Amber from the Middle to the Final Bronze Age in Bohemia

The aim of this work is to provide a basic overview of the occurrence of amber in Bohemia from the Middle to Final Bronze Age, and to attempt to capture its transformation (in terms of formal properties and find circumstances) over the course of the studied epoch. The work is a follow-up from a recent published study by M. Ernee (2012) and M. Tisucka (particularly Tisucka Ohlidalova 2013). It provides a critical analysis and listing of all sites with finds of amber, including their chemical determining. The find circumstances of the Bohemian amber from the Middle to Final Bronze Age are analysed, and a typological analysis of amber artefacts is conducted. The study demonstrates a difference between amber from the Middle Bronze Age, where it has been recorded in Bohemia only in the form of finished products, concentrated mainly in barrow graves, and from the Urnfield culture period, where they are absent from grave furnishings to a large extent and, on the contrary, begin to occur more often in the settlement environment, more or less in the form of raw amber.