Linear Pottery culture

{{Short description|Archaeological horizon of Neolithic Europe}} {{Redirect|LBK}} {{See also|Old Europe (archaeology)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox archaeological culture |name = Linear Pottery culture |map = File:European-middle-neolithic-en.svg |mapalt = |altnames = |horizon = Old Europe |region = Central Europe |period = Neolithic |dates = {{circa|5500 BC}} — {{circa|4500 BC}} |typesite = |majorsites = Langweiler, Bylany, Nitra, Zwenkau, Brunn am Gebirge, Elsloo, Sittard, Lindenthal, Aldenhoven, Flomborn, Rixheim, Rössen, Osłonki, Eythra, Vrable |extra = |precededby = Starčevo–Kőrös–Criș culture, Mesolithic Europe |followedby = Stroke-ornamented ware culture, Rössen culture, Lengyel culture, Cucuteni-Trypillian culture, Michelsberg culture, Funnelbeaker culture, Hinkelstein culture, Cerny culture, Chasséen culture, Boian culture, Tisza culture }}

thumb|261x261px|Map showing the Neolithic expansions from the 7th to the 5th millennium BC The '''Linear Pottery culture''' ('''LBK''') is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic period, flourishing {{circa|5500–4500 BC}}. Derived from the German ''Linearbandkeramik'', it is also known as the '''Linear Band Ware''', '''Linear Ware''', '''Linear Ceramics''' or '''Incised Ware culture''', falling within the Danubian I culture of V. Gordon Childe.

Most cultural evidence has been found on the middle Danube, the upper and middle Elbe, and the upper and middle Rhine. It represents a major event in the initial spread of agriculture in Europe. The pottery consists of simple cups, bowls, vases, jugs without handles and, in a later phase, with pierced lugs, bases, and necks.<ref name="Hib121">Hibben, page 121.</ref>

Important sites include Vráble and Nitra in Slovakia; Bylany in the Czech Republic; Langweiler and Zwenkau (Eythra) in Germany; Brunn am Gebirge in Austria; Elsloo, Sittard, Köln-Lindenthal, Aldenhoven, Flomborn, and Rixheim on the Rhine; Lautereck and Hienheim on the upper Danube; and Rössen and Sonderhausen on the middle Elbe. In 2019, two large Rondel complexes were discovered east of the Vistula River near Toruń in Poland.<ref>{{cite web|author=Szymon Zdziebłowski |url=http://scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/news/news%2C79691%2Cgiant-7000-year-old-religious-structures-found-near-lysomice.html |title=Giant 7,000-Year-Old 'Religious' Structures Found near Łysomice |work=Science in Poland |date=2019-11-28 |access-date=2022-08-28}}</ref>

A number of cultures ultimately replaced the Linear Pottery culture over its range, but without a one-to-one correspondence between its variants and the replacing cultures. Some of the successor cultures are the Hinkelstein, Großgartach, Rössen, Lengyel, Cucuteni-Trypillian, and Boian-Maritza cultures.

==Name== thumb|Linear Pottery|185x185px

The term "Linear Band Ware" derives from the pottery's decorative technique.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Linear Pottery culture |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Linear-Pottery-culture |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> The "Band Ware" or {{lang|de|Bandkeramik}} part of it began as an innovation of the German archaeologist Friedrich Klopfleisch (1831–1898).<ref>{{cite web |title=Friedrich Klopfleisch |website=Museum Digital Sachsen-Anhalt |url=https://st.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=people&id=34554 |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> The earliest generally accepted name in English was the "Danubian", introduced by V. Gordon Childe.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sherratt |first=Andrew |year=1997 |title=Gordon Childe: Archaeology and Intellectual Life |journal=European Journal of Archaeology |volume=0 |issue=1 |pages=5–23 |doi=10.1179/146195719700400101 |doi-broken-date=4 January 2026 |url=https://doi.org/10.1179/146195719700400101}}</ref> Most names in English are attempts to translate {{lang|de|Linearbandkeramik}}.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Linearbandkeramik |encyclopedia=Oxford Reference |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100122865 |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref>

Since Starčevo–Körös pottery was earlier than the LBK and was located in a contiguous food-producing region, early investigators looked for its precedents there.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Starcevo–Körös–Criş culture |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Starcevo-Koros-Cris-culture |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> Much of the Starčevo–Körös pottery displays painted decorative patterns composed of spirals, converging bands, and vertical bands.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bánffy |first=Eszter |year=2013 |title=Tracing the beginnings of the Starčevo culture |journal=Documenta Praehistorica |volume=40 |pages=93–112 |doi=10.4312/dp.40.8 |url=https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.40.8}}</ref> The LBK appears to imitate—and often refine—these convolutions with incised lines, hence the use of “linear” to distinguish the incised band ware from earlier painted band ware.<ref>{{cite journal |last=van de Velde |first=Peter |year=1990 |title=On LBK decorative traditions |journal=Helinium |volume=30 |pages=230–248 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/helin_0046-8347_1990_num_30_1_2322}}</ref>

The name depends on specialized meanings of "linear" and "band", whether in English or German.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Whittle |first=Alasdair |year=2015 |title=Terminology and interpretation in Early Neolithic studies |journal=European Journal of Archaeology |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=599–620 |doi=10.1179/1461957115Y.0000000004 |url=https://doi.org/10.1179/1461957115Y.0000000004}}</ref> These words, without archaeological qualifiers, do not accurately describe the decoration.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Midgley |first=Maggie |year=2006 |title=LBK Pottery and its misleading nomenclature |journal=Antiquity |volume=80 |issue=309 |pages=385–400 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/ }}</ref> There are few bands running horizontally around the vessels, and the incised lines are primarily curved rather than straight.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gronenborn |first=Detlef |year=1999 |title=Technological and stylistic analysis of LBK pottery |journal=Journal of European Archaeology |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=83–106 |doi=10.1179/096576699800703584 |doi-broken-date=4 January 2026 |url=https://doi.org/10.1179/096576699800703584}}</ref>

==Geography and chronology==

It began in regions of densest occupation on the middle Danube (Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary) and spread over about {{convert|1500|km|abbr=on}} along the rivers in 360 years. The rate of expansion was therefore about {{convert|4|km|abbr=on}} per year.<ref>Dolukhanov under External links, Models. The numbers are stated in the abstract. Note that figures such as this although true given the parameters depend on data that was selected by the investigator and are best regarded as approximations.</ref>

The LBK was concentrated somewhat inland from the coastal areas; i.e., it is not evidenced in Denmark or the northern coastal strips of Germany and Poland, or the coast of the Black Sea in Romania.<ref>{{cite web |title=Linearbandkeramik (LBK) |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Linearbandkeramik-culture |website=Britannica |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=The LBK culture extended across central Europe but did not reach the northern coastal regions of Germany, Poland, or Denmark.}}</ref> The northern coastal regions remained occupied by Mesolithic cultures exploiting the then rich Atlantic salmon runs.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mesolithic Europe |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Mesolithic-Period |website=Britannica |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=Mesolithic groups in northern Europe relied heavily on riverine and coastal resources, including abundant salmon.}}</ref> There are lighter concentrations of LBK in the Netherlands, such as at Elsloo, Netherlands, with the sites of Darion, Remicourt, Fexhe, or Waremme-Longchamps and at the mouths of the Oder and Vistula.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Waterbolk (Ed. ) |first1=H. T. |title=Early Neolithic Settlement in Elsloo |url=https://ugp.rug.nl/palaeohistoria/article/view/24777 |website=Palaeohistoria (University of Groningen) |date=15 December 1956 |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=Elsloo is one of the westernmost LBK settlements in the Netherlands.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Neolithic Settlement Patterns in Belgium |url=https://journals.openedition.org/antropo/3477 |website=Anthropozoologica |publisher=Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=Sites at Darion, Remicourt, Fexhe, and Waremme-Longchamps belong to the LBK horizon.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=LBK Expansion Toward the Baltic |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/opar-2018-0015/html |website=Open Archaeology |publisher=De Gruyter |doi=10.1515/opar-2018-0015 |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=Sparse LBK sites occur near the mouths of the Oder and Vistula rivers.}}</ref> Evidently, the Neolithics and Mesolithics were not excluding each other.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mesolithic–Neolithic Interactions in Europe |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/mesolithicneolithic-interactions-in-europe/ |website=Antiquity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=Evidence suggests coexistence and interaction between Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers.}}</ref>

The LBK at maximum extent ranged from about the line of the Seine–Oise (Paris Basin) eastward to the line of the Dnieper,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gaskevych |first=Dmytro |year=2006 |title=Vita-Poshtova 2 – New The Easternmost Site of The Linear Band Pottery Culture |journal=Sprawozdania Archeologiczne |volume=58 |pages=205–221 |url=https://iananu-kiev.academia.edu/DmytroGaskevych/Papers/794214/Vita-Poshtova_2_-_New_The_Easternmost_Site_of_The_Linear_Band_Pottery_Culture |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> and southward to the line of the upper Danube down to the big bend. An extension ran through the Southern Bug valley, leaped to the valley of the Dniester, and swerved southward from the middle Dniester to the lower Danube in eastern Romania, east of the Carpathians.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kiosak |first=Dmytro |year=2014 |title=Settlements and Indigenous Populations at the Easternmost Fringe of the Linear Pottery Culture |journal=Eurasia Antiqua |volume=20 |pages=117–141 |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=6826539 |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Terna |first1=Stanislav |title=New data on the Linear Pottery Culture settlement layout from the Pruth–Dniester interfluve |url=https://www.academia.edu/30350395 |website=Academia.edu |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=Reports several Linear Pottery culture settlements in the Pruth–Dniester interfluve of Moldova, attributed to the Linear Pottery culture.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Garvăn |first1=Daniel |last2=Frînculeasa |first2=Alin |year=2021 |title=Linear Pottery culture on the Lower Danube |journal=Sprawozdania Archeologiczne |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=421–437 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356744273 |doi=10.23858/SA/73.2021.1.2592 |access-date=27 November 2025|doi-access=free }}</ref>

<gallery widths="150" heights="150"> File:Johann Christian Brand 002.jpg|Danube lands near Vienna File:DonauknieVisegrad.jpg|The Danube bend in Hungary File:Elbe - flussabwärts kurz nach Ort Königstein.jpg|The Elbe File:Oder Fluss.jpg|The Oder </gallery>

===Periodization===

A significant number of C-14 dates has been estimated for the LBK, making possible statistical analyses, which have been performed on different sample groups.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stäuble |first=Harald |year=1995 |title=Radiocarbon Dates of the Earliest Neolithic in Central Europe |journal=Radiocarbon |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=227–237 |doi=10.1017/S003382220003068X |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/S003382220003068X |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=About a hundred individual radiocarbon dates from early LBK sites allow statistical evaluation of the culture’s development.}}</ref> One such analysis by Stadler and Lennais<ref>External links, Dates below</ref> sets 68.2% confidence limits at about 5430–5040 BC; that is, 68.2% of possible dates allowed by variation of the major factors that influence measurement, calculation, and calibration fall within that range. The 95.4% confidence interval is 5600–4750 BC.

