The relationship between the social status of individuals and the presence of metal grave goods has been one of the most extensively researched areas in mortuary archaeology. Our study raises questions about the potential existence of other indicators of social status, which may also be important bearers of social information. This study made use of the individuals from the Wicina cremation cemetery (n = 355), buried during the late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age, for whom age at death was estimated. The presence of timber grave chambers (GCh) and the minimum number of vessels (MNV) per grave were considered as proxies for social stratification. Tests were completed to determine whether these grave indices differentiated the probability of survival of individuals from different age classes, and to identify the indices that had the most significant predictive power with respect to age at death. Social stratification was reflected in the probability of survival: individuals belonging to a higher stratum of society had a greater probability of surviving for a longer period of time, and vice versa. Our results showed that the occurrence of metal objects had no effect on the probability of survival.

个人的社会地位与金属坟墓物品的存在之间的关系一直是太平间考古研究最广泛的领域之一。我们的研究提出了有关其他社会地位指标可能存在的问题，这些指标也可能是社会信息的重要载体。这项研究利用了Wicina火葬公墓（n = 355）中的个体，这些个体在青铜时代晚期和铁器时代早期埋葬，据估计死亡年龄。木材坟墓室（GCh）的存在和每个坟墓中最少船只的数量（MNV）被认为是社会分层的代理。已完成测试，以确定这些严重指数是否能区分不同年龄段的人的生存概率，并确定对死亡年龄具有最重大预测力的指标。社会分层体现在生存的可能性上：属于较高社会阶层的人生存较长时间的可能性更大，反之亦然。我们的结果表明，金属物体的存在对生存概率没有影响。