This paper focusses on the burial place Basel-Aeschenvorstadt that developed at the border of the late antique Western Roman Empire to re-evaluate material culture diversification and to establish a comprehensive predictive settlement model for the 1st to the 8th century AD. The model and the close spatial relationship of burials containing grave goods with almost exclusively empty burials in the south and a concentration of furnished burial in the north suggests that this burial place was simultaneously shared by several communities. In this context, furnished burials show a strong connection to the Münsterhügel and suggest a privileged social status.