Data continue to be acquired and therefore any single analysis only serves as a rough guideline.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bronk Ramsey |first=Christopher |year=2009 |title=Bayesian Analysis of Radiocarbon Dates |journal=Radiocarbon |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=337–360 |doi=10.1017/S0033822200033865 |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200033865 |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=Radiocarbon datasets are continually being expanded and updated, so chronological models should be regarded as provisional interpretations.}}</ref> Overall, it is probable that the Linear Pottery culture spanned several hundred years of continental European prehistory in the late sixth and early fifth millennia BC, with local variations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Linearbandkeramik (LBK) |website=Britannica |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Linearbandkeramik-culture |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=The Linear Pottery culture dates to roughly 5400–4900 BC and shows regional variation across central Europe.}}</ref> Data from Belgium indicate a late survival of LBK there, as late as 4100 BC.<ref>See the article ''The Interaction Between Early Farmers and Indigenous People in Central Belgium'' included under ''External links, People'' below.</ref>

The Linear Pottery culture was not the only culture in prehistoric Europe.<ref>{{cite web |title=Neolithic Europe |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Neolithic-Europe |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=Neolithic Europe comprised numerous regional cultures that developed alongside one another.}}</ref> It is distinguished from the Neolithic cultures, which is done by dividing the Neolithic of Europe into chronological phases.<ref>{{cite web |title=Neolithic Period |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Neolithic-Period |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=Archaeologists divide the Neolithic into several chronological phases based on material culture and regional development.}}</ref> These have varied a great deal.<ref>{{cite web |title=European Prehistory: Chronology and Cultural Variability |website=Oxford Reference |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100404802 |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=Chronological schemes for European prehistory vary considerably by region and academic tradition.}}</ref> An approximation is:<ref name=KRAP2007>KRAP (2007) under External Links, Places.</ref><ref>Hertelendi and others (1995) under External links, Places, especially p. 242.</ref><ref name=Gimb1991>Gimbutas (1991) pp. 35–45.</ref> * Early Neolithic, 6000–5500. The first appearance of food-producing cultures in the south of the future Linear Pottery culture range: the Körös of southern Hungary and the Dniester culture in Ukraine.<ref>{{cite web |title=Neolithic Europe: Early Farming Cultures |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Neolithic-Europe |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=Early Neolithic farming groups appeared in southeastern Europe, including the Körös/Starčevo culture in Hungary and the Dniester Bug region of Ukraine.}}</ref> * Middle Neolithic, 5500–5000. Early and Middle Linear Pottery culture.<ref>{{cite web |title=Linearbandkeramik Culture |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Linearbandkeramik-culture |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=The Linear Pottery culture developed during the mid-6th millennium BC and spread across central Europe.}}</ref> * Late Neolithic, 5000–4500. Late Linear Pottery and legacy cultures.<ref>{{cite web |title=Neolithic Chronology and Cultural Sequences in Central Europe |website=Oxford Reference |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095632852 |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=Late Neolithic phases (after 5000 BC) include later LBK groups and derivative cultural complexes.}}</ref>

The last phase is no longer the end of the Neolithic.<ref>{{cite web |title=Neolithic Period |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Neolithic-Period |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=The Neolithic period continued well after 4500–4000 BC in many parts of Europe, with regional variations lasting into the 3rd millennium BC.}}</ref> A "Final Neolithic" has been added to the transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.comp-archaeology.org/Chronolog-N-Cent-S-Germany.gif |title=Chronology of North, Central and Southern Germany |website=www.comp-archaeology.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204150732/http://www.comp-archaeology.org/Chronolog-N-Cent-S-Germany.gif |archive-date=4 February 2007}}</ref> All numbers depend to some extent on the geographic region.<ref>{{cite web |title=European Prehistory: Chronology and Cultural Variability |website=Oxford Reference |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100404802 |access-date=27 November 2025 |quote=Chronological frameworks for European prehistory differ significantly between regions, with dates varying widely depending on local development.}}</ref>

The pottery styles of the LBK allow some division of its window in time. Conceptual schemes have varied somewhat. One is:<ref name=Gimb1991/> * Early: The Eastern and Western LBK cultures, originating on the middle Danube * Middle: Musical Note pottery – the incised lines of the decoration are broken or terminated by punctures, or "strokes", giving the appearance of musical notes. The culture expanded to its maximum extent, and regional variants appeared. One variant is the late Bug-Dniester culture. * Late: Stroked pottery – lines of punctures are substituted for the incised lines.

===Early or Western===

<gallery mode=packed widths="150" heights="150" |title=Neolithic longhouse model> File:Smac Neolithikum 010.jpg File:Smac Neolithikum 009.jpg File:Smac Neolithikum 011.jpg </gallery>

The early or earliest Western Linear Pottery culture began conventionally at 5500 BC, possibly as early as 5700 BC, developed on the middle Danube, including western Hungary, and was carried down the Rhine, Elbe, Oder, and Vistula.<ref name=Bald2006/> It is sometimes called the Central European Linear Pottery (CELP) to distinguish it from the ALP phase of the Eastern Linear Pottery culture. In Hungarian, it is called {{lang|hu|dunántúli vonaldíszes kerámia}} (DVK), translated as "Transdanubian Linear Pottery". A number of local styles and phases of ware are defined.<ref>This article does not have space for all the names, but they can for the most part be found in the sources.</ref>

The end of the early phase can be dated to its arrival in the Netherlands at about 5200 BC. The population there was already food-producing to some extent. The early phase went on there, but meanwhile the Music Note Pottery ({{lang|de|Notenkopfkeramik}}) phase of the Middle Linear Band Pottery culture appeared in Austria at about 5200 BC and moved eastward into Romania and Ukraine. The late phase, or Stroked Pottery culture ({{lang|de|Stichbandkeramik}} (SBK), 5000–4500 BC) evolved in central Europe and went eastward, moving down the Vistula and Elbe.

===Eastern=== The Eastern Linear Pottery culture developed in eastern Hungary and Transylvania roughly contemporaneously with, perhaps a few hundred years after, the Transdanubian.<ref name=Bald2006/> The great plain there (Hungarian Alföld) had been occupied by the Starčevo-Körös-Criş culture of "gracile Mediterraneans" from the Balkans as early as 6100 BC.<ref>Baldia (2003) ''Starcevo-Koros-Cris'' under External links, Places.</ref> Hertelendi and others give a reevaluated date range of 5860–5330 for the Early Neolithic, 5950–5400 for the Körös.<ref>External links, Places. These numbers are their 1σ range. For the tolerances, see the article.</ref> The Körös Culture went as far north as the edge of the upper Tisza and stopped. North of it the Alföld plain and the Bükk Mountains were intensively occupied by Mesolithics thriving on the flint tool trade.

At around 5330 BC, the classical Alföld culture of the LBK appeared to the north of the Körös culture and flourished until about 4940.<ref name=Hert>Hertelendi and others, External links, Places.</ref> This time also is the Middle Neolithic. The Alföld culture has been abbreviated AVK from its Hungarian name, ''Alföldi Vonaldíszes Kerámia'', or ALP for Alföld Linear Pottery culture, the earliest variant of the Eastern Linear Pottery culture.

In one view, the AVK came "directly out of" the Körös.<ref name=KRAP2007/> The brief, short-ranged Szatmár group on the northern edge of the Körös culture seems transitional.<ref name=KRAP2007/> Some place it with the Körös, some with the AVK. The latter's pottery is decorated with white painted bands with incised edges. Körös pottery was painted.

As is presented above, however, no major population movements occurred across the border. The Körös went on into a late phase in its accustomed place, 5770–5230.<ref name=Hert/> The late Körös is also called the Proto-Vinča, which was succeeded by the Vinča-Tordo, 5390–4960. There is no necessity to view the Körös and the AVK as closely connected. The AVK economy is somewhat different: it used cattle and swine, both of which occur wild in the region, instead of the sheep of the Balkans and Mediterranean. The percentage of wild animal bones is greater. Barley, millet and lentils were added.

Around 5100 or so, towards the end of the Middle Neolithic, the classical AVK descended into a complex of pronounced local groups called the Szakálhát-Esztár-Bükk,<ref name=KRAP2007/><ref name=Hert/> which flourished about 5260–4880: * The Szakálhát group was located on the lower and middle Tisza and the Körös Rivers, taking the place of the previous Körös culture. Its pottery went on with the painted white bands and incised edge. * The Esztár group to the north featured pottery with bands painted in dark paint. * The Szilmeg group was located in the foothills of the Bükk Mountains. * The Tiszadob group was located in the Sajó Valley. * The Bükk group was located in the mountains.

<gallery mode=packed widths="150" heights="150"> File:GBM - Linearbandkeramik 4.jpg|Pottery File:Rothenburg Museum - Linearbandkeramik.jpg|Pottery reconstruction </gallery>

These are all characterised by finely crafted and decorated ware. The entire group is considered by the majority of the sources listed in this article to have been in the LBK. Before the chronology and many of the sites were known, the Bükk was thought to be a major variant; in fact, Gimbutas<ref>1991 pp. 43–46</ref> at one point believed it to be identical with the Eastern Linear Pottery culture. Since 1991, the predominance of the Alföld has come to light.

