Corded Ware Burial of the Thuringian Basin – Evidence for Social Differentiation and Inequality?

This study examines 401 Corded Ware Culture (CWC) burials from the Thuringian Basin using exploratory and principal component analyses within Bourdieu’s framework of habitus and capital. Results reveal a marked gender dichotomy: male graves emphasise weapons and bone tools, while female graves highlight ornaments and different bowls. At the same time, amphorae, beakers, and flint artefacts occur across sexes and ages, reflecting communal practices of feasting, exchange, and symbolic consumption. Age-based differentiation follows a life-course model: subadults were modestly furnished, while adults – especially mature individuals – received increasingly elaborate goods. Women gained recognition earlier through kinship and ritual roles, whereas men accrued status gradually through achievement and material display. Exceptional burials with rare or abundant objects signal inequality, framed within a shared habitus of burial practices. The Thuringian evidence thus portrays CWC society as gender-differentiated and hierarchically stratified, yet unified by common ritual traditions and cross-cutting practices of community life.