The difficulties related to our understanding of the Bell Beaker phenomenon are mainly due to the huge geographical area covered and the presence of pan-European features in conjunction with purely regional components. To consider only ceramics, both decorated and undecorated pots are found. The latter have forms which sometimes proceed from the late Neolithic or, on the contrary, may be new. These are the Begleitkeramik or so-called "common" or "accompanying" pottery. We propose to approach the question of the genesis of the Bell Beaker phenomenon - the general theme of all our papers — by the analysis of the "common" pottery. For this paper only four ceramic types are retained, markers of different types of behaviour in both their geographic distribution and their origins. They are pots whose edge is marked by a cord impression and a row of perforations, those with a nail-incised decoration, the polypod vase and the single-handled jug.