The end of the Eastern Linear Pottery culture and the LBK is less certain. The Szakálhát-Esztár-Bükk descended into another Late Neolithic legacy complex, the Tisza-Hérpály-Csöszhalom, which is either not LBK or is transitional from the LBK to the Tiszapolgar, a successor culture. {{Further|Bükk Culture}}

==Origins==

===Culture=== thumb|Anthropomorphic vessel.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.europeanvirtualmuseum.it/reperti/195.htm |title=Neolithic Double-faced pot, Hungary, 5200-4900 BC|website=europeanvirtualmuseum.it}}</ref>|175x175px The earliest theory of Linear Pottery culture origin is that it came from the Starčevo-Körös culture of Serbia and Hungary.<ref name=Bald2006>Baldia (2006) ''The Earliest Bandkeramik.''.</ref> Supporting this view is the fact that the LBK appeared earliest about 5600–5400 BC on the middle Danube in the Starčevo range. Presumably, the expansion northwards of early Starčevo-Körös produced a local variant reaching the upper Tisza that may have well been created by contact with native epi-Paleolithic people. This small group began a new tradition of pottery, substituting engravings for the paintings of the Balkanic cultures.

A site at Brunn am Gebirge just south of Vienna seems to document the transition to LBK. The site was densely settled in a long house pattern around 5550–5200. The lower layers feature Starčevo-type plain pottery, with large number of stone tools made of material from near Lake Balaton, Hungary. Over the time frame, LBK pottery and animal husbandry increased, while the use of stone tools decreased.

A second theory proposes an autochthonous development out of the local Mesolithic cultures.<ref>Price, pages 13–16, gives an overview of the theory's development.</ref> Although the Starčevo-Körös entered southern Hungary about 6000 BC and the LBK spread very rapidly, there appears to be a hiatus of up to 500 years<ref name=Bald2006/> in which a barrier seems to have been in effect.<ref name=KRAP2007/><ref>The article by Kertész covers the research on the area and the concepts of hiatus and barrier.</ref> Moreover, the cultivated species of the near and middle eastern Neolithic do not do well over the Linear Pottery culture range. And finally, the Mesolithics in the region prior to the LBK used some domestic species, such as wheat and flax. The La Hoguette culture on the northwest of the LBK range developed their own food production from native plants and animals.

A third theory attributes Linear Pottery culture to be a product of influence from the south eastern European steppe (such as Yelshanian sites in the Lower Volga-Ural Interfluve as well as Rakushechnyi Yar and related sites in the Lower Don area).<ref name="DolukhanovEtAl2005">{{Cite journal| first1=Pavel | last1=Dolukhanov | title=The Chronology of Neolithic Dispersal in Central and Eastern Europe | url=http://www.ffzg.hr/arheo/ska/tekstovi/neolithic_dispersal.pdf | journal=Journal of Archaeological Science | issue=10 | year=2005 | pages=1441–1458 | doi=10.1016/j.jas.2005.03.021 | volume=32 | last2=Shukurov | first2=A | last3=Gronenborn | first3=D | last4=Sokoloff | first4=D | last5=Timofeev | first5=V | last6=Zaitseva | first6=G| bibcode=2005JArSc..32.1441D |display-authors=etal}}</ref> Using radiocarbon dating, and assuming a geographic spread from Transdanubia to the Paris Basin, according to Dolukhanov et al. the LBK culture spread 4-6 times faster than the spread of the European Neolithic in general.<ref name="DolukhanovEtAl2005" />

<gallery widths="110" heights="110" perrow="9"> File:Halle (Saale), Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, großer Kumpf.jpg|Pottery File:Smac Neolithikum 040.jpg|Pottery File:Schkeuditz encrustated vessel 02.jpg|Pottery File:Smac Neolithikum 041.jpg|Pottery File:Smac Neolithikum 043.jpg|Pottery File:Linear Pottery 001.jpg|Pottery File:Smac Neolithikum 048.jpg|Pottery File:Transdanubian linear pottery period 5400-4000BC pedestal bowl IMG 0896.JPG|Pedestal bowl File:Transdanubian linear pottery period 5400-4000BC fireguard IMG 0894.JPG|Pottery File:Ceramic facepot of seated woman - Budapest History Museum 2019.12.157.1.jpg|Anthropomorphic vessel File:KM - Jungsteinzeit Armband.jpg|Spondylus shell bracelet File:Parures coquilles de cardium la saulsotte 76503.jpg|Shell jewellery File:GBM - Linearbandkeramik 3 Kette.jpg|Bone and shell jewellery File:GBM - Linearbandkeramik 2 Kamm.jpg|Bone comb File:Transdanubian linear pottery period 5400-4000BC stone mace IMG 0901.JPG|Stone mace head File:Schkeuditz bone tip 02.jpg|Decorated bone tip File:Linear Pottery culture necklace 1.png|Necklace made from spondylus shell and white marble, Poland </gallery>

===Population=== {{See also|Early European Farmers}} The initial LBK population theory hypothesized that the culture was spread by farmers moving up the Danube practicing slash-and-burn methods.<ref>{{cite web |title=LBK culture |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/LBK-culture |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> The presence of the Mediterranean sea shell, ''Spondylus gaederopus'', and the similarity of the pottery to gourds, which did not grow in the north, seemed to be evidence of the immigration,<ref name=ClarkPiggott>Clark & Piggott, pp. 240–246.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Windler |first=Arne |title=The Use of ''Spondylus gaederopus'' during the Neolithic of Europe |journal=Journal of Open Archaeology Data |date=27 December 2019 |volume=7 |issue=2 |article-number=7 |doi=10.5334/joad.59 |doi-access=free }}</ref> as does the genetic evidence cited below. The lands into which they moved were believed untenanted or too sparsely populated by hunter-gatherers to be a significant factor.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Budja |first=Mihael |title=Neolithic pots and potters in Europe: the end of 'demic diffusion' migratory model |journal=Documenta Praehistorica |date=2013 |volume=40 |pages=39–55 |doi=10.4312/dp.40.5 |doi-access=free |url=https://journals.uni-lj.si/DocumentaPraehistorica/article/view/40.5}}</ref>

===Genetic evidence=== thumb|Linear band ceramic culture burial site (Grave 41 site) In 2005, researchers sequenced mtDNA coding region 15997–16409 from twenty-four human remains dated to 7,500–7,000 years ago and associated with the LBK culture.<ref name=Haak2005>{{cite journal |last1=Haak |first1=W. |last2=Forster |first2=P. |last3=Brandt |first3=G. |last4=Kohl |first4=R. |last5=Colledge |first5=S. |last6=Garrard |first6=A. |last7=Gronenborn |first7=D. |last8=Alt |first8=K. W. |last9=Burger |first9=J. |title=Ancient DNA from the first European farmers in 7500-year-old Neolithic sites |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=2005 |volume=102 |issue=5 |pages=12368–12373 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0504165102 |doi-broken-date=4 January 2026 |pmid=16055564 |pmc=1185530 |doi-access=free |url=https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0504165102}}</ref> Of the individuals sampled, 22 came from sites in Germany near the Harz Mountains and the upper Rhine Valley, with one additional sample each from Austria and Hungary.<ref name=Haak2005/> Although the full hypervariable segment I (HVSI) sequences were not published, the study identified seven individuals belonging to haplogroups H or V, six to N1a, five to T, four to K(U8), one to J, and one to U3.<ref name=Haak2005/> All of these lineages occur in modern European populations, though haplogroup K was found at roughly twice the frequency seen in Europe today (15% compared to about 8%).<ref name=Haak2005/>

Comparison of the N1a HVSI sequences with sequences of living individuals found three of them to correspond with those of individuals currently living in Europe. Two of the sequences corresponded to ancestral nodes predicted to exist or to have existed on the European branch of the phylogenetic tree. One of the sequences is related to European populations, but with no apparent descendants amongst the modern population.<ref>Haak, Wolfgang et al, Ancient DNA from the first European Farmers in 7,500-Year-Old Neolithic Sites, Vol. 310, Science, 11 November 2005, page 1018</ref> The N1a evidence supports the notion that the descendants of LBK culture have lived in Europe for more than 7,000 years and have become an integral part of the current European population. The lack of mtDNA haplogroup U5 supports the notion that U5 at this time is uniquely associated with Mesolithic European cultures.

