Beaker people

The Beaker people (or 'Beaker folk') were an archaeological culture present in prehistoric Europe, defined by a pottery style -- a beaker with a distinctive bell-shaped profile -- that many archeologists believe spread across the western part of the Continent during the 3rd millennium BC. The pottery is particularly prevalent in Northern Europe, most notably in Britain. The manufacturers and users of this pottery were also skilled at metalworking and they also buried their dead in round barrows (a type of tomb), often with aforementioned beakers, possibly to hold a drink for the dead on their final journey.

There is no necessary correlation between an archaeological culture and an ethnic group as there is no one-to-one correlation between the material culture of a social group and its ethnic definition. Additionally, material culture and technological innovations can spread independently of population movement (i.e. cultural diffusion versus demic diffusion). Some archaeologists view the Beaker culture as a cultural development from of the earlier Neolithic corded ware culture, widespread in Europe. Other scholars believed it to be of Iberian origin (modern day Spain and Portugal). The corded-ware advocates see the Beaker style as originating in the lower Rhine valley and spreading across the Atlantic region to Spain, France and Britain.

Many archaeologists now believe that the Beaker people did not exist as a group, and that the beakers and other artifacts found across Europe that are attributed to the Beaker people are indicative of the development of particular manufacturing skills, possibly by the influence of neighbouring peoples, rather than as a result of mass migrations that spread independently of any population movement (e.g. as part of a prestigue cult related to the production and consumption of beer).

There is also debate on whether they were successors of the Battle-axe people or if the Battle-axe people were an earlier stage of Beaker people culture.

See also Ancient Britain, Bronze Age.