As an example for history dependent mechanical behaviour of cohesive powders experiments and computer simulations of uniaxial consolidation are compared. Some samples were precompacted transversally to the consolidation direction and hence had a different history. The experiments were done with two carbonyl iron powders, for which the average particle diameters differed by a factor of ca. 2. Whereas the particle diameter was the only characteristic length in the simulations, the evaluation of the experimental data indicates that at least a second characteristic length must be present.