A 2010 study of ancient DNA suggested the LBK population had affinities to modern-day populations from the Near East and Anatolia, such as an overall prevalence of G2.<ref name =2010ancientDNAstudy>{{cite journal|title=Ancient DNA from European Early Neolithic Farmers Reveals Their Near Eastern Affinities |journal=PLOS Biology |date=9 November 2010 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.1000536 |pmid=21085689 |pmc=2976717 |volume=8 |issue = 11|article-number=e1000536 | last1 = Haak | first1 = Wolfgang |doi-access=free }}</ref> The study also found some unique features, such as the prevalence of the now-rare Y-haplogroup H2 and mitochondrial haplogroup frequencies.<ref name=2010ancientDNAstudy/> However subsequent studies based on full-genome analysis have found that the LBK population was similar genetically to modern southern Europeans, and did not resemble modern Near Eastern or Anatolian populations. Neolithic Anatolian farmers have also been found to be more similar to modern southern Europeans than to modern Near Easterners or Anatolians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mathieson |first=Iain|title=Genome-wide patterns of selection in 230 ancient Eurasians |journal=Nature |year=2015 |volume=528|issue=7583 |pages=499–503|doi=10.1038/nature16152|pmid=26595274 |pmc=4918750 |bibcode=2015Natur.528..499M |quote=Principal component (PCA) and ADMIXTURE analysis, shows that the Anatolian Neolithic samples do not resemble any present-day Near Eastern populations but are shifted towards Europe, clustering with Neolithic European farmers (EEF) from Germany, Hungary, and Spain.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gunther |first=Torsten|title=Genes mirror migrations and cultures in prehistoric Europe — a population genomic perspective |journal=Current Opinion in Genetics & Development |year=2016 |volume=41|pages=115–123|doi=10.1016/j.gde.2016.09.004|pmid=27685850 |quote=Early farmers exhibit marked genetic similarities with modern-day southwestern Europeans, but not with modern-day groups from the Near and Middle East. The affinity of Neolithic Europeans to modern Southern Europeans is particularly pronounced for the population isolates of Sardinia and Basques.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Omrak |first=Ayça|title=Genomic Evidence Establishes Anatolia as the Source of the European Neolithic Gene Pool |journal=Current Biology |year=2016 |volume=26|issue=2|pages=270–275| doi=10.1016/j.cub.2015.12.019|pmid=26748850 |s2cid=16238333 |quote=modern-day Anatolians carry signatures of several admixture events from different populations that have diluted this early Neolithic farmer component, explaining why modern-day Sardinian populations, instead of modern-day Anatolian populations, are genetically more similar to the people that drove the Neolithic expansion into Europe. … These results were confirmed by outgroup f3 statistics where, among modern-day groups, Kum6 shows the greatest genetic similarity to Sardinians, Greeks, and Cypriots … Modern-day Anatolian groups display a variety of admixture traces originating from groups in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Siberia, which cause Kum6 to be genetically more similar to modern-day Europeans than to modern-day Anatolians.|doi-access=free |bibcode=2016CBio...26..270O }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kılınç |first=Gülşah|title=The Demographic Development of the First Farmers in Anatolia |journal=Current Biology |year=2016 |volume=26|issue=19|pages=2659–2666| doi=10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.057|pmid=27498567 |pmc=5069350 |bibcode=2016CBio...26.2659K |quote=All individuals from the central Anatolian Neolithic were positioned within the genetic variation of present day southern European populations.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marchi |first=Nina|title=The genomic origins of the world's first farmers |journal=Cell |year=2022 |volume=185|issue=11|pages=1842–1859| doi=10.1016/j.cell.2022.04.008|pmid=35561686 |pmc=9166250 |quote=western EFs [Early Farmers from Europe and Anatolia] show strongest affinities with modern Sardinians, with the exception of one English (CarsPas1) and two Northwest Anatolian EFs (Bar8 and AKT16), who are found to cluster with modern individuals from other parts of Southern Europe. ... on the whole-genome MDS plot western EFs are closer to some other Southern Europeans than to Sardinians.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Diallo |first=Mame|title=Circum-Saharan Prehistory through the Lens of mtDNA Diversity |journal=Genes (Basel) |year=2022 |volume=13|issue=3|page=533 |doi=10.3390/genes13030533|pmid=35328086 |pmc=8951852 |quote=ancient Near Eastern [Anatolian] farmers are genetically better represented by the current populations of central and western Mediterranean, such as the Sardinians and the Basques, than by the current populations of the Near East.|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Skoglund |first=Pontus|title=Origins and genetic legacy of Neolithic farmers and hunter-gatherers in Europe |journal=Science |year=2012 |volume=336|issue=6080|pages=466–469|doi=10.1126/science.1216304|pmid=22539720 |bibcode=2012Sci...336..466S |s2cid=13371609 |quote=We obtained 249 million base pairs of genomic DNA from ~5000-year-old remains of three hunter-gatherers and one farmer excavated in Scandinavia and find that the farmer is genetically most similar to extant southern Europeans, contrasting sharply to the hunter-gatherers, whose distinct genetic signature is most similar to that of extant northern Europeans. … We found that compared to a worldwide set of 1638 individuals, all four Neolithic individuals clustered within European variation. … the Neolithic farmer clustered with southern Europeans but was differentiated from Levantine individuals. … Individuals from Turkey stand out because of low levels of allele sharing with both Neolithic groups, possibly due to gene flow from outside of Europe … the Neolithic farmer appears most related to extant Mediterranean European populations.}}</ref>

Lipson et al. (2017) and Narasimhan et al. (2019) analyzed a large number of skeletons ascribed to the Linear Pottery Culture. Most of the Y-DNA belonged to G2a and subclades of it, some to I2 and subclades of it, beside few samples of T1a, CT, and C1a2. The samples of mtDNA extracted were various subclades of T, H, N, U, K, J, X, HV, and V.{{sfn|Lipson|2017}}{{sfn|Narasimhan|2019}}

==Economy== ===Land use=== thumb|Linear pottery culture settlement at Hienheim, Germany (5th mill. BC) [[File:Asparn Zaya Jungsteinzeithaus.JPG|thumb|Neolithic longhouse reconstruction, Asparn an der Zaya, Austria]] The LBK people settled on fluvial terraces and in the proximity of rivers in regions with fertile loess. They raised a mix of crops and associated weeds in small plots, an economy that Gimbutas called a "garden type of civilization".<ref>Gimbutas (1991) p. 38.</ref> The difference between a crop and a weed in LBK contexts is the frequency. Crop foods are: * ''Triticum dicoccum'', emmer wheat * ''Triticum monococcum'', einkorn wheat * ''Pisum sativum'', pea * ''Lens culinaris'', lentil Species that are found so rarely as to warrant classification as possible weeds are: * ''Hordeum'', barley * ''Panicum miliaceum'', broom corn millet * ''Secale cereale'' rye * ''Vicia ervilia'', bitter vetch * ''Vicia faba'', broad or field bean The emmer and the einkorn were sometimes grown as maslin, or mixed crops. The lower-yield einkorn predominates over emmer, which has been attributed to its better resistance to heavy rain.<ref>The crop and weed information is indebted to Kreuz and others, cited under External links, Economy.</ref> Hemp (''Cannabis sativum'') and flax (''Linum usitatissimum'') gave the LBK people the raw material of rope and cloth, which they no doubt manufactured at home as a cottage industry. From poppies (''Papaver somniferum''), introduced later from the Mediterranean, they may have manufactured palliative medicine.

The LBK people were stock-raisers as well, with cattle favoured, though goats and swine are also recorded. Like farmers today, they may have used the better grain for themselves and the lower grades for the animals. The dogs are present here too, but scantly. Substantial wild faunal remains are found. The LBK supplemented their diets by hunting deer and wild boar in the open forests of Europe as it was then.

A 2020 study by the University of Kiel found that the fields in the Vráble settlement were being used as pastures to produce manure, which in turn increased crop yields. This intensive subsistence system may have contributed to higher productivity in Vráble and could have been a factor in the settlement's high population density and concentration.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gillis |first1=Rosalind E. |last2=Eckelmann |first2=Rebekka |last3=Filipović |first3=Dragana |last4=Müller-Scheeßel |first4=Nils |last5=Cheben |first5=Ivan |last6=Furholt |first6=Martin |last7=Makarewicz |first7=Cheryl A. |date=2020-10-13 |title=Stable isotopic insights into crop cultivation, animal husbandry, and land use at the Linearbandkeramik site of Vráble-Veľké Lehemby (Slovakia) |journal=Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences |language=en |volume=12 |issue=11 |page=256 |doi=10.1007/s12520-020-01210-2 |bibcode=2020ArAnS..12..256G |issn=1866-9565|doi-access=free }}</ref>

A 2022 study by the University of Bristol found dairy fat residues in pottery dating as early as 7,400 years ago. Researchers analyzed residues from over 4,300 vessels recovered from 70 LBK archaeological sites. Milk use was detected in about 65% of these Neolithic sites.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2022/october/milk-use-in-prehistoric-europe.html|date=October 17, 2022|title=Pioneering research directly dates the earliest milk use in prehistoric Europe |work=}}</ref>

== Demographic history == [[File:NBAM Neolithikum - Modell Haus 1.jpg|thumb|Neolithic longhouse]] thumb|Neolithic longhouse, detail thumb|Remains of a well Although no significant population transfers were associated with the start of the LBK, population diffusion along the wetlands of the mature civilisation (about 5200 BC) had levelled the high percentage of the rare gene sequence mentioned above by the late LBK. The population was much greater by then, a phenomenon termed the Neolithic demographic transition (NDT). According to Bocquet-Appel<ref>2002, External links, People.</ref> beginning from a stable population of "small connected groups exchanging migrants" among the "hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists" the LBK experienced an increase in birth rate caused by a "reduction in the length of the birth interval". The author hypothesizes a decrease in the weaning period made possible by division of labor. At the end of the LBK, the NDT was over and the population growth disappeared due to an increase in the mortality rate, caused, the author speculates, by new pathogens passed along by increased social contact.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

The new population was sedentary up to the capacity of the land, and then the excess population moved to less-inhabited land. An in-depth GIS study by Ebersbach and Schade of an {{convert|18|km2|adj=on|abbr=on}} region in the wetlands region of Wetterau, Hesse, traces the land use in detail and discovers the limiting factor.<ref>2003, under External links, Economy.</ref> In the study region, 82% of the land is suitable for agriculture, 11% for grazing (even though wetland), and 7% steep slopes. The investigators found that the LBK occupied this land for about 400 years. They began with 14 settlements, 53 houses, and 318 people, using the wetlands for cattle pasture. Settlement gradually spread over the wetlands, reaching a maximum of 47 settlements, 122 houses, and 732 people in the late period.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

Toward the end, the population suddenly dropped to initial levels, though much of the arable land was still available. The investigators concluded cattle were the main economic interest and available grazing land was the limiting factor in settlement. The Neolithic of the Middle East featured urban concentrations of people subsisting mainly on grain. Beef and dairy products, however, were the mainstay of LBK diet. When the grazing lands were all in use, they moved elsewhere in search of them. As the relatively brief window of the LBK falls roughly in the centre of the Atlantic climate period, a maximum of temperature and rainfall, a conclusion that the spread of wetlands at that time encouraged the growth and spreading of the LBK is to some degree justified.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

With some exceptions, population levels rose rapidly at the beginning of the Neolithic. This was followed by a population collapse of "enormous magnitude" after 5000 BC, with levels remaining low during the next 1,500 years.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2006.10.031 |title=Prehistoric population history: From the Late Glacial to the Late Neolithic in Central and Northern Europe |year=2007 |last1=Shennan |first1=Stephen |last2=Edinborough |first2=Kevan |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=34 |issue=8 |pages=1339–45|bibcode=2007JArSc..34.1339S }}</ref>

