The project first and foremost deals with the Yamnaya and here the western end of its huge distribution area in the steppe landscapes of current-day countries of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary, where also field studies and sample collections will be conducted.
The main research objectives address issues such as the funerary archaeology of the Yamnaya kurgans and their material culture; exchange and interaction pattern; physical appearance and population dynamics; mobility, diet, occupation and lifestyle; interplay with the environment; as well as the nature of the wider Yamnaya Impact. Here particularly the transmission of ideas, innovations, customs and genes to regions further to the west and northwest, and thus also the emergence and expansion of the Corded Ware and Bell Beaker complexes, lies in our focus.
The project is funded by the European Research Council.
In this video-podcast, The Knowledge Archives interviews prof. Volker Heyd and talks about the Yamnaya people of Eurasia and the complexity of understanding how they spead across two contintents.