The Corded Ware culture (ca.

2900–2450/2350 cal.

BCE),alternatively characterized as the Battle Axe culture or Single Grave culture is an enormous European archaeological horizon that begins in the late Neolithic (Stone Age), flourishes through the Copper Age and culminates in the early Bronze Age.Corded Ware culture is associated with some of the Indo-European family of languages by many scholars.It encompasses most of continental northern Europe from the Rhine River on the west, to the Volga River in the east, including most of modern-day Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Czech Republic, Slovakia, northern Ukraine, European part of Russia, as well as coastal Norway and the southern portions of Sweden and Finland.The contemporary Beaker culture overlaps with the western extremity of this culture, west of the Elbe, and may have contributed to the pan-European spread of that culture.

Although a similar social organization and settlement pattern to the Beaker are adopted, the Corded Ware group lacks the new refinements made possible through trade and communication by sea and rivers.