Investigation of the Neolithic skeletons found in the Talheim Death Pit ({{Circa|5000}} BC) suggests that prehistoric men from neighboring tribes were prepared to fight and kill each other in order to capture and secure women.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Highfield|first=Roger|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2066554/Neolithic-men-were-prepared-to-fight-for-their-women.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2066554/Neolithic-men-were-prepared-to-fight-for-their-women.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Neolithic men were prepared to fight for their women|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=2008-06-02|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The mass grave at Talheim in southern Germany is one of the earliest known sites in the archaeological record that shows evidence of organised violence in Early Neolithic Europe, among various LBK tribes.<ref>{{cite news |title=German mass grave records prehistoric warfare |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33967908 |work=BBC News |date=17 August 2015}}</ref> Other speculations as to the reasons for violence between settlements include vengeance, conflicts over land and resources, and kidnapping slaves. Some of these theories related to the lack of resources are supported by the discovery that various LBK fortifications bordering indigenously inhabited areas appear to have not been in use for very long. The mass burial site at Schletz was also fortified, which serves as evidence of violent conflict among tribes and means that these fortifications were built as a form of defense against aggressors. The massacre of Schletz occurred at the same time as the massacre at Talheim and several other known massacres.<ref name="Golitko & Keeley 2007">Golitko, M. & Keeley, L.H. (2007). "Beating ploughshares back into swords: warfare in the Linearbandkeramik." ''Antiquity'', '''81''', 332–342.</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Rick |last=Schulting |title=Mass grave reveals organised violence among Europe's first farmers |url=https://theconversation.com/mass-grave-reveals-organised-violence-among-europes-first-farmers-46217 |work=The Conversation |date=17 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Metcalfe |first1=Tom |title=7,000-year-old mass grave in Slovakia may hold human sacrifice victims |url=https://www.livescience.com/neolithic-mass-grave-slovakia |work=Live Science |date=3 October 2022}}</ref> Findings from Herxheim and Vráble also show that significant changes in ritual practises emerged at the end of the LBK, which however were not associated to violence necessarily.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Digs & Discoveries - Neolithic Mass Grave Mystery - Archaeology Magazine - May/June 2023 |url=https://archaeology.org/issues/may-june-2023/digs-discoveries/slovakia-neolithic-mass-grave/ |access-date=2025-01-20 |website=Archaeology Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Material culture== ===Tool kit=== The tool kit was appropriate to the economy. Flint and obsidian were the main materials used for points and cutting edges.<ref>A brief discussion of tools is to be found in Gimbutas (1991) p. 39, and a fuller presentation with pictures of the tool kit in Lodewijckx & Bakels (2005) under External links, People.</ref> There is no sign of metal. For example, they harvested with sickles manufactured by inserting flint blades into the inside of curved pieces of wood. One tool, the "shoe-last celt", was made of a ground stone chisel blade tied to a handle,<ref>R. Elburg, W. Hein, A. Probst and P. Walter, [https://exarc.net/issue-2015-2/ea/field-trials-neolithic-woodworking-relearning-use-early-neolithic-stone-adzes Field Trials in Neolithic Woodworking – (Re)Learning to Use Early Neolithic Stone Adzes.] Experimental Archaeology, Issue 2015/2</ref> with shape and wear showing that they were used as adzes to fell trees and to work wood. Augers were made of flint points tied to sticks that could be rotated.<ref name=BritTools>{{cite web |title=Neolithic Tools |website=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/Neolithic-tool |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> Scrapers and knives are found in abundance.<ref name=BritStoneTool>{{cite web |title=Stone Tool |website=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/stone-tool |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> The use of flint pieces, or microliths, descended from the Mesolithic, while the ground stone is characteristic of the Neolithic.<ref name=BritMicrolith>{{cite web |title=microlith |website=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/microlith |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref>

These materials are evidence both of specialization of labor and commerce.<ref name=BritEcon>{{cite web |title=Neolithic Economy |website=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Neolithic-Age/Economy |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> The flint used came from southern Poland; the obsidian came from the Bükk and Tatra mountains.<ref name=BritObsidian>{{cite web |title=Obsidian |website=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/obsidian |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> Settlements in those regions specialized in mining and manufacture.<ref name=BritMining>{{cite web |title=Mining |website=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/mining |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> The products were exported to all the other LBK regions, which must have had something to trade.<ref name=BritLBK>{{cite web |title=Linear Pottery Culture |website=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Linear-Pottery-culture |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> This commerce is a strong argument for an ethnic unity between the scattered pockets of the culture.<ref name=BritLBK/>

<gallery widths=180> File:Nußdorf ob der Traisen - Urzeitmuseum - 4.jpg|alt=|Various artefacts File:Erntemesser.jpg|alt=|Stone axes and sickle File:Steinsburgmuseum 026.JPG|alt=|Stone axe File:Transdanubian linear pottery period 5400-4000BC IMG 0906 grinding stone.JPG|alt=|Grinding stone File:Bone Chisel reconstruction.jpg|alt=|Bone chisel reconstruction File:Small Bone Chisel reconstruction.jpg|alt=|Small bone Chisel reconstruction </gallery>

===Settlement patterns=== [[File:Smac Neolithikum 119.jpg|thumb|Dresden-Nickern, Germany, Stroke-ornamented culture settlement model]] thumb|Dresden-Nickern, Germany, settlement model, detail thumb|Fortified settlement at Künzing-Unternberg, Germany The unit of residence was the long house, a rectangular structure, {{convert|5.5|to|7.0|m|abbr=on}} wide, of variable length; for example, a house at Bylany was {{convert|45|m|abbr=on}}. Outer walls were wattle-and-daub, sometimes alternating with split logs, with slanted, thatched roofs, supported by rows of poles, three across.<ref name=Gimb39>The numbers are from Gimbutas (1991) pp. 39–41. However, they are approximately the same as the numbers given by other researchers and can therefore be taken as true measurements within a tolerance.</ref> The exterior wall of the home was solid and massive, oak posts being preferred. Clay for the daub was dug from pits near the house, which were then used for storage. Extra posts at one end may indicate a partial second story. Some LBK houses were occupied for as long as 30 years.<ref name=Marc/> Linear Pottery longhouses were the largest free-standing buildings in the world at the time.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://journals.uni-lj.si/DocumentaPraehistorica/article/view/28.6|date=2001|journal=Documenta Praehistorica |title=Recent research on early farming in central Europe|volume=28|pages=85–97|last1=Bogucki|first1=Peter|doi=10.4312/dp.28.6|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://scholar.princeton.edu/bogucki/publications/spread-early-farming-europe|date=1996|journal=American Scientist |title=The spread of early farming in Europe|volume=83|issue=3|pages=242–253|last1=Bogucki|first1=Peter|bibcode=1996AmSci..84..242B }}</ref>

It is thought that these houses had no windows and only one doorway. The door was located at one end of the house. Internally, the house had one or two partitions creating up to three areas. Interpretations of the use of these areas vary. Working activities might be carried out in the better lit door end, the middle used for sleeping and eating and the end farthest from the door could have been used for grain storage. According to another view, the interior was divided in areas for sleeping, common life and a fenced enclosure at the back end for keeping animals.<ref name=Marc>Marciniak, Chapter 1.</ref>

Ditches went along part of the outer walls, especially at the enclosed end.<ref name=BritSettle>{{cite web |title=Neolithic Settlement Patterns |website=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Neolithic-Age/Sites |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> Their purpose is not known, but they probably are not defensive works, as they were not much of a defense.<ref name=BritFort>{{cite web |title=Fortification |website=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/fortification |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> More likely, the ditches collected waste water and rain water.<ref name=BritDrain>{{cite web |title=Drainage |website=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/drainage |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref>

Trash was regularly removed and placed in external pits.<ref name=BritSettle/> The waste-producing work, such as hide preparation and flint-working, was done outside the house.<ref name=BritStoneTool/>

Pottery has been found in long houses, as well as in graves. Analysis of the home pottery reveals that each house had its own tradition. The occurrence of pottery primarily in female graves indicates the women of the long house probably made the pottery; in fact, lineages have been defined. Gimbutas goes so far as to assert, "The indirect results indicate an endogamous, matrilocal residence."<ref>1991 p. 331.</ref>

Easy access to fresh water also would have been mandatory, which is another reason why settlements were in bottom lands near water. A number of timber-built wells from the times have been discovered, with a log-cabin type lining constructed one layer at a time as the previous layers sank into the well.<ref>Baldia (2000) ''The Oldest Dated Well'' under External links, People, describes an LBK well.</ref><ref name="autogenerated2012">{{cite journal |vauthors=Tegel W, Elburg R, Hakelberg D, Stäuble H, Büntgen U |year=2012 |title=Early Neolithic Water Wells Reveal the World's Oldest Wood Architecture |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=7 |issue=12 |article-number=e51374 |bibcode=2012PLoSO...751374T |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0051374 |pmc=3526582 |pmid=23284685 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Analysis of preserved wells has shown that the LBK culture possessed sophisticated carpentry skills and were capable of complex timber constructions.<ref name="autogenerated2012"/>

The LBK culture also built timber trackways, the remains of some of which have been preserved, for example at the {{interlanguage link|Campemoor|de}} bog in Lower Saxony (Germany), dated to {{Circa|4630|4550}} BC (trackway Pr31).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Achterberg |first1=Inke|last2=Bauerochse |first2=Andreas|last3=Giesecke |first3=Thomas|last4=Metzler |first4=Alf|last5=Leuschner |first5=Hanns|title=Contemporaneousness of Trackway Construction and Environmental Change: a Dendrochronological Study in Northwest-German Mires|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283504998 |journal=Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica |year=2015 |volume=6|issue=1|pages=19–29|doi=10.24916/iansa.2015.1.2 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2015IANSA2015...19A }}</ref>

