Linear Pottery culture
G2a2b among representatives of the Linear Pottery culture, Germany.
Sources:
Maciamo Hay
Ancient DNA
The most widespread Neolithic culture of Central Europe, 5500−4500 BC. The first Neolithic culture in Western and Central Europe, belongs to the group of Danube cultures (Danube I or Early Danube).
It was named after the characteristic pattern on pottery, consisting of beakers, bowls, vases, and jugs of coarse hand-built workmanship, without handles, which only in the late phase of development acquire simple or perforated handles, flat bottoms, and necks. Since the neighboring Starčevo-Körös culture is older than LBK, it is often considered the source of the Neolithic complex for LBK. Indeed, Starčevo-Körös pottery is usually decorated with painted spirals, vertical and converging lines, etc. The LBK culture apparently imitated this design, but the application was not by painting but by incising and carving lines, hence the term "linear" to distinguish painted pottery from incised lines. The ornament contains spirals, triangles, rectangles, and other repeating geometric figures and is not always arranged in a band but may cover the entire surface of the vessel. The purpose of such pottery was for use as kitchen utensils or for transporting food and liquids.
Characteristic structures of this culture are longhouses and circular ditches. The most important settlements: Bylany (Czechia), Langweiler and Zwenkau (Germany), Brunn am Gebirge (Austria), Nitra (Slovakia), as well as a number of settlements on the Rhine, Elbe, and in the upper Danube.
There are two variants of early LBK:
- the earliest or western, localized in the middle Danube, including western Hungary, and spreading down the Rhine, Elbe, Oder, and Vistula;
- the eastern, located in eastern Hungary.
In addition, there are also middle and late phases of LBK. In the middle phase, it penetrated the area of the Buh-Dniester culture. The late phase is known as the Stroked Pottery culture on the Elbe and Vistula. Among other cultures that are, to varying degrees, heirs of LBK — Rössen, Lengyel, Cucuteni-Trypillia, and others.
The LBK culture did not spread over such a wide area immediately, as is observed by the end of the expansion period. It is assumed that it formed in the middle Danube (modern Hungary, Czechia, Moravia), and then spread down European rivers at a speed of approximately 1500 km over 360 years or about 4 km per year. For some reason, the bearers of this culture avoided sea coasts and, although they reached the mouths of the Rhine (Elsloo), Elbe, and Vistula, they did not spread along the shores of the Baltic and North Seas. The northern sea coasts remained occupied by Mesolithic fishing cultures that neighbored LBK. In the west, this culture spread to Belgium and the Seine valley near Paris, in the east to the Dnieper (the settlement of Vita-Postova 2 near Kyiv), and in the south the border of its range was the Danube.
Origin
Inherits the traditions of the Balkan Neolithic. It is generally believed that the Neolithic complex of LBK was borrowed from the Starčevo-Körös culture, since the earliest, around 5600−5400 BC, Linear Pottery appears in the middle Danube, in the territory of Starčevo-Körös tribes. It may have been a local variant of the early Starčevo-Körös culture that became isolated in the Tisza river basin through contact with the local Mesolithic population.
The emergence of the new tradition of decorating pottery can be traced in the history of the Neolithic settlement of Brunn am Gebirge, south of Vienna. In the period from 5550 to 5200 BC, this region was densely populated and built up with typical LBK longhouses. In the oldest layers, pottery typical of the Starčevo-Körös culture is present, as well as a large number of stone products mined in the Lake Balaton area in Hungary. Over time, the use of these products decreases, and the pottery becomes typical of LBK.
Some authors nevertheless believe that LBK has a local origin from a local Mesolithic culture. Indeed, although the Starčevo-Körös culture was present in southern Hungary around 6000 BC, it disappeared about 500 years before LBK appeared in this region. In addition, the types of cultivated plants grown within these Neolithic cultures are not identical, and the Mesolithic culture preceding LBK used wild flax and cereals. To the west of LBK, the La Hoguette culture also independently domesticated local flora and fauna.
Another hypothesis about the origin of Linear Pottery links it to the influence of Mesolithic cultures of Eastern Europe, where pottery was widely used for gathering wild plants.
