Step by Steppe: Yamnaya culture in Transylvania

Abstract

SummaryThe older horizon of the tumuli cemeteries from Transylvania were connected with the Early Bronze Age cultural phenomenon (Livezile/Bedeleu, Șoimuș and Copăceni cultural groups). Some of the discoveries made especially during the second half of the 20th century while searching for the Scythians were considered as belonging to the Ochre Grave Culture (Câmpia Turzii, Cipău, Răscruci). The archaeological research from Silvașu de Jos (Hunedoara county), together with the older and more recent discoveries from Bodo, Bucova Pusta IX and Bucova Pusta IV, prove that the Lower and Middle Mureș valley were used as a path by the Yamnaya Culture, connecting the discoveries from central and western Transylvania to those from the Tisza Plain. This event is contemporary with the earliest manifestation of the Early Bronze Age. Moreover, completing again the observations made on the Tisza Plain and Lower Danube (Trnava, Bulgaria), it is clear that the barrow trend precedes the Yamnaya Culture also in Transylvania, based on the results from Cheile Aiudului and, recently, Silvașu de Jos, showing that the barrows were used by the Coțofeni III communities.