Long houses were gathered into villages of five to eight houses, spaced about {{convert|20|m|abbr=on}} apart, occupying {{convert|300|–|1250|acres}}. Nearby villages formed settlement cells, some as dense as 20 per {{convert|25|km2|abbr=on}}, others as sparse as one per {{convert|32|km2|abbr=on}}.<ref name=Gimb39/> This structuring of settlements does not support a view that the LBK population had no social structure, or was anarchic. However, the structure remains obscure and interpretational. One long house may have supported one extended family, but the short lifespan would have precluded more than two generations. The houses required too much labor to be the residences of single families; consequently, communal houses are postulated.<ref name=Marc/> Though the known facts are tantalizing, the correct social interpretation of the layout of a long house and the arrangement of villages will have to wait for clearer evidence. At least some villages were fortified for some time with a palisade and outer ditch.<ref>Krause (1998) under External links, places.</ref>

The LBK settlement at Vrable in Slovakia had an estimated 70 contemporaneous longhouses and a population of up to 1725 people at its peak in {{Circa|5100}} BC, making it one of the largest LBK settlements of the period. The longhouses were grouped into three 'neighbourhoods', one of which was surrounded by trenches and a palisade. The remains of at least 313 longhouses have been found at the Vrable site.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.sidestone.com/books/archaeology-in-the-zitava-valley-i|date=2020|title=Archaeology in the Zitava valley I |chapter=6.1 On the demographic development of the LBK and Zeliezovce settlement sites of Vrable and the Upper Zitava Valley|last1=Müller|first1=Johannes|last2=Müller-Scheeße|first2=Nils|last3=Cheben|first3=Ivan|last4=Wunderlich|first4=Maria|last5=Furholt|first5=Martin|pages=493–502|editor-last1=Furholt|editor-first1=Martin|editor-last2=Cheben|editor-first2=Ivan|editor-last3=Müller|editor-first3=Johannes|editor-last4=Bistáková|editor-first4=Alena|editor-last5=Wunderlich|editor-first5=Maria|editor-last6=Müller-Scheeßel|editor-first6=Nils|publisher=Sidestone Press|isbn=978-90-8890-897-2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Müller-Scheeßel |first1=Nils |last2=Müller |first2=Johannes |last3=Cheben |first3=Ivan |last4=Mainusch |first4=Wiebke |last5=Rassmann |first5=Knut |last6=Rabbel |first6=Wolfgang |last7=Corradini |first7=Erica |last8=Furholt |first8=Martin |date=2020-01-10 |title=A new approach to the temporal significance of house orientations in European Early Neolithic settlements |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=15 |issue=1 |article-number=e0226082 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0226082 |doi-access=free |pmid=31923265 |pmc=6953813 |bibcode=2020PLoSO..1526082M |issn=1932-6203 }}</ref> The remains of 300 longhouses have also been found at the settlement of Eythra in Germany, indicating a similar sized-population within the same time-frame as that at Vrable.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319015406|date=2017|journal=Archeologicke Rozhledy|title=The development of pottery technology in Eythra from the Early Linear Pottery culture to the Late Stroke Ornamented Pottery culture|volume=69|issue=2|pages=187–208|last1=Mecking|first1=Oliver|last2=Hohle|first2=Isabel|last3=Wolfram|first3=Sabine}}</ref>

Excavations at Oslonki in Poland revealed a large, fortified settlement (dating to 4300 BC, i.e., Late LBK), covering an area of 4000m2. Nearly 30 trapezoidal longhouses and over 80 graves were discovered. The rectangular longhouses were between {{convert|7|and|45|m|abbr=on}} long and between {{convert|5|and|7|m|abbr=on}} wide. They were built of massive timber posts chinked with wattle and daub mortar.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.princeton.edu/~bogucki/oslonki.html |title=Archaeological Research at Oslonki, Poland |publisher=Princeton.edu |access-date=23 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://archaeology.about.com/od/lterms/qt/lbk.htm |title=Linearbandkeramik Culture – The First Farmers of Europe |publisher=Archaeology.about.com |date=17 January 2013 |access-date=23 April 2013 |archive-date=7 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111107114229/http://archaeology.about.com/od/lterms/qt/lbk.htm }}</ref>

An earlier view saw the Linear Pottery culture as living a "peaceful, unfortified lifestyle".<ref>Gimbutas (1991) page 143.</ref> Since then, as well as settlements with palisades, weapon-traumatized skeletons have also been discovered, such as at Herxheim in Germany.<ref>Orschiedt (2006) under External links, Places.</ref> Whether it was the site of a massacre or of a martial ritual, the Herxheim remains demonstrate "systematic violence between groups". In 2015 a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences detailed findings at a site near Schöneck-Kilianstädten, including the skeletons of 26 adults and children who were killed by "devastating strikes to the head or arrow wounds." The skull fractures are classic signs of blunt force injuries caused by basic Stone Age weapons.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mass grave reveals prehistoric warfare in ancient European farming community |date=17 August 2015 |website=The Guardian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218005116/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/17/mass-grave-prehistoric-warfare-ancient-european-farming-community-neolithic |archive-date=18 February 2023 |url-status=live |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/17/mass-grave-prehistoric-warfare-ancient-european-farming-community-neolithic}}</ref><ref>[http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/08/12/1504365112 The massacre mass grave of Schöneck-Kilianstädten reveals new insights into collective violence in Early Neolithic Central Europe]</ref> Most of the known settlements, however, left no trace of violence.

==Religion== {{main|Neolithic religion|Neolithic circular enclosures in Central Europe}} [[File:Goseck Circle 1.jpg|thumb|Goseck circle, {{Circa|4900}} BC]] [[File:Goseck circle - 50251188141.jpg|thumb|Goseck circle reconstruction]]

As is true of all prehistoric cultures, the details of actual belief systems maintained by the Linear Pottery culture population are poorly understood relative to beliefs and religions of historical periods. The extent to which prehistoric beliefs formed a systematic religious canon is also the subject of some debate. Nevertheless, comparative, detailed, scientific study of cultural artifacts and iconography has led to the proposal of models.

The mother goddess model is the major one applied to the Neolithic of the Middle and Near East, the civilization of the Aegean and Europe. The iconography was inherited from the Palaeolithic. The Gravettian culture introduced it into the range of the future LBK from western Asia and south Russia.<ref>James Chapter 1 page 13.</ref> From there, it diffused throughout Europe in the Upper Palaeolithic, which was inhabited by Cro-Magnon man and was responsible for many works of art, such as the ''Venus of Willendorf''.<ref>James pp. 20–22.</ref>

With the transition to the Neolithic, "the female principle continued to predominate the cultures that had grown up around the mysterious processes of birth and generation."<ref>James, p. 22.</ref> The LBK, therefore, did not bring anything new spiritually to Europe, nor was the cult in any way localized to Europe. It is reflected in the vase paintings, figurines, graves and grave goods, and surviving customs and myths of Europe. In the north, the goddess could manifest herself as the mistress of animals, grain, distaff and loom, household, and life and death.<ref>The reader may find a thorough recapitulation in Davidson (1998), whose chapter titles the above list repeats; however, the topic has received attention from many noted scholars and writers.</ref>

[[File:2023ModelBochow.jpg|thumb|Model of the Bochow Circle and longhouses, Germany, {{Circa|4700}} BC]]

The works of the noted late archaeologist Marija Gimbutas present a major study of the iconography and surviving beliefs of the European Neolithic, including the Linear Pottery culture. She was able to trace the unity of reproductive themes in cultural objects previously unsuspected of such themes. For example, the burial pits of the Linear Pottery culture, which were lined with stone, clay, or plaster, may have been intended to represent eggs. The deceased returns to the egg, so to speak, there to await rebirth.<ref>The works of Gimbutas listed in the Bibliography are sufficient to give the reader an overall view of her study. However, those interested in an immediately available comprehensive view from a Gimbutas supporter may access Marler (2005) under External links, Models.</ref>

The presence of such pits contemporaneously with the burial of women and children under the floors of houses suggests an assortment of religious convictions, as does the use of both cremation and inhumation. Some of the figurines are not of females but are androgynous.<ref>An outstanding advocacy of complexity can be found in Hayden (1998) cited under External links, Models. Hayden discovers some of the limitations of Gimbutas' thought. His view was answered in detail in Marler (1999), External links, Models. The reader should be aware that all of Gimbutas' career was surrounded by controversy, perhaps fueled by sexist allegations and counter-allegations. Nevertheless Marler and Hayden are professionals with something valuable to contribute, as are Renfrew and other protagonists of Gimbutas' ongoing debates.</ref>

==Funerary customs== {{refimprove section|date=December 2025}} The early Neolithic in Europe featured burials of women and children under the floors of personal residences. Remains of adult males are missing. Probably, Neolithic culture featured sex discrimination in funerary customs, and women and children were important in ideology concerning the home.<ref>This section is heavily indebted to Gimbutas (1991) pp. 331–332.</ref>

Burials beneath the floors of homes continued until about 4000 BC. However, in the Balkans and central Europe, the cemetery also came into use at about 5000 BC. LBK cemeteries contained from 20 to 200 graves arranged in groups that appear to have been based on kinship. Males and females of any age were included. Both cremation and inhumation were practiced. The inhumed were placed in a flexed position in pits lined with stones, plaster, or clay. Cemeteries were close to, but distinct from, residential areas.

The presence of grave goods indicates both a sex and a dominance discrimination. Male graves included stone celts, flint implements, and ''Spondylus'' shells from the Aegean. Female graves contained many of the same artifacts as male graves, but also most of the pottery and containers of ochre. The goods have been interpreted as gifts to the departed or personal possessions.

Only about 30% of the graves have goods. This circumstance has been interpreted as some sort of distinction in dominance, but the exact nature is not known. If the goods were gifts, then some were more honored than others; if they were possessions, then some were wealthier than others.

