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