EAA 2022: Abstract

The question of women´s role(s) in prehistoric societies has recently received increasingly more attention. The Early Bronze Age inhumation cemeteries in Central Europe offer a great source of data which directly link artefacts to a concrete person. Moreover, newly excavated cemeteries offer a valuable data source for scientific analyses which are shedding ever more light on the complexities of prehistoric societies.

This contribution focusses on two recently excavated Early Bronze Age Únětice cemeteries located in Kolín and Mikulovice, Bohemia. The large number of inhumations (103 skeletons from Mikulovice and 80 skeletons from Kolín) allowed for the direct comparison of female graves to one another and to male graves. The genetic sex determination of skeletons facilitated the observation of potential differences in grave goods starting already in the youngest individuals. Apparent links between sex/gender and specific artefacts or sets of artefacts were noticed in both sites as well as an obvious inequality between richly equipped female graves and poorer male graves. The comparison of funerary treatment between two contemporaneous communities contributes to an understanding of social role and position of women within the wider Únětice Culture.

Early Bronze Age, Únětice Culture, Bohemia, Inhumation Cemeteries

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Michaela Langova¹

Luka Papac¹
Radka Šumberová¹
Hana Brzobohatá¹
Michal Ernée¹