Different periods seem to account for the different shapes. Long lines were characteristic of the elongated houses of the Danubians, predecessors of the Cerny inhabitants, who settled the region in the second half of the sixth millennium. At Balloy, the plan of certain Cerny necropolises perfectly copies the foundations of houses abandoned for ages that belonged to the Danubians. These houses, made of wood and straw, are well known and easily spotted by their deep postholes. The ditch was possibly used as a tomb, though no skeletons were recovered.
Several structures contain one or more tombs, while others have none.
Tombs didn't seem to be reserved for a particular sex or age. Men, women, and children are found in equal proportion in necropolises where there are sufficient skeletal remains for statistical analysis. The construction of a monument of colossal size requires the assembly of a large work force. The Cerny necropolises are too gigantic to have been executed just within a family group, no matter how extended. But having gathered so many helping hands, it would have been necessary to feed and lodge them.