[2] Influences of the Catacomb culture have been suggested to be found as far as Italy, Greece, and Syria.

[4][5] Influences from the west appear to have had a decisive role on the formation of the Catacomb culture.

This was a large area, and on the basis of ceramic styles and burial practices, regional variants have been found.

Its burial chambers, metal types and figurines are very similar to those appearing in Italy and the eastern Mediterranean, while the hammer-head pin, a characteristic ornament of the Catacomb culture, has been found in Central Europe and Italy.

[a] Deceased Catacomb individuals were typically buried in a flexed position on their right side.

They were often accompanied by ornaments such as silver rings, and weapons such as stone and metal axes, arrows, daggers and maces.

[4] Animal sacrifices, including head and hooves of goats, sheep,[21] horses[22] and cattle, occur in about 16% of Catacomb graves.

This involved the filling of the mouth, ears and nasal cavity with clay and modeling the surface features of the face.

Plant remains are exceedingly rare, but traces of wheat, such as einkorn and emmer, have been found.

Wooden ploughs have been found at Catacomb burials, indicating that agriculture was practiced.

On the island of Bayda in the Dnieper river, a stone-built fortress of the late Catacomb period with a surrounding ditch has been found.

Low footed vessels that have been discovered in female burials are believed to have been used in rituals that included the use of narcotic substances such as hemp.

2,500 BC ascribed to the Catacomb culture in the Donets had a handle of arsenical bronze and a blade made of iron.

[36] Certain variants of the Catacomb culture, particularly those centered at the Donets, appear to have practiced cranial deformation.

Their maternal haplogroups U5 and U4 appeared in higher frequencies than in the preceding Yamnaya culture.

This suggests continuity of mtDNA among populations of the Pontic steppe going back at least to the Bronze Age.

[50] In a genetic study published in Scientific Reports in 2018, the remains of two individuals from the Catacomb culture were analyzed.

[50] In a February 2019 study published in Nature Communications, the remains of five individuals ascribed to the Catacomb culture were analyzed.

[4] Other scholars have suggested that the culture provided a common background for Greek, Armenian and Indo-Iranian.

[4][17] Guus Kroonen et al. 2022 argues for a possible association between the Catacomb culture and early Tocharian languages, before spreading eastwards.