The manner of LBK spread, gradually occupying new areas in river valleys, gives grounds for the hypothesis of slash-and-burn agriculture practiced by the bearers of this culture. Judging by the finds of shells of the Mediterranean mollusk Spondylus, and the shape of pottery resembling a gourd, which was not widespread in Central Europe, the population consisted, at least in part, of immigrants or had regular contacts with the Mediterranean.
The reasons why the Starčevo-Körös culture disappeared in Hungary remain unknown, but they could not have been climatic, since the climate north and south of the Danube, where this culture survived, is practically the same. Rather, there was competition between cultures and active displacement of Starčevo-Körös tribes from the LBK area.
The heirs of LBK are considered to be the Rössen, Lengyel, Cucuteni-Trypillia, Boian, as well as the Baden and Funnelbeaker cultures and the Stroked Pottery culture.
Anthropological appearance
A. G. Kuzmin writes that in appearance, the population of the Linear Pottery culture belonged to the Mediterranean type.
Analysis of 24 remains from 16 sites in Germany, Austria, and Hungary showed that six people had a rare set of mutations known as mitochondrial haplogroup N1a — the percentage of this haplogroup far exceeded its percentage among the modern population. This haplogroup has now almost disappeared. Its origin remains debatable — it could have belonged to both the oldest population of Europe of the Paleolithic era and to Neolithic migrants, such as the bearers of the Linear Pottery culture, but in any case — to the pre-Indo-European population. This conclusion is supported by Zoffmann's research: since this haplogroup disappears, apparently in the Neolithic, the local population was genetically "suppressed" by more numerous invaders with a different genetic makeup.
To the north of the Körös lived a population anthropologically characterized as Cro-Magnons of group B or "Proto-Nordic Cro-Magnoid type." This anthropological type is not identical to the ancestral population of Upper Paleolithic Cro-Magnons, but represents a residual population similar to them with physical characteristics somewhat different from both the original Cro-Magnons and the Mediterranean type characteristic of the Starčevo-Körös culture, or all other human populations in adjacent regions. This once again indicates differences between the original bearers of LBK (of Cro-Magnoid type) and its bearers during the expansion period. Obviously, the spread of the LBK culture was not associated with any significant migrations of peoples; rather, the culture was adopted by neighboring Mesolithic tribes.
Studies of mitochondrial DNA from fossil remains of 24 culture bearers from different regions indirectly confirm this conclusion. Their genotype turned out to be heterogeneous: 6 out of 24 had the rare haplotype N1a, which was either inherited from the population that lived in Europe in the Paleolithic era, or introduced by a small group of immigrants that later dissolved among the local population.
Society
LBK society is considered matrilocal. The importance of female hoe agriculture was great. However, burial analysis indicates that elderly men (elders) also had high social status. Each village was autonomous. No weapons or fortifications have been found.
Religion and burials
The burials of LBK tribes are diverse. Some burials show signs of cremation, others contain crouched skeletons on their sides, sprinkled with ochre. However, at least one burial (Herxheim) indicates the practice of mass murder and cannibalism.
As with all prehistoric cultures, the belief system of LBK bearers is not known precisely. Nevertheless, the presence of images of the Mother Goddess allows for reasonable assumptions about the most widespread cult among them, inherited from the Paleolithic. This cult was introduced by the Gravettian culture from Western Asia and southern Russia by Cro-Magnons and is represented in Europe by numerous finds of Paleolithic "Venuses." With the transition to the Neolithic, female images appear on vases, in burials, as well as in the oldest myths and customs of Europe. In the north, the Mother Goddess was considered the patroness of animals, grains, spinning wheels, and looms, the home, as well as life and death. However, the cult of the Mother Goddess was not the only one, as androgynous figures are also found among the figurines.
Dwellings
The number of residential buildings in a settlement usually did not exceed ten. The distance between them was about 20 m. The population of a village could reach 100 people. Settlements could be single or grouped into agglomerations covering up to 20-25 km². Settlements were generally not fortified and were often abandoned and reoccupied. Nevertheless, there are also settlements fortified with palisades and ditches. Occasionally, remains of human bones damaged by weapons are found, indicating ritual murders, punishment for breaking tribal laws, or clashes between inhabitants. In most villages, such traces have not been found.
