ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to contribute to our general understanding of the nature of European Bronze Age society. However, this is no simple affair and I have no pretensions of being able to provide any general synthesising statement on the matter. Clearly, it would be rather foolish to assume some general kind of pan-European social form at this time. Instead, it is hoped that by examining a number of particular cases in the various Later Bronze Ages of European prehistory, we may be able to detect the presence of certain underlying principles of more general comparative significance. The relevance of this endeavour rests on the assumption that it is an advantage to seek for general similarities and underlying principles of organisation prior to the examination of particular local differences.
