern Russian and the Ukraine, and links beyond into eastern and central Europe. The main phases of the Kurgan Culture are differentiated on the basis of the different kinds of graves under the barrows. Thus: pit-graves (Yamnaya), broadly dating to the period
c.
2400–1800 bc; catacomb-graves (Katakombnaya) dating to
c.
2300–1800 bc; and timber-graves (Scrubnaya) dating to
c.
1600–900 bc. The earliest of these focuses on the lower Volga region and is characterized by its contracted inhumation burials which are commonly sprinkled with red ochre. The diffusion westwards of this culture is sometimes equated with the appearance in eastern Europe of corded ware and globular amphorae, and the introduction of Indo-European-speaking peoples.

 
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An Egyptian word for Upper Nubia in general and for any independent state that established itself there during periods of Egyptian weakness.

 
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