This thesis takes a quantitative perspective on grave wealth and inequality in the Czech Corded Ware
culture (CWC, c. 2900-2200 BCE). For this purpose, I developed a new framework (in article 1) for
quantification of grave wealth, named QuantWealth. I use this framework in article 3 to show how
institutionalised (or “persistent”) inequality, shown through grave wealth in child graves, gradually
increased during the CWC in both Bohemia and Moravia as resource networks expanded. In article 2,
I give an update on social models for migrations from the Pontic steppe and the formation of the
CWC and investigate the role of dogtooth and shell ornaments as female prestige items, while also
critically assessing the archaeological evidence for the hypothesis of a dog and wolf cult among
young male migrant warriors in the Corded Ware culture.