From the Mesolithic to the Late Bronze Age various changes occurred in the treatment of the dead, reflecting changes in the society of the living.
Mesolithic burials are rarely found and were generally single graves, but cemeteries have discovered at Vedbaek, Teviec and Hoedic, Skateholm and Oleneostrovski Mogilnik. Grave goods found with these burials indicate that status differentiation was generally on the basis of age, sex and personal achievement.
Early Neolithic burials, in small chambered tombs or mortuary enclosures, are probably the remains of several generations of individual pioneer families. Later, communal megalithic tombs, where some or all members of the community were buried together generally without grave goods, reflect a society where no-one was born into a position of power.
In the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age, however, greater care was taken than before to differentiate between particular individuals or groups and the rest of the community. This change represented a shift from emphasis on the whole group to emphasis on particular individuals, families or regional groups.
Stronger social competition than had existed previously played an important role in shaping social differentiation. Graves of the members of important groups contained items with a symbolic meaning including metal objects, particularly bronze daggers, and objects imported from other regions.
