# Únětice princely burials at Łęki Małe (-2000)

URL: https://poland-history.com/timeline/-2000-unetice-princely-burials-at-leki-male
Location: Łęki Małe, Greater Poland

Monumental barrows at Łęki Małe held elite burials with bronze weapons and gold ornaments, evidence of emerging chiefdoms in the Únětice culture. Within the broader Prehistoric Poland period: From the first Palaeolithic hunters to the Bronze Age, the lands between the Oder and the Vistula saw waves of migration, the arrival of farming and the growth of ever more complex communities long before any state existed. At this point in the timeline (c. 2000 BCE), the governing authority was Prehistoric communities (No single ruler). The lands of present-day Poland were inhabited by successive Palaeolithic hunters and Neolithic and Bronze Age farming communities; there was no state or single ruler. Únětice princely burials at Łęki Małe mattered because it offers material evidence of how people lived on Polish soil long before written records, and helps date the region's earliest cultures. The event is placed here so readers can follow it alongside changes in government, warfare, society, religion and culture across Polish history.

## Why it matters
Únětice princely burials at Łęki Małe mattered because it offers material evidence of how people lived on Polish soil long before written records, and helps date the region's earliest cultures.

Ruler at the time: [Prehistoric communities](https://poland-history.com/rulers/prehistoric-communities)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Únětice culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9An%C4%9Btice_culture)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — Únětice princely burials at Łęki Małe](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=%C3%9An%C4%9Btice+princely+burials+at+%C5%81%C4%99ki+Ma%C5%82e)
- [Wikipedia — Prehistory and protohistory of Poland (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory_and_protohistory_of_Poland)