When I grew up, I learned about the prehistory of central and northern Europe from a Roman perspective. The Celts and Germans were mere barbarians who invaded civilised Rome and Greece with nothing but destruction in their hearts. From watching TV and movies, it seemed like the German tribes wore furs and lived in the woods.

It wasn't until much later that I discovered the incredible achievements of not only the Iron Age people but their Bronze Age ancestors, expressed in artefacts like stunning goldwork.

For thousands of years, these wealthy societies produced genius artists working in gold, especially from the Bell Beaker era onwards. They produced large and sometimes heavy wearable pieces, and also created the finest details with stamps and etching, and many other complex techniques requiring masterful working and annealing.

It's surprising how much gold survived from this era, considering how much must have been melted down in the centuries since after tomb raiding and accidental discovery.

Artistic Reconstruction of a male of the Bronze Age Fatyanovo culture. They were the result of an early eastward migration of the Corded Ware after admixing with the Globular Amphora culture (from which their pottery shows influences). They are the earliest group to have y haplogroup R1a-Z93 which is common in modern Indo-Iranian speakers.

They lived in the forests of western Russia and had an economy of pastoralism however it was not as mobile as the Yamnaya. Weapons included the classic CWC stone axe but later also ones made of metal. Bears seemed to hold importance to them as some axes had the shape of a bear head carved into it along with ornaments made of bear claws and teeth. They later would develop the Abashevo culture which is the ancestor of the Sintashta and the Srubnaya.