The time-depth of Corded Ware burial landscapes: A comparative study of Single Grave and Battle Axe burial alignments in Denmark, The Netherlands and Sweden

摘要

Barrow landscapes appeared in the third and second millennia BC throughout North-Western Europe; these first barrows were constructed by people of the Corded Ware culture and placed in alignments. This thesis is an interregional comparative study, to determine whether there is a pattern in the time-depths of the burial alignments of Trehuse-Sjørup-Dollerup in Denmark, Angelso-Emmerhout in The Netherlands and Lilla Beddinge in Sweden. The analysis is conducted by means of a literature study and the application of typochronologies. In recent research, the Corded Ware ‘culture’ is still seen as a widespread, unified social phenomenon that is the result of migration, but more emphasis is placed on the regional variability of this phenomenon. Regional variability is also what we see in the three case-studies; in fact, perhaps one may better speak of ‘local variability’, as each case-study reveals a remarkable variety even within one alignment. Even though there do seem to be interregionally shared traits, these are expressed in local practices. Despite the limitations of establishing a time-depth by means of typochronologies, all three alignments reveal a long use-life; even in the Bronze and Iron Ages, prehistoric people buried their dead here. Temporality seems to have been an important aspect of the ‘Corded Ware’ burial landscape.