Nevertheless Old Europe had a social structure clearly different from the Indo-European cheiftandoms and kingdoms that would come latter. The typical tomb of old Europe is the megalithic one, were a lot of people was buried together. Male tombs included items like arrow heads but very few weapons. Older women were honoured with symbolic items often with richly decorated vases or jewels. Not a single male grave included insignia of rank as one would expect from a ruling aristocracy.
Evidence suggest that elder women, the mothers of the clan received the highest social respect.
The consensus is that Kurgan was the first Indo-European culture. Nothing could contrast more with respect to the situation above than a typical Kurgan tomb. There you could find the male buried in the middle of a very rich set of items with weapons, horses, war chariots and young women slaughtered for the occasion. According to Greeks and Roman historian peoples like Carians, Etruscan Cantabrian, Basques gave a lot of social power to the women, Often Cantabrians dedicated monuments to their mother and the brother of their mother but not to their father. The reading of Los Pueblos del Norte by Caro Baroja is a good reference on the issue.