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Funnelbeaker culture
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<p>The Funnel(-neck-)beaker culture, in short TRB or TBK (<a href="/facts/German_language/oWaQIDA8">German</a>: <i>Trichter(-rand-)becherkultur</i>, <a href="/facts/Dutch_language/yIB5lbsx">Dutch</a>: <i>Trechterbekercultuur</i>; <a href="/facts/Danish_language/sTcGXTMJ">Danish</a>: <i>Tragtbægerkultur</i>; c. 4300–2800 BCE), was an <a href="/facts/Archaeological_culture/atr9Dx9M">archaeological culture</a> in north-central <a href="/facts/Europe/DTAtrKfh">Europe</a>. It developed as a technological merger of local <a href="/facts/Neolithic/wRS0Bnh4">neolithic</a> and <a href="/facts/Mesolithic/XTNS0x3r">mesolithic</a> techno-complexes between the lower <a href="/facts/Elbe/nCfafNDq">Elbe</a> and middle <a href="/facts/Vistula/mnDW9Uqt">Vistula</a> rivers. These predecessors were the (<a href="/facts/Danubian_culture/RylQ6b6T">Danubian</a>) <a href="/facts/Lengyel_culture/G0y8RQDw">Lengyel</a>-influenced <a href="/facts/Stroke-ornamented_ware_culture/7STrFRDr">Stroke-ornamented ware culture</a> (STK) groups/Late Lengyel and <a href="/facts/Baden_culture/WbLYBkdd">Baden-Boleráz</a> in the southeast, <a href="/facts/R%C3%B6ssen_culture/2DtrSjuH">Rössen groups</a> in the southwest and the <a href="/facts/Erteb%C3%B8lle_culture/Q6cjaRm4">Ertebølle-Ellerbek groups</a> in the north. The TRB introduced farming and husbandry as major food sources to the pottery-using <a href="/facts/Hunter-gatherer/ghnjoNbJ">hunter-gatherers</a> north of this line. </p><p>The TRB techno-complex is divided into a northern group including <a href="/facts/Northern_Germany/mbX2ywdY">Northern Germany</a> and southern <a href="/facts/Scandinavia/KpLQ40kl">Scandinavia</a> (TRB-N, roughly the area that previously belonged to the Ertebølle-Ellerbek complex), a western group in the <a href="/facts/Megaliths_in_the_Netherlands/wEzwV7GV">Netherlands</a> between the <a href="/facts/Zuiderzee/YCaMhfRp">Zuiderzee</a> and lower <a href="/facts/Elbe/nCfafNDq">Elbe</a> that originated in the <a href="/facts/Swifterbant_culture/JCUXFmBt">Swifterbant culture</a>, an eastern group centered on the <a href="/facts/Vistula/mnDW9Uqt">Vistula</a> catchment, roughly ranging from <a href="/facts/Oder/BFTBFN9y">Oder</a> to <a href="/facts/Bug_River/dqNRaxcP">Bug</a>, and south-central groups (TRB-MES, Altmark) around the middle and upper <a href="/facts/Elbe/nCfafNDq">Elbe</a> and <a href="/facts/Saale/TsXT8HWA">Saale</a>. Especially in the southern and eastern groups, local sequences of variants emerged. In the late 4th millennium BCE, the <a href="/facts/Globular_Amphora_culture/lCkclGXF">Globular Amphora culture</a> (GAC) replaced most of the eastern and subsequently also the southern TRB groups, reducing the TRB area to modern northern Germany and southern Scandinavia. </p><p>The younger TRB in these areas was superseded by the <a href="/facts/Single_Grave_culture/FzhvYBSx">Single Grave culture</a> (EGK) at about 2800 BCE. The north-central European <a href="/facts/Megalith/wnyXzqda">megaliths</a> were built primarily during the TRB era. </p>