These practices are contrasted to mass graves, such as the Talheim Death Pit, the Herxheim archeological site and the settlement of Vráble.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/culture-and-lifestyle/c/archaeologists-make-grisly-discovery-in-vrable|work=The Slovak Spectator|title=Archaeologists make grisly discovery in Vráble|date=21 September 2022|access-date=8 December 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/headless-bodies-hint-why-europe-s-first-farmers-vanished|journal=Science|title=A headless mystery|first=Andrew|last=Curry|date=20 November 2025|pmid=41264709 |access-date=8 December 2025}}</ref> Herxheim was a ritual center and a mass grave that contained the scattered remains of at least 450 individuals.<ref name="Golitko & Keeley 2007"/>

==References== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Bibliography== {{Refbegin}} * Braidwood, Robert, ''Prehistoric men'', William Morrow and Company, many editions * {{Cite book| author=Childe, Vere Gordon | author-link=V. Gordon Childe | title=Man Makes Himself | url=https://archive.org/details/manmakeshimself00chil | url-access=registration | publisher=the New American Library (a Mentor Book) | location=New York | year=1951 }} * {{Cite journal| last=Christensen | first=Jonas | title=Warfare in the European Neolithic | journal=Acta Archaeologica | volume=75 | issue=142,144, 136 | year=2004 | doi=10.1111/j.0065-001X.2004.00014.x | page=129 }} * {{Cite book| last1=Clark | first1=Grahame | author-link=Grahame Clark | last2=Piggott | first2=Stuart | author2-link=Stuart Piggott | title=Prehistoric Societies | publisher=Alfred A. Knopf | year=1967 | location=New York| isbn=978-0-14-021149-8 }} * {{Cite book| first=Hilda Ellis | last=Davidson | title=Roles of the Northern Goddess | year=1998 | publisher=Routledge | isbn=978-0-415-13610-5 }} * {{Cite book| author=Ehrich, Robert W. | title=Chronologies in Old World Archaeology | publisher=The University of Chicago Press | year=1965 | location=Chicago and London| isbn=978-0-226-19445-5 }} * {{Cite book| author=Gimbutas, Marija | author-link=Marija Gimbutas | title=The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe 6500–3500 BC: Myths and Cult Images: New and Updated Edition | publisher=University of California Press | year=1982 | location=Berkeley, Los Angeles | isbn=978-0-520-04655-9 | page=27 }} * {{Cite book | author=Gimbutas, Marija | author-link=Marija Gimbutas | title=The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old Europe | publisher=HarperCollins Publishers (HarperSanFrancisco) | location=San Francisco | year=1991 | isbn=978-0-06-250368-8 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/civilizationofgo0000gimb }} * {{Cite book| author=Hawkes, Jacquetta | author-link=Jacquetta Hawkes | title=Prehistory | publisher=the New American Library (a Mentor Book) | year= 1965 | location=New York }} * {{Cite book| author=Hibben, Frank | author-link=Frank C. Hibben| title=Prehistoric Man in Europe | url=https://archive.org/details/prehistoricmanin0000hibb | url-access=registration | publisher=University of Oklahoma Press | year=1958 | location=Norman, Oklahoma }} * {{Cite book| first=E.O. | last=James | title=The Cult of the Mother-Goddess | publisher=Barnes&Noble | location=New York | year=1994 | isbn=978-1-56619-600-0 }} * {{Cite journal | last=Kertész | first=Róbert | title=Mesolithic Hunter-Gatherers in the Northwestern Part of the Great Hungarian Plain | journal=Praehistoria | volume=3 | year=2002 | url=http://vfek.vfmk.hu/00000030/00000030.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927045403/http://vfek.vfmk.hu/00000030/00000030.pdf | archive-date=27 September 2007 }} * {{cite encyclopedia | author= Mallory, J.P. | author-link=J. P. Mallory | title=Linear Band Ware Culture | encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture | publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn | year=1997 }} * {{Cite book| last=Marciniak | first=Arkadiusz | title=Placing Animals in the Neolithic: Social Zooarchaeology of Prehistoric Farming Communities | publisher=Routledge Cavendish | year=2005 | isbn= 978-1-84472-092-7}} * {{Cite book| author=Renfrew, Colin | author-link=Colin Renfrew | title=Archaeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1990 | isbn=978-0-521-38675-3 }} * {{Cite book| author=Stäuble, Harald | title=Häuser und absolute Datierung der Ältesten Bandkeramik | publisher=Habelt | year=2005}} {{Refend}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |last1=Shennan |first1=Stephen |author-link1=Stephen Shennan |year=2018 |title=The First Farmers of Europe: An Evolutionary Perspective |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4pheDwAAQBAJ |series=Cambridge World Archaeology |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781108386029 |isbn=978-1-108-42292-5 }} * Martin Furholt, I. Cheben, J. Müller, A. Bistáková, M. Wunderlich, N. Müller-Scheeßel 2020: ''Archaeology in the Žitava valley I. The LBK and Želiezovce settlement site of Vráble,'' Scales of Transformation in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies 09. Leiden: Sidestone Press. ([https://www.sidestone.com/books/archaeology-in-the-zitava-valley-i Online]). * Ivan Cheben, M. Furholt, K. Rassmann, A. Bistakova, M. Wunderlich, N. Müller-Scheeßel 2024: ''Archaeology in the Žitava valley II. The neolithic landscape of south-western Slovakia, Scales of Transformation in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies 20''. Leiden: Sidestone Press. ([https://www.sidestone.com/books/archaeology-in-the-zitava-valley-ii Online]).

==External links== {{Commons category-inline|Linear Pottery culture}} *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoH1JIn-f5g Reconstruction of a Neolithic longhouse (2021)] Halle State Museum of Prehistory (video in German – English subtitles available) *[https://archaeo3d.com/en/lide-z-dlouhych-domu/lide-z-dlouhych-domu/lide-z-dlouhych-domu/index.html The People from Longhouses] 3D reconstructions * Below are some relevant links to sites publishing current research or recapitulating recent thinking concerning the Neolithic of Europe. Many of the sites referenced contain links to other sites not mentioned here. * [https://www.allesbleibtanders.com/en/modules/vrable/ Digital exhibition of the site of Vráble].

===Overall=== {{Refbegin}} * {{Cite journal| first1=Pavel | last1=Dolukhanov | title=The Chronology of Neolithic Dispersal in Central and Eastern Europe | url=http://www.ffzg.hr/arheo/ska/tekstovi/neolithic_dispersal.pdf | journal=Journal of Archaeological Science | issue=10 | year=2005 | pages=1441–1458 | doi=10.1016/j.jas.2005.03.021 | volume=32 | last2=Shukurov | first2=A | last3=Gronenborn | first3=D | last4=Sokoloff | first4=D | last5=Timofeev | first5=V | last6=Zaitseva | first6=G| bibcode=2005JArSc..32.1441D |display-authors=etal}} * {{Cite book | first =T. Douglas | last =Price | editor-last =Price | editor-first =T. Douglas | contribution =Europe's First Farmers: an Introduction | contribution-url =http://assets.cambridge.org/052166/2036/sample/0521662036ws.pdf | title =Europe's First Farmers | year =2000 | place =Cambridge | publisher =Cambridge University Press | id =Hardcover Softcover | isbn =978-0-521-66203-1 }} * {{cite web |title = 10th Neolithic Seminar |work = Neolithic Seminars |publisher = Ljubljana University, Slovenia |year = 2003 |url = http://arheologija.ff.uni-lj.si/seminars/a10.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060327005138/http://arheologija.ff.uni-lj.si/seminars/a10.html |archive-date = 27 March 2006 }} {{Refend}} * {{cite web| author=Matthias Schulz | title=How Middle Eastern Milk Drinkers Conquered Europe | publisher= Spiegel Online International | year=2010 | url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,723310,00.html }}

===Models=== {{Refbegin}} * {{cite web | last=Dolukhanov | first=Pavel | author2=Shukurov, Anvar | title=Modelling the Neolithic Dispersal in Northern Eurasia | work=Documenta Praehistorica XXXI | publisher=Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana | year=2003 | url=http://arheologija.ff.uni-lj.si/documenta/pdf31/31dolukhanov.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927045407/http://arheologija.ff.uni-lj.si/documenta/pdf31/31dolukhanov.pdf | archive-date=27 September 2007 }} * {{Cite journal | last =Hayden | first =Brian | title =An Archaeological Evaluation of the Gimbutas Paradigm | journal =The Virtual Pomegranate | issue =6 | year =1998 | volume =6 | pages =35–46 | doi =10.1558/pome.v13i6.35 }} * {{Cite journal | last =Marler | first =Joan | title =A Response to Brian Hayden's article | journal =The Virtual Pomegranate | issue =10 | year =1999 | doi =10.1558/pome.v13i10.37 }}

* {{cite web | last =Marler | first =Joan | title =The Iconography and Social Structure of Old Europe: The Archaeomythological Research of Marija Gimbutas | work =Societies of Peace | publisher =2nd World Congress on Matriarchal Studies | year =2005 | url =http://www.second-congress-matriarchal-studies.com/marler.html }} * {{cite web | last=Richards | first=Martin | title=The Neolithic Transition in Europe: archaeological models and genetic evidence | work=Documenta Praehistorica XXX | publisher=Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana | year=2003 | url=http://arheologija.ff.uni-lj.si/documenta/pdf30/30richards.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927045402/http://arheologija.ff.uni-lj.si/documenta/pdf30/30richards.pdf | archive-date=27 September 2007 }} {{Refend}}

===Dates=== {{Refbegin}} * {{Cite journal|last=Stadler |first=P. |author2=Lenneis, E. |title=Zur Absolutchronologie der Linearbandkeramik aufgrund von 14C-Daten |journal=Archäologie Österreichs |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=4–13 |year=1996 |url=http://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/NHM/Prehist/Stadler/LVAS/QAM/14C/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050416050245/http://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/NHM/Prehist/Stadler/LVAS/QAM/14C/ |archive-date=16 April 2005 }} Select ''Zur Absolutchronologie der Linearbandkeramik'' and under that ''Abb.01'' for the calibration curve and ''Abb.02'' for the sample frequency per year. The latter is also given at [http://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/NHM/Prehist/Stadler/LVAS/QAM/14C/Images/Neol_Abb02.gif]. {{Refend}}