The main type of structure was the longhouse, a rectangular building approximately 5.5−7 m wide, with an arbitrary length (the house in Bylany reached 45 m in length). The walls were built of wattle and daub, sometimes of split logs reinforced with oak posts. Pitched roofs covered with thatch rested on three rows of such posts. Usually, 1-2 pits for household purposes were dug on the floor of the dwelling and next to it, the clay from which was used to cover the walls. Some houses were used for up to 30 years.
At least part of the dwelling was used for keeping livestock, for which a cattle pen was fenced off at one end of the longhouse. Among the features of settlement planning, circular ditches should also be noted, which could hardly have been used for defensive purposes. They were apparently drainage ditches and were concentrated on the side of the cattle pen. Water was taken from rivers, springs, and wells.
Inside, the longhouse was divided by partitions into two or three parts, one of which was apparently used for livestock. Garbage was regularly removed and dumped into pits outside the house. Work with hides and stone, which generated a lot of waste, was done outside the house. Judging by the pottery remains, each longhouse had its own tradition, and the placement of pottery in burials, usually female, indicates that it was apparently made by women.
Agriculture
The main occupation of LBK tribes is considered to be slash-and-burn agriculture. They settled in river valleys, the most fertile lands of which they used for growing wheat and legumes. Less frequently cultivated were barley, millet, rye, and other crops. The fields were small, comparable in size to gardens. Flax and hemp were used for making fabrics and ropes. Later, poppy was introduced from the Mediterranean. In addition, they raised cattle, as well as smaller numbers of pigs and goats. They hunted, but used dogs relatively little. The main game animals were deer and wild boar. They also resorted to gathering and fishing. Stone axes and grain grinders are found in settlement remains. The discovery of Spondylus shells in burials indicates trade relations with southern coastal tribes.
The tribe could remain in an inhabited region for hundreds of years until natural population growth led to the utilization of all available land for crops and soil depletion. Then people moved to less populated regions. For example, in the Wetterau region (Hesse), the LBK culture existed for about 400 years. Initially, there were only 14 villages, 53 houses, and 318 people, and at the end — 47 villages, 122 houses, and 732 people, after which the population suddenly dropped to the initial level. The community still had enough land available for agriculture, from which researchers concluded that the limiting factor was the availability of pastures for livestock. When compared with the relatively populous Neolithic cities of the Middle East, it can be concluded that there the population lived mainly on a grain diet, while the LBK culture lived on a meat and dairy economy.
Pottery
The tribes of this culture used spherical clay vessels with thin walls, decorated with geometric or spiral ornaments. Hence the name of the culture — Linear Pottery.
Tools
The main materials for making tools were flint and obsidian. Flint was mined in southern Poland, obsidian in the Bükk and Tatra mountains. In these regions, the inhabitants specialized in mining and making stone products, which they exported to all other regions inhabited by LBK tribes, which indirectly indicates the relative ethnic homogeneity of the culture.
There are no signs of metal use. Grains were harvested with wooden sickles with stone blades. Stone axes in the form of celts were used both for cutting wood and as weapons. Numerous remains of stone knives and scrapers have also been found.
Early or Western LBK
It is believed that this variant emerged in 5700−5500 BC in western Hungary and the adjacent regions of Germany, Austria, and Czechia. Within it, separate variants are also distinguished. The end of the early phase dates to 5200 BC, when Western LBK appears in the Netherlands, and in Austria a variant of "notched" pottery appears, in which punctured pits ("notes") appear on the lines. "Notched" pottery, characteristic of the middle phase of LBK, spreads from here to the east — to the territory of Romania and Ukraine. In the late phase (5000−4500 BC), "Stroked Pottery" appears, which also spreads from Central Europe to the east.
