Research project T4_1

This PhD project deals with social inequality in societies from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age (~ 6000-1000 BC) in the Carpathian area. The research follows an economic approach and aims to analyse social inequality based on material settings by using inequality measures (e.g. Gini coefficient, Theil index). The main proxies of the project are house sizes, settlement sizes and grave inventories of well-researched and published sites – but more proxies will be identified and discussed in the course of the research.

While there are various models for social organization and inequality in different regions and periods, this project focusses on the following three questions:
1.    Is there a proof for social inequality in the Carpathian area between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age?
2.    Did social inequality develop over time?
3.    Which social, demographic and economic developments caused changes in social inequality and which developments were caused by it?

It is to be expected that the project will be able to identify the causes of socio-economic inequality in a changing environmental and societal setting. Moreover, it will offer a view on the prehistoric development of the broader region.

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Project by Fynn Wilkes fwilkes@roots.uni-kiel.de