Investigating three Bronze-Age cemeteries in a small area near the rock carvings of Norrköping, Östergötland, Sweden, this paper suggests that the social and economic structure of the area was not necessarily homogeneous, although this is the traditional view. Variations in the burial practices are analysed: burial construction, grave goods present, and treatment of cremated bones. An elite is suggested as having existed at settlements using the cemeteries at Klinga and Fiskeby, those using Ringeby were less organised or controlled. A speculative interpretation is offered: that Ringeby served as a subsistence area for the ‘central place’ of rock-carving activity, and lacked the benefits of trade and bronze supplies.