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The Elp culture (c. 1800—800 BCE) is a 
Part of the " Nordwestblock", it is situated to the north and east of the 
The culture is known for featuring the longhouse. This construction shows an exceptional local continuity until the twentieth century, still being the normal type of farm in the lowlands of north-western Europe and the Netherlands. The local tradition of concentrating on raising cattle was persisted by the Saxons and the Frisians, whose houses were perched on the natural hillocks in the moist plains, while all other Germanic people practiced sedentary agriculture. Going back to the roots of this tradition, it is generally assumed that its origins lay somewhere in the Bronze Age, between 1800 and 1500 BCE. Probably this change was contemporary to a transition from the two-aisled to the three-aisled farm as early as 1800 BCE. This development bears comparison with what we know from Scandinavia, where the three-aisled house also develops at the same time.
Within the Northern Bronze Age context, many important reasons are mentioned to the custom of
storing cattle inside a building and, moreover, inside the proper house. This could point to a new emphasis on milk production and making cheese, especially since drinking milk was made possible by a gene against lactose intolerance, first to emerge amongst neolithic Northern European populations. Cattle stalling was necessary to avoid cows giving less milk in cold conditions (Sherratt, 1983; Zimermann, 1999, 314; Olausson 1999, 321). Social exchange and a role in the supernatural would have been important as well (Fokkens 1999), supported by, for instance, stacks of cowhides in graves and the offerings of animals attested in both Sweden and Denmark (Rasmussen 1999: 287). Protection against cattle raids would fit the circumstances—proven by grave goods, rock engravings and hoards—of a strong martial ideology in this era (Fokkens 1999).
These complicated cultural-economic networks that preclude precise ethnic (and thus linguistic) differentiation, supports the maintenance of late contacts between the languages ancestral to Germanic and Celtic, assuming a position of Proto-Celtic to the north of the Hallstatt culture – as supported by the known homelands of
File:Boerderijen die gebouwd werden in de ijzertijd en bronstijd leken veel op elkaar Hunebedden centrum Borger.JPG, Bronze Age house, reconstruction
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
archaeological culture of the Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
having earthenware pottery of low quality known as "Kümmerkeramik" (also "Grobkeramik") as a marker. The initial phase is characterized by tumuli
A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...
(1800–1200 BCE), strongly tied to contemporary tumuli in Northern Germany and Scandinavia, and apparently related to the Tumulus culture (1600–1200 BCE) in Central Europe. This phase was followed by a subsequent change featuring Urnfield (cremation
Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning.
Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...
) burial customs (1200–800 BCE).
Part of the " Nordwestblock", it is situated to the north and east of the Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
and the IJssel
The IJssel (; ) is a Dutch distributary of the river Rhine that flows northward and ultimately discharges into the IJsselmeer (before the 1932 completion of the Afsluitdijk known as the Zuiderzee), a North Sea natural harbour. It more immediatel ...
(named after the village of Elp in Drenthe province), bordering the Hilversum culture to the south and the Hoogkarspel culture in West Friesland that, together with Elp, all derive from the Bell Beaker culture (2100–1800 BCE) and, forming a culture complex at the boundary between the Atlantic and the Nordic horizons.
First the dead were buried in shallow pits and covered by a low barrow. At the end of the Bronze Age they were cremated and the urns were gathered in low barrows. Family burials occurred only in the later stages.
The culture is known for featuring the longhouse. This construction shows an exceptional local continuity until the twentieth century, still being the normal type of farm in the lowlands of north-western Europe and the Netherlands. The local tradition of concentrating on raising cattle was persisted by the Saxons and the Frisians, whose houses were perched on the natural hillocks in the moist plains, while all other Germanic people practiced sedentary agriculture. Going back to the roots of this tradition, it is generally assumed that its origins lay somewhere in the Bronze Age, between 1800 and 1500 BCE. Probably this change was contemporary to a transition from the two-aisled to the three-aisled farm as early as 1800 BCE. This development bears comparison with what we know from Scandinavia, where the three-aisled house also develops at the same time.
Within the Northern Bronze Age context, many important reasons are mentioned to the custom of
storing cattle inside a building and, moreover, inside the proper house. This could point to a new emphasis on milk production and making cheese, especially since drinking milk was made possible by a gene against lactose intolerance, first to emerge amongst neolithic Northern European populations. Cattle stalling was necessary to avoid cows giving less milk in cold conditions (Sherratt, 1983; Zimermann, 1999, 314; Olausson 1999, 321). Social exchange and a role in the supernatural would have been important as well (Fokkens 1999), supported by, for instance, stacks of cowhides in graves and the offerings of animals attested in both Sweden and Denmark (Rasmussen 1999: 287). Protection against cattle raids would fit the circumstances—proven by grave goods, rock engravings and hoards—of a strong martial ideology in this era (Fokkens 1999).
These complicated cultural-economic networks that preclude precise ethnic (and thus linguistic) differentiation, supports the maintenance of late contacts between the languages ancestral to Germanic and Celtic, assuming a position of Proto-Celtic to the north of the Hallstatt culture – as supported by the known homelands of La Tène culture
The La Tène culture (; ) was a Iron Age Europe, European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 450 BC to the Roman Republic, Roman conquest in the 1st century BC), succeeding the early Iron Age ...
.Kristiansen, Kristian, and Paulina Suchowska-Ducke. 2015. Connected Histories: the Dynamics of Bronze Age Interaction and Trade 1500–1100 bc. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 81:361-392.
The culture came to an end with the advent of the Hallstatt culture.
See also
* Atlantic Bronze Age * Urnfield culture *Jastorf culture
The Jastorf culture was an Iron Age Europe, Iron Age material culture in what is now Germany, stretching north into Jutland, and east into Poland, spanning the 6th to 1st centuries BC, forming the southern part of the Pre-Roman Iron Age.
Peri ...
References
External links
*http://www.landenweb.net/nederland/geschiedenis/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Elp Culture Bronze Age cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures of Europe Archaeology of Denmark Archaeological cultures in Germany Archaeological cultures in the Netherlands Tumuli Bronze Age Germany