In search of the origin of inequalities: Gender study and variability of social organization in the first farmers societies of western Europe (Linearbandkeramik culture)

Abstract

• A crosscutting gender approach to the whole LBK is taken in order to bring to the fore the similarities and differences in social organization on a local, regional and pan European level. • From east to west, four main cores are highlighted by comparing burial goods with the data on sex and age, analysis indicating origin, nutrition and health conditions, and the sexual division of labor. • In the third core, from Slovakia to Alsace, several groups of individuals with different social and economic roles arise, including a group of dominant men practicing prestigious activities and holding a specific right to the land. • The beginning of this patriarchal organization starts in Trandanubia (second core) and ends in the Paris basin (fourth core) where another organization seems to emerge, suggested by the specific rich ornaments of some women, who may belong to a dominant social class. • These probable inequalities that characterize the LBK culture are based on material wealth and the capacity to produce and capitalize on it, which are the main differences from hunter-gatherer societies. In this paper, a gender approach attempts to address social organization and its variability in the Linearbandkeramik (LBK). By comparing burial goods with the sex and age of the individuals, with data on origin, nutrition and health, and examining the sexual division of labor, we aim to determine the variability in social organization from 5500 to 4900 BCE in an extensive area that encompasses the Carpathian basin to the Paris basin. Four main cores emerge, central European core being the most cohesive. Human groups may have had different social and economic roles. In particular, a dominant group with the land rights and the responsibility for ensuring the social and territorial stability, was made up of local men with a higher intake of animal protein, who were buried in central places with adzes. This model collapses at the end of the LBK in the Paris basin where women in elaborate dress stand out and authority seems to be attributed to a social class. This would have led to inequalities based on the amount of material wealth and the capacity to produce and capitalize on it. This is perhaps one of the differences between hunter-gatherer societies and Early Farmers.