Eastern LBK
Developed in eastern Hungary several centuries later than the western variant. This territory had previously been occupied by the Starčevo-Körös culture (according to some data — around 6100 BC, according to others — until 5400 BC). The latter spread along the Tisza river valley north to the Bükk mountains, where at that time a Mesolithic culture flourished, selling local flint products to neighboring tribes.
Here, around 5330−4940 BC, the early Eastern LBK existed, also called the Alföld Culture or ALV (from the Hungarian name Alföldi Vonaldíszes Kerámia). Some authors consider it to originate directly from the Starčevo-Körös culture, as transitional variants are distinguished within it that can be attributed to both the Starčevo-Körös culture and LBK. Traditionally, the former decorated pottery with white paint, but the edges of the white stripes were incised, as in LBK.
Nevertheless, as noted above, the appearance of the Neolithic culture in the north was not accompanied by the migration of southerners into the territory of the northern tribes; it was an act of borrowing or imitating a foreign cultural tradition. By 5770−5230 BC, the Starčevo-Körös culture entered the final phase of its development where it had previously existed, that is, south of the LBK area. This late phase of the Starčevo-Körös culture is also called Proto-Vinča, since in 5390−4960 BC the Vinča culture emerged in its place. There is no basis for assuming a close connection between the Starčevo-Körös culture and Eastern LBK. The economy of LBK differed significantly from that of Starčevo-Körös. The latter, like other Balkan cultures, was based on sheep breeding, while LBK was based on pig breeding and cattle breeding, which were apparently domesticated from local wild species. In addition, LBK tribes continued to actively supplement their diet with game.
In the period 5260−4880 BC, Eastern LBK also splits into a number of local variants, among which the Bükk culture is particularly distinguished, which gradually becomes predominant. Their pottery is distinguished by particular elegance. The end of the Eastern LBK tradition is not as clear as that of the Western. Another culture appears in this territory, which either cannot be attributed to the LBK tradition, or is transitional from LBK to the Tisza culture.
Genetics
Two studied LBKT samples contained G2a2b (L30/S126) and I1 (M253). Also, 8 samples with incomplete SNP profiles presumably belong to the same haplogroups: three to G2a2b (S126), two to G2a (P15), and one to I (M170); LBKT: one to G2a2b (S126) and one to F* (M89)
Materials
Tracing the genetic origin of Europe's first farmers reveals insights into their social organization. Szécsényi-Nagy 2014
G2a2b among representatives of the Linear Pottery culture, Germany.
Sources:
Maciamo Hay
Ancient DNA
The most widespread Neolithic culture of Central Europe, 5500−4500 BC. The first Neolithic culture in Western and Central Europe, belongs to the group of Danube cultures (Danube I or Early Danube).
It was named after the characteristic pattern on pottery, consisting of beakers, bowls, vases, and jugs of coarse hand-built workmanship, without handles, which only in the late phase of development acquire simple or perforated handles, flat bottoms, and necks. Since the neighboring Starčevo-Körös culture is older than LBK, it is often considered the source of the Neolithic complex for LBK. Indeed, Starčevo-Körös pottery is usually decorated with painted spirals, vertical and converging lines, etc. The LBK culture apparently imitated this design, but the application was not by painting but by incising and carving lines, hence the term "linear" to distinguish painted pottery from incised lines. The ornament contains spirals, triangles, rectangles, and other repeating geometric figures and is not always arranged in a band but may cover the entire surface of the vessel. The purpose of such pottery was for use as kitchen utensils or for transporting food and liquids.
Characteristic structures of this culture are longhouses and circular ditches. The most important settlements: Bylany (Czechia), Langweiler and Zwenkau (Germany), Brunn am Gebirge (Austria), Nitra (Slovakia), as well as a number of settlements on the Rhine, Elbe, and in the upper Danube.
There are two variants of early LBK:
- the earliest or western, localized in the middle Danube, including western Hungary, and spreading down the Rhine, Elbe, Oder, and Vistula;
- the eastern, located in eastern Hungary.
In addition, there are also middle and late phases of LBK. In the middle phase, it penetrated the area of the Buh-Dniester culture. The late phase is known as the Stroked Pottery culture on the Elbe and Vistula. Among other cultures that are, to varying degrees, heirs of LBK — Rössen, Lengyel, Cucuteni-Trypillia, and others.
