Wietenberg culture

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The Wietenberg culture was a Middle Bronze Age archeological culture in central Romania (Transylvania) that roughly dates to 2200–1600/1500 BCE. Representing a local variant of Usatove culture, it was contemporary with the Ottomány culture and Unetice culture and was replaced by the Noua culture. Its name was coined after the eponymic Wietenberg Hill near Sighișoara.

Quick Facts Geographical range, Period ...

Wietenberg culture
Geographical range	Romania (Transylvania)
Period	Bronze Age
Dates	c. 2200 BC – 1500 BC
Preceded by	Coțofeni culture, Usatove culture
Followed by	Noua-Sabatinovka culture

People of this culture traded with the Mycenaeans. Burial sites contain bronze battle axes and maces with stone heads. Pottery consists of amphorae with spiral and meandric ornament.

By 1964, about 200 settlements of this culture were discovered.

Gallery

Battle axes from Valea Chioarului, Maramureș County (National Museum of Transylvanian History in Cluj)
Gold bracelet (from pre-WWI book plate)
Gold bracelet from Biia, Alba County, c. 1600 BC (from pre-WWI book plate)^[1]
Gold bracelet (Natural History Museum, Vienna)
Gold armring (Natural History Museum, Vienna)
Hajdúsámson-Apa-type swords, from Apa, Satu Mare, 17th century BC^[2]
Pottery, bone and bronze artefacts (National Museum of the Union, Alba Iulia)
Gold treasure from Șmig, Sibiu County, 17th-16th c. BC^[3]^[4]
Fragments of wall decorations from Geoagiu de Sus in the Apuseni Mountains (National Museum of the Union, Alba Iulia)
Mycenaean sword found at Dumbrăvioara and Wietenberg axes, one found at Valea Chioarului and one shown in its mold (National Museum of Transylvanian History in Cluj)

Notes

[1]
Tarbay, J.G. (2020). "The Essence of Power: A Middle Bronze Age Gold Armlet from Tápióbicske (Central Hungary)". Communicationes Archaeologicae Hungariae. 2020: 19–55. doi:10.54640/CAH.2020.19. S2CID 247432298.
[2]
"Apa hoard". Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. 21 September 2022.
[3]
Gimbutas, Marija (1965). Bronze Age Cultures in Central and Eastern Europe. De Gruyter. p. 56. ISBN 9783111668147. That Transylvania was in the center of trade in gold and that its sources played the most important role over all eastern central Europe and in the western Pontic area is indicated by large gold treasures like those from Șmig in eastern Romania ... The Țufalău and Șmig hoards are presumed to belong to the Wietenberg cultural group of eastern Transylvania.
[4]
"Romania - Bronze Age. Gold plates. Bucharest, Muzeul National De Istorie Al Romaniei".