Y‑lineages Signal Early Heritable Inequality

Quantified grave‑goods plus ancient DNA can reveal when social inequality hardened into inherited status: in Bohemia’s Corded Ware sequence a new Y‑haplogroup rose as male and even child burials concentrated prestige items, suggesting the beginning of patrilineal wealth transmission. The study uses a reproducible scoring tool (QuantWealth) on ~300 graves to chart a transition from communal mourning to competitive funerary display coincident with lineage turnover. — If lineage dominance and inherited wealth can be detected archaeogenetically, it reframes debates about whether inequality is an inevitable outcome of agriculture or a contingent social process tied to migration, climate events, and gendered power — informing modern narratives about the roots of patriarchy and inherited privilege.