The LBK culture did not spread over such a wide area immediately, as is observed by the end of the expansion period. It is assumed that it formed in the middle Danube (modern Hungary, Czechia, Moravia), and then spread down European rivers at a speed of approximately 1500 km over 360 years or about 4 km per year. For some reason, the bearers of this culture avoided sea coasts and, although they reached the mouths of the Rhine (Elsloo), Elbe, and Vistula, they did not spread along the shores of the Baltic and North Seas. The northern sea coasts remained occupied by Mesolithic fishing cultures that neighbored LBK. In the west, this culture spread to Belgium and the Seine valley near Paris, in the east to the Dnieper (the settlement of Vita-Postova 2 near Kyiv), and in the south the border of its range was the Danube.
Origin
Inherits the traditions of the Balkan Neolithic. It is generally believed that the Neolithic complex of LBK was borrowed from the Starčevo-Körös culture, since the earliest, around 5600−5400 BC, Linear Pottery appears in the middle Danube, in the territory of Starčevo-Körös tribes. It may have been a local variant of the early Starčevo-Körös culture that became isolated in the Tisza river basin through contact with the local Mesolithic population.
The emergence of the new tradition of decorating pottery can be traced in the history of the Neolithic settlement of Brunn am Gebirge, south of Vienna. In the period from 5550 to 5200 BC, this region was densely populated and built up with typical LBK longhouses. In the oldest layers, pottery typical of the Starčevo-Körös culture is present, as well as a large number of stone products mined in the Lake Balaton area in Hungary. Over time, the use of these products decreases, and the pottery becomes typical of LBK.
Some authors nevertheless believe that LBK has a local origin from a local Mesolithic culture. Indeed, although the Starčevo-Körös culture was present in southern Hungary around 6000 BC, it disappeared about 500 years before LBK appeared in this region. In addition, the types of cultivated plants grown within these Neolithic cultures are not identical, and the Mesolithic culture preceding LBK used wild flax and cereals. To the west of LBK, the La Hoguette culture also independently domesticated local flora and fauna.
Another hypothesis about the origin of Linear Pottery links it to the influence of Mesolithic cultures of Eastern Europe, where pottery was widely used for gathering wild plants.
The manner of LBK spread, gradually occupying new areas in river valleys, gives grounds for the hypothesis of slash-and-burn agriculture practiced by the bearers of this culture. Judging by the finds of shells of the Mediterranean mollusk Spondylus, and the shape of pottery resembling a gourd, which was not widespread in Central Europe, the population consisted, at least in part, of immigrants or had regular contacts with the Mediterranean.
The reasons why the Starčevo-Körös culture disappeared in Hungary remain unknown, but they could not have been climatic, since the climate north and south of the Danube, where this culture survived, is practically the same. Rather, there was competition between cultures and active displacement of Starčevo-Körös tribes from the LBK area.
The heirs of LBK are considered to be the Rössen, Lengyel, Cucuteni-Trypillia, Boian, as well as the Baden and Funnelbeaker cultures and the Stroked Pottery culture.
Anthropological appearance
A. G. Kuzmin writes that in appearance, the population of the Linear Pottery culture belonged to the Mediterranean type.
Analysis of 24 remains from 16 sites in Germany, Austria, and Hungary showed that six people had a rare set of mutations known as mitochondrial haplogroup N1a — the percentage of this haplogroup far exceeded its percentage among the modern population. This haplogroup has now almost disappeared. Its origin remains debatable — it could have belonged to both the oldest population of Europe of the Paleolithic era and to Neolithic migrants, such as the bearers of the Linear Pottery culture, but in any case — to the pre-Indo-European population. This conclusion is supported by Zoffmann's research: since this haplogroup disappears, apparently in the Neolithic, the local population was genetically "suppressed" by more numerous invaders with a different genetic makeup.
