This grave is weirdly similar to another Corded Ware family in Eulau, Germany. [here] There is a man and woman in the traditional gender-opposed Corded Ware rite. They also have two young children before them looking face to face.
Like Eulau, the family at Szczepanowice appears to have suffered a sudden, violent death. The man had several broken bones including a broken nose. Upon burial, the Szczepanowice family was richly equipped in a labor intensive grave setting that included rare and foreign objects.
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| Via Wyborcza News. |
In part 3 of this German documentary, the Beakerfolk are implicated but ultimately exonerated after detailed inspection of the arrowheads. It seems more likely that this grave format is in some way part of a Corded Ware ideal, either about the nuclear family or unity in the afterlife.
As the article in Archeowiesci eludes, there is some controversy to the interpretation of these violent multiple burials. One regards it as a tragedy in a violent world. Another sees something too standardized for chance, possibly a more ancient Indo-European practice of sati.
What could be the role of brides in the spread of the Bell Beakers? I traced this back because of my mother's mtDNA that is H10e. The first H10e is found in the Bom Santo cave near Lisbon (3700 BC), then to a BB related context in Eulau (Central Germany) 2600 BC. My mother's ancestry comes from BB hotspot Hondsrug/ Drenthe (North Dutch) her 100% matches are found in nearby North Dutch (1), the Rhineland (1) and in 'BB refuge places' Scotland (1), Wales (1) and Northern Ireland (1). Which part did bride and intermarriage- on large distances- play in (the spread) of Bell Beakers?
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