a Late Bronze Age culture of Europe, so called because of the custom of placing the cremated (cremation) bones of the dead in urns. The Urnfield culture first appeared in east-central Europe and northern Italy; from the 12th century BC onward, however, the use of urn cemeteries (burial), or urnfields, gradually spread to Ukraine, Sicily, Scandinavia, and across France to the Iberian peninsula—a movement perhaps associated with folk migrations. In most areas the genuine Urnfield tradition of flat graves was continued; occasionally, however, the urns were covered by round barrows.