Lengyel Culture

an archaeological culture of the Aeneolithic period (2600–2100 B .C.). The culture was named after the settlement and burial ground in the community of Lengyel in southern Hungary. The site was investigated by the Hungarian archaeologist M. Wosinsky between 1882 and 1888.

During the period of its greatest dissemination, the Lengyel culture, in addition to the southern part of the Carpathian basin, also existed in what is now Austria, southern Poland, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, and the Federal Republic of Germany. The tools were of stone (flaked and polished) and bone. Individual copper objects were found. The pottery was decorated with painted or incised ornamentation. Many zoomorphic and anthropomorphic vessels and ceramic statuettes were also found. The population engaged in land cultivation and stock raising. The settlements were sometimes surrounded by ditches. The dwellings (rectangular houses constructed of upright posts) were built directly on the ground. In the burials of the Lengyel culture the corpses were usually placed in a flexed position on the side; less frequently, the corpses were cremated.