Who Were The Beaker People?

The Bell-Beaker culture,  sometimes shortened to Beaker culture, Beaker people, or Beaker folk, c. 2900 – 1800 BC is the term for a widely scattered  archaeological culture' of prehistoric western Europe starting in the late Neolithic or Chalcolithic and running into the early Bronze Age.  They were called Beaker because of the shape of their pottery vessels.

The Beaker People were farmers and archers were also the first metalsmiths in Britain, working first in copper and gold, and later in bronze, given its name to the Bronze Age.

The Burial Ground.

A burial ground of Beaker People was found in 1975 situated to the south west of Smeeton Westerby  on Smeeton Hill  The hill is 500 feet high and on the west side of the hill lies the Beaker Burial Ground.  No trace of a burial mound is visible on the ground but the situation would be ideal for one.

The site was discovered during drainage excavations work when at one point the contractor had to excavate a hole by hand to replace a broken section of pipe. It was during this work that the burial site was discovered and human bones and pottery were unearthed.  The drainage work carried on and the burial site continued to be disturbed and some artefacts were removed although the majority were subsequently recovered.

 Leicestershire Museums were notified and on 3^rd September 1975 a team from the museum attended the site.  They enlarged the hole and discovered a crouched burial. A crouched burial was a new form of burial rite, called the Beaker burial which began to appear around 4700 years ago, the burial is crouched inhumation where the body is interred, usually on its side with the hip and knee joints bent through an angle of more than 90 degrees, accompanied by a particular pottery known as a beaker.  The burial was removed to Leicester Museum;

Beaker Close in Smeeton Westerby is a reminder of this important archaeological find.

Written by David Adams

Acknowledgements

R A Rutland, ‘A Beaker Burial at Smeeton Westerby, Leicestershire 1875’

Spoilheap Archaeology

Wikipedia