Pomeranian Culture

(Pomorze culture), an archaeological culture of the sixth to second centuries B.C. in what is now Poland and neighboring regions of Byelorussia and the Ukraine. The settlements of the Pomeranian culture were unfortified, with surface dwellings made of logs, as well as semisubterranean dwellings. Flat-grave burial grounds contain the remains of the cremated dead, chiefly in clay urns. The urns, usually found standing inside stone boxes, often bear depictions of the human face (hence the other names for the Pomeranian culture are the Face-urn culture and Box-burial culture). In the south, the urns are often found placed under a large clay vessel, shaped like a bell. The economy of the Pomeranians was based on land cultivation and stock raising. The social structure was tribal. Most researchers regard the Pomeranian culture as Slavic.