John M. O'Shea explores this question by employing modern archaeological theory and analysis as well as mortuary theory to build a model of an Early Bronze Age society in the eastern Carpathian Basin. He focuses on the Maros communities and utilizes the densely encoded social information from their cemeteries to draw a picture of the Maros' social systems.

Inhalt
I. Introduction and Background.- 1 • Introduction.- 2 • The Archaeological Study of Funerary Practices.- 3 • An Archaeological Overview of the Maros Group.- II. Archaeological Analysis.- 4 • The Cemeteries of the Maros Group.- 5 • Coding and Classification of Grave Inclusions.- 6 • Maros Funerary Differentiation: Body Preparation and Treatment.- 7 • Maros Funerary Differentiation: Grave Offerings.- III. Social Analysis.- 8 • Mortuary Symbolism and Social Differentiation at Mokrin.- 9 • Symbolism and Differentiation across the Maros Villages.- 10 • The Maros Group and the Early Bronze Age in the Eastern Carpathian Basin.- IV. Conclusions.- 11 • Conclusions.- References.