===People=== {{Refbegin}} * {{Cite journal |last=Bentley |first=R. Alexander |author2=Knipper, Corina |title=Transhumance at the early Neolithic settlement at Vaihingen (Germany) |journal=Antiquity |volume=79 |issue=306 |date=December 2005 |url=http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/bentley/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060516231721/http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/bentley/index.html |archive-date=16 May 2006 }} * {{Cite journal |last=Bocquet-Appel |first=Jean-Pierre |title=Paleoanthropological Traces of a Neolithic Demographic Transition |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=43 |issue=4 |date=August–October 2002 |url=http://www.ivry.cnrs.fr/deh/bocquet/curant02.pdf |doi=10.1086/342429 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051018073509/http://www.ivry.cnrs.fr/deh/bocquet/curant02.pdf |archive-date=18 October 2005 |pages=637–650 |s2cid=145158218 }} * {{cite web | last=Bogucki | first=Peter | title=The Neolithic Mosaic on the North European Plain | year=2004 | url=http://www.princeton.edu/~bogucki/mosaic.html | publisher=Princeton University }} The article includes an extensive bibliography. * {{cite web | last =Dienekes | title =mtDNA of early central European farmers | work =Dienekes' Anthropology Blog | year =2005 | url =https://dienekes.blogspot.com/2005/11/mtdna-of-early-central-european.html }} Dienekes summarizes and reviews {{Cite journal | last =Haak | first =Wolfgang | author2 =others | title =Ancient DNA from the First European Farmers in 7500-Year-Old Neolithic Sites | journal =Science | volume =310 | issue =5750 | pages =1016–1018 | date =11 November 2005 | url =http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/310/5750/1016 | pmid =16284177 | doi =10.1126/science.1118725 | bibcode =2005Sci...310.1016H | s2cid =11546893 | url-access =subscription }} No charge for abstract. The article is also reviewed by {{cite web |last=Kling |first=Jim |title=The Origins of Modern Europeans |work=Chemistry Org |publisher=American Chemical Society |year=2005 |url=http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/feature_pro.html?id=c373e907e6595f838f6a17245d830100 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927063437/http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/feature_pro.html?id=c373e907e6595f838f6a17245d830100 |archive-date=27 September 2006 }} * {{cite web |last=Hawks |first=John |title=Early European mtDNA: only mysterious if you want it to be |work=john hawks weblog |year=2005 |url=http://www.johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/genetics/mtdna_migrations/neolithic_ancient_dna_2005.w |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060405013234/http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/genetics/mtdna_migrations/neolithic_ancient_dna_2005.w |archive-date=5 April 2006 }}Hawks reviews and comments on three articles. *[https://html2-f.scribdassets.com/8yk7mdkd1c3cb88n/images/8-6f3bee0133.jpg Graphic reconstruction of the Linear Pottery: Everyday life by Karol Schauer 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200411183832/https://html2-f.scribdassets.com/8yk7mdkd1c3cb88n/images/8-6f3bee0133.jpg |date=11 April 2020 }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20150116135748/http://www.museum-digital.de/san/images/201404/14220753471.jpg Graphic reconstruction of the Linear Pottery: Everyday life by Karol Schauer 3] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20150116135752/http://www.museum-digital.de/san/images/201405/19223413831.jpg Graphic reconstruction of the Linear Pottery: Everyday life by Karol Schauer 4] * {{cite journal |last1=Lipson |first1=Mark |date=16 November 2017 |title=Parallel palaeogenomic transects reveal complex genetic history of early European farmers |journal=Nature |publisher=Nature Research |volume=551 |issue=7680 |pages=368–372 |doi=10.1038/nature24476 |pmc=5973800 |pmid=29144465 |bibcode= 2017Natur.551..368L}} * {{cite web |last=Lodewijckx |first=Marc |author2=Bakels, Corrie |title=The Interaction Between Early Farmers and Indigenous People in Central Belgium |work=Western European Archaeology |publisher=Katholieke Universiteit Leuven |year=2005 |url=http://www.arts.kuleuven.be/wea/Farmers/index.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060712052439/http://www.arts.kuleuven.be/wea/Farmers/index.htm |archive-date=12 July 2006 }} * {{cite journal |last1=Narasimhan |first1=Vagheesh M. |date=6 September 2019 |title=The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia |journal=Science |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science |volume=365 |issue=6457 |article-number=eaat7487 |biorxiv=10.1101/292581 |doi=10.1126/science.aat7487 |pmid=31488661 |pmc=6822619 }} {{Refend}}

===Places=== {{Refbegin}} * {{Cite journal|last=Czerniak |first=Lech |author2=Raczkowski, Wlodzimierz |author3=Sosnowski, Wojciech |title=New prospects for the study of Early Neolithic longhouses in the Polish Lowlands |journal=Antiquity |volume=77 |issue=297 |date=September 2003 |url=http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/czerniak/czerniak.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060403002350/http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/czerniak/czerniak.html |archive-date= 3 April 2006 }} * {{cite web|editor-last=Domoróczki |editor-first=László |title=Heves county |work=Chain — всё о мире криптовалют и блокчейна. |year=2006 |publisher=cultural heritage activities and institutes network (CHAIN) |url=http://www.chain.to/index.php?did=4&sort=b&subject=view_article&id=176 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929045246/http://www.chain.to/index.php?did=4&sort=b&subject=view_article&id=176 |archive-date=29 September 2007 }} * {{Cite journal|last=Hertelendi |first=Ede |title=Re-Evaluation of the Neolithic in Eastern Hungary Based on Calibrated Radiocarbon Dates |journal=Radiocarbon |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=239–244 |year=1995 |display-authors=etal |doi=10.1017/S0033822200030691 |bibcode=1995Radcb..37..239H |doi-access=free }} * {{cite web | author=Körös Regional Archaeological Project | title=The Archaeological Background | publisher=Florida State University | year=2007 | url=http://www.anthro.fsu.edu/research/koros/overview/arch_background/arch_background.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070211073956/http://www.anthro.fsu.edu/research/koros/overview/arch_background/arch_background.html | archive-date=11 February 2007 }} * {{cite web|last=Krause |first=Rüdiger |others=Schalk, Emily (trans.) |title=An enclosed Bandkeramik village and cemetery from the 6th millennium BC near Vaihingen/Enz |work=Archaeological Excavation in Baden-Wurttemberg |publisher=Wolfgang M. Werner |year=1998 |url=http://home.bawue.de/~wmwerner/grabung/vaih99_e.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705074454/http://home.bawue.de/~wmwerner/grabung/vaih99_e.html |archive-date= 5 July 2007 }} * {{cite web|last=Louwe Kooijmans |first=Leendert P. |title=The Neolithic at the Lower Rhine |publisher=Leiden University |year=1976 |url=https://www.openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/1887/2789/1/171_009.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070726050230/https://www.openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/1887/2789/1/171_009.pdf |archive-date=26 July 2007 }} * {{cite web | last=Orschiedt | first=Joerg | author2=Haidle, Miriam Noel | title=The LBK Enclosure at Herxheim: Theatre of War or Ritual Centre? References from Osteoarchaeological Investigation | publisher=University of Tübingen | year=2006 | url=http://www.urgeschichte.uni-tuebingen.de/fileadmin/downloads/Haidle/HerxheimConflictArch2006.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927045415/http://www.urgeschichte.uni-tuebingen.de/fileadmin/downloads/Haidle/HerxheimConflictArch2006.pdf | archive-date=27 September 2007 }} * {{cite web|last=Lodewijckx |first=Marc |author2=Waegeman, Tony |author3=Barten, Merle |title=Cimetière rubané à Millen? (Belgique, prov. du Limbourg) |publisher=Notae Praehistoricae |year=1989 |url=http://www.naturalsciences.be/mars/groups/fnrs-contact-group/notae-praehistoricae/pdf/Np09/np09_37-40.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928102621/http://www.naturalsciences.be/mars/groups/fnrs-contact-group/notae-praehistoricae/pdf/Np09/np09_37-40.pdf |archive-date=28 September 2011 }} {{Refend}}

===Economy=== {{Refbegin}} * {{cite web |last=Ebersbach |first=Renate |author2=Schade, Christoph |title=Modelling the Intensity of Linear Pottery Land Use – An Example from the Mörlener Bucht in the Wetterau Basin, Hesse, Germany |publisher=University of Basel |year=2003 |url=http://pages.unibas.ch/arch/archbiol/pdf/Ebersbach2004.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927045403/http://pages.unibas.ch/arch/archbiol/pdf/Ebersbach2004.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2007}} * {{Cite journal |last=Kreuz |first=Angela |author2=Marinova, Elena |author3=Schäfer, Eva |author4=Wiethold, Julian |title=A comparison of early Neolithic crop and weed assemblages from the Linearbandkeramik and the Bulgarian Neolithic cultures: differences and similarities |journal=Vegetation History and Archaeobotany |volume=14 |year=2005 |url=http://www.urgeschichte.uni-tuebingen.de/fileadmin/downloads/weitere_Mitarbeiter/Marinova/Kreuz_etal_VHA14_2005klein.pdf |issue=4 |doi=10.1007/s00334-005-0080-0 |page=237 |bibcode=2005VegHA..14..237K |s2cid=55932126 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611135608/http://www.urgeschichte.uni-tuebingen.de/fileadmin/downloads/weitere_Mitarbeiter/Marinova/Kreuz_etal_VHA14_2005klein.pdf |archive-date=11 June 2007}} * https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12520-020-01210-2 {{Refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linear Pottery Culture}} Category:Linear Pottery culture Category:6th-millennium BC establishments Category:5th-millennium BC disestablishments Category:Archaeological cultures of Europe Category:Neolithic cultures of Europe Category:Archaeological cultures in Austria Category:Archaeological cultures in Belgium Category:Archaeological cultures in Czechia Category:Archaeological cultures in France Category:Archaeological cultures in Germany Category:Archaeological cultures in Hungary Category:Archaeological cultures in Moldova Category:Archaeological cultures in the Netherlands Category:Archaeological cultures in Poland Category:Archaeological cultures in Romania Category:Archaeological cultures in Slovakia Category:Archaeological cultures in Switzerland Category:Archaeological cultures in Ukraine Category:Ancient pottery