Welcome to www.donau-archaeologie.de!
With this website, we would like to give you the opportunity to gain an overview of the archaeological cultures of the Neolithic, the Copper Age and the Bronze Age in the Danube regions. Furthermore, by accessing helpful material, we would like to enable researchers working in the prehistory of Central and South-East Europe to gain access to the material and sources which are not always easy to obtain.
Therefore the website is subdivided into the following main categories:
Archaeological cultures: Here, you may find an alphabetic listing of short summaries about the state of research of the various cultures.
Dictionary: An archaeological dictionary, containing vocabulary in Bulgarian, Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian (in preparation) and Slovakian.
Maps: blank maps of the Danube regions.
Catalogues: Various tables and lists.
Links: an assorted collection of archaeologically interesting websites.
We try to keep all contents of this site up to date, and we also try to integrate new contents regularly. In order to find certain information quickly, we recommend you use the text search. Just read the instructions.
The site was designed not only to prove an insight for users but to provide them with ressources for their own research. The use of our material is, therefore, explicitly allowed, according to the rules which can be found in the imprint.
We are glad to respond to any questions and/or suggestions.
The Danube, measuring 2845 kilometers, is the second longest river in Europe. It runs through Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine, therefore flowing through eleven states of our continent. Although it appears as a border river from ancient times and still today, its much larger significance is its function as the most important link between Central and South-East Europe. With its tributaries it spans a watershed of 795 686 km2 and so creates a network between the Alpine regions, the Adrian, the Balkans and the Pontic.
Intensive cultural relations between Central Europe, South-East Europe and the neighboring regions can be traced back archaeologically as far as the earliest Neolithic. It is self-evident that a natural landmark the size of the Danube and its tributaries is used intensely as a route of transport and becomes a main artery for long-distance relations. And indeed the Danube takes pride of place in respect to the cultural interplay in prehistory. It functions not only as a bridge between regions it directly flows through, but works as a stepping stone for the great cultures of the Aegean, the Pontic and the Near East to Europe. Its role as a connection is even further enhanced by the natural centering of the Danube regions: The Carpathian Basin marks a junction of European prehistory due to its central position and ideal natural conditions. Consequently it works as a crucial catalyst through the medium of cultural products to Central Europe.
It is impossible, therefore, to practice prehistoric archaeology in Central Europe without knowing about the regions bordering in the south-east. This was always stressed during our studies by our PhD supervisor at the University Saarbrücken, Professor Jan Lichardus, who, unfortunately, died much too early. In this spirit we, Valeska Becker, Monika Schwarz and Matthias Thomas, decided to add something to the archaeological exploration of the history of the Danube regions. This should be of high importance in times where Europe grows together, although not all borders have quite vanished.