A major new study is shedding light on everyday life in Central Europe during the Bronze Age (about 1300-800 BC), a period known as the Urnfield culture, which saw major social and cultural changes, including the widespread practice of cremation.
published in nature communicationThe research combines archaeology, ancient DNA analysis, isotope studies and skeletal evidence to reveal how people lived, lived, ate and buried their dead some 3,000 years ago. Because cremation destroys the organic material that scientists typically study, this era has long been difficult to examine in detail.
To tackle that challenge, an international team of researchers focused on rare non-cremation remains discovered in Germany, Czechia and Poland. He also analyzed cremated remains from sites in central Germany, including Kuckenberg and Asperstedt, which were excavated by the State Heritage Management and Archeology Office of Saxony-Anhalt.
Ancient DNA reveals gradual change
The researchers examined ancient DNA, stable oxygen and strontium isotopes, and skeletal remains found in the graves. They then compared the results with genetic data from nearby areas to understand how communities changed over time.
“This study allows us to see how people lived through change,” says Eleftheria Orfanou, a PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and lead author of the study. “The Late Bronze Age was experienced not as a single moment of change, but as a series of choices about food and subsistence strategies, burials and social relationships, made within communities that were closely linked to their landscapes as well as their neighbours.”
Genetic evidence points to slow and regionally diverse changes in ancestry rather than sudden population replacement. In Central Germany, these changes became noticeable mainly during the later stages of the Bronze Age. The findings show that communities were increasingly connected to the areas south and south-east of the Danube while maintaining strong local traditions.
Most people stayed close to home
Isotope analysis helped scientists determine where individuals likely grew up and whether they moved during their lives. Strontium and oxygen isotopes preserved in human remains act like chemical fingerprints associated with the local environment.
Most of the people studied in central Germany, including both cremated and non-cremated individuals, appeared to be local to the area where they were buried. According to the researchers, this suggests that ideas and cultural practices spread mostly through contact, trade and social interaction rather than large migrations of people.
Millet changed the Bronze Age diet
The study also revealed changing eating habits during the Bronze Age. Researchers found evidence that communities began eating broomcorn millet during the early stages of the period. This crop recently reached Europe from northeastern China.
Scientists believe that millet has become popular because it has adapted well to environmental or economic pressures. However, the adoption of millet was not accompanied by large genetic changes, indicating that local populations adopted the new crop without large-scale population turnover.
Interestingly, millet consumption subsequently declined. People appear to have gone back to more traditional crops such as wheat and barley during the late Bronze Age. Researchers say this pattern reflects experimentation and adaptability rather than permanent agricultural change.
Evidence of hard life but few epidemics
The team also looked for signs of disease and physical stress. DNA evidence revealed bacteria linked to oral health problems, including dental disease, but no indication of widespread epidemic infection.
Skeletal evidence shows signs of childhood stress, wear and tear on joints, and occasional injuries, suggesting a physically demanding lifestyle. Despite these difficulties, most individuals were generally in good health overall.
Diverse burial rituals in Bronze Age Europe
The findings also shed light on the variety of funerary practices used during the Urnfield period. Communities practiced cremation, traditional burials, mere skull deposition, and complex multi-stage burial rites, sometimes within the same settlements.
“These practices do not appear to be marginal or unusual,” explains Orfanou, “but are part of a broader repertoire that people could have drawn from during the Urnfield period, which is linked to the formation of memory, identity, and ideas about what it means to be an individual in the Late Bronze Age.”
Combining archaeological, anthropological, genetic and isotope evidence, researchers have described Late Bronze Age Europe as a dynamic and interconnected world where communities blended innovation with long-standing traditions.
Project leader Wolfgang Haack at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology concluded, “Change and innovation were incorporated into existing traditions. These communities actively shaped their way of life, and created hybrid practices that were locally meaningful within an increasingly interconnected world.”