Associated with the diffusion of Proto-Germanic and Proto-Celto-Italic speakers.
Emergence of chiefdoms. Long-distance trade in bronze, amber, faience and gold prestige goods.
Widespread use of bronze. Gold, copper and bronze objects include torcs, flat axes, halberds, flat triangular daggers, bracelets with spiral-ends, disk- and paddle-headed pins and curl rings.
Coarse pottery typically decorated with twisted cord impressions, and sometimes with other types of impressions or incisions.
The dead were inhumed in flat graves or in barrows/tumuli for richer burials. Corpses were accompanied by ceramic vessels, jewellery, personal items made of bronze or bone, and occasionally flint tools. Coffins were sometimes used.
Historical context of the Unetice culture
Genetic Analysis
Y-DNA & mtDNA
MtDNA samples from the East Bell Beaker (Proto-Unetice) and Unetice cultures
Y-chromosomal DNA and mitochondrial DNA are useful tools to follow prehistoric population migrations. However, as uniparental markers, they have their limitations and do not inform us about the whole genome composition of individuals, which can evolve very differently due to the randomness of chromosomal recombination, natural selection for specific genes, and of course to the fact that some men can have more children with multiple women, especially in the context of highly unequal prehistoric societies. The Dodecad K12b admixture calculator used here gives estimates of the ultimate region of origin of chromosomal segments outside of the X and Y chromosomes. This page provides a description of each K12b component with a distribution map among the present-day population. Average values for various ancient European populations can be found here.
Sample ID
Gedrosia
Siberia
NW Africa
SE Asia
Atlantic Med
North Europe
South Asia
East Africa
SW Asia
East Asia
Caucasus
Sub-Saharan Africa
I0047
8.51
0.00
0.00
0.00
35.23
49.60
0.00
0.09
0.00
0.00
6.56
0.00
I0114
11.94
0.05
0.60
0.00
34.36
43.87
0.06
0.21
3.68
0.00
5.24
0.00
I0115_ESP3
8.53
0.12
0
0.58
24.34
50.44
2.51
0
0
1.13
10.94
1.39
I0116_ESP4
13.09
1.03
0
0.51
32.55
50.7
0
1.4
0
0
0.72
0
I0117_ESP29
6.55
1.9
0.64
0.07
33.97
46.42
0.18
0
1.61
0
7.87
0.79
I0047_HAL16
11.47
0.00
0.00
0.00
32.02
46.57
0.00
0.40
0.00
0.00
9.25
0.35
I0164
12.37
1.91
0
0
26.31
53.62
0
0
0
0
5.14
0.66
I0803
7.97
2.63
0
0.00
29.21
48.80
0.00
1.95
0.00
0.00
9.44
0.00
I0804
7.22
0
0
0
34.53
53.23
1.7
0
0
1.43
1.89
0
RISE577
8.22
0
0
0
37.41
47.46
0
0.03
0
0
6.6
0.28
RISE586
5.1
0
0
0
47.08
45.72
0
0
0
0
1.5
0.61
RISE109
3.35
0.00
0.00
0.00
31.56
65.09
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
RISE139
0.56
3.78
0.00
0
22.47
70.41
2.78
0
0
0
0
0
RISE145
0
0
9.67
0
9.93
66.99
0
0
0
0
13.42
0
RISE1
9.53
2.23
0
0
20.52
67.27
0
0
0
0
0.46
0
RISE150
13.55
0
0.00
0.50
33.51
50.20
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.75
0.50
RISE154
17.57
0
0
0.00
34.72
47.71
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
RISE431
0.12
0
0.00
0.00
35.39
58.83
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
5.67
0.00
Unetice culture
8.09
0.76
0.61
0.09
30.84
53.50
0.40
0.23
0.29
0.14
4.80
0.25
Comparison with modern populations
Using the average values for each era above and comparing it with the Dodecad K12b averages for modern populations on Vahaduo, the genetic distance between populations can be compared. The smaller the value for the genetic distance, the most similar the population (1 being a perfect match). Under 5 is considered very close, 5 to 10 moderately similar, while over 10 is not genetically similar. Unetice people were genetically most similar to modern Scandinavians and Germans.
Swedes : 4.2
Danes : 6.4
Germans : 7.0
Norwegians : 7.1
Northeast Poles : 7.6
Sorbs from Lusatia : 8.0
Icelanders : 8.0
Czechs : 9.6
Another way to go, instead of comparing ancient averages with modern averages, is to look at the closest individual matches between modern people and ancient Gauls. This analysis was done using MyTrueAncestry.com to compare the genomes of the Unetice people (mostly from present-day Czechia) with those of modern Europeans. It showed that the closest match in term of genetic distance were the Belgians and Irish, followed by the North French and Dutch. Here is the full list of modern Europeans having a genetic distance smaller than 10 to the Unetice people.
Belgians : 4.1
Irish : 4.3
North French : 5.0
North Dutch : 5.0
Scottish : 5.2
West Germans : 5.5
East Germans : 5.8
English : 5.9
Welsh : 6.7
South Dutch : 6.7
Czechs : 6.8
South French : 6.8
Finnish : 7.0
Norwegians : 8.0
Austrians : 9.7
Hungarians : 9.7
Swiss : 10.0
Follow-up
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