Lusatian culture. Archeological culture of a large group of tribes in the Bronze Age and early Iron Age (12th–4th century BC). It was widespread in the Oder River and Vistula River basins and extended as far east as the Buh River. The name is derived from the Sorbian region of Lusatia (Lausitz), now in eastern Germany, where monuments of the culture were first discovered and studied. Remains of fortifications, settlements, burials with cremations, tools, ornaments, and hoards were excavated. The people of the culture lived in patriarchal clans and practiced land cultivation, herding, hunting, and fishing, and traded with the tribes of the Dnipro River basin. Their bronze-casting and ironworking were highly developed. Relics of this culture have been found in Ukraine in the Kholm region and western Volhynia. Most Slavic scholars consider the culture to be proto-Slavic.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]