To the north of the Körös lived a population anthropologically characterized as Cro-Magnons of group B or "Proto-Nordic Cro-Magnoid type." This anthropological type is not identical to the ancestral population of Upper Paleolithic Cro-Magnons, but represents a residual population similar to them with physical characteristics somewhat different from both the original Cro-Magnons and the Mediterranean type characteristic of the Starčevo-Körös culture, or all other human populations in adjacent regions. This once again indicates differences between the original bearers of LBK (of Cro-Magnoid type) and its bearers during the expansion period. Obviously, the spread of the LBK culture was not associated with any significant migrations of peoples; rather, the culture was adopted by neighboring Mesolithic tribes.
Studies of mitochondrial DNA from fossil remains of 24 culture bearers from different regions indirectly confirm this conclusion. Their genotype turned out to be heterogeneous: 6 out of 24 had the rare haplotype N1a, which was either inherited from the population that lived in Europe in the Paleolithic era, or introduced by a small group of immigrants that later dissolved among the local population.
LBK society is considered matrilocal. The importance of female hoe agriculture was great. However, burial analysis indicates that elderly men (elders) also had high social status. Each village was autonomous. No weapons or fortifications have been found.
Religion and burials
The burials of LBK tribes are diverse. Some burials show signs of cremation, others contain crouched skeletons on their sides, sprinkled with ochre. However, at least one burial (Herxheim) indicates the practice of mass murder and cannibalism.
As with all prehistoric cultures, the belief system of LBK bearers is not known precisely. Nevertheless, the presence of images of the Mother Goddess allows for reasonable assumptions about the most widespread cult among them, inherited from the Paleolithic. This cult was introduced by the Gravettian culture from Western Asia and southern Russia by Cro-Magnons and is represented in Europe by numerous finds of Paleolithic "Venuses." With the transition to the Neolithic, female images appear on vases, in burials, as well as in the oldest myths and customs of Europe. In the north, the Mother Goddess was considered the patroness of animals, grains, spinning wheels, and looms, the home, as well as life and death. However, the cult of the Mother Goddess was not the only one, as androgynous figures are also found among the figurines.
Dwellings
The number of residential buildings in a settlement usually did not exceed ten. The distance between them was about 20 m. The population of a village could reach 100 people. Settlements could be single or grouped into agglomerations covering up to 20-25 km². Settlements were generally not fortified and were often abandoned and reoccupied. Nevertheless, there are also settlements fortified with palisades and ditches. Occasionally, remains of human bones damaged by weapons are found, indicating ritual murders, punishment for breaking tribal laws, or clashes between inhabitants. In most villages, such traces have not been found.
The main type of structure was the longhouse, a rectangular building approximately 5.5−7 m wide, with an arbitrary length (the house in Bylany reached 45 m in length). The walls were built of wattle and daub, sometimes of split logs reinforced with oak posts. Pitched roofs covered with thatch rested on three rows of such posts. Usually, 1-2 pits for household purposes were dug on the floor of the dwelling and next to it, the clay from which was used to cover the walls. Some houses were used for up to 30 years.
At least part of the dwelling was used for keeping livestock, for which a cattle pen was fenced off at one end of the longhouse. Among the features of settlement planning, circular ditches should also be noted, which could hardly have been used for defensive purposes. They were apparently drainage ditches and were concentrated on the side of the cattle pen. Water was taken from rivers, springs, and wells.
Inside, the longhouse was divided by partitions into two or three parts, one of which was apparently used for livestock. Garbage was regularly removed and dumped into pits outside the house. Work with hides and stone, which generated a lot of waste, was done outside the house. Judging by the pottery remains, each longhouse had its own tradition, and the placement of pottery in burials, usually female, indicates that it was apparently made by women.
Agriculture
The main occupation of LBK tribes is considered to be slash-and-burn agriculture. They settled in river valleys, the most fertile lands of which they used for growing wheat and legumes. Less frequently cultivated were barley, millet, rye, and other crops. The fields were small, comparable in size to gardens. Flax and hemp were used for making fabrics and ropes. Later, poppy was introduced from the Mediterranean. In addition, they raised cattle, as well as smaller numbers of pigs and goats. They hunted, but used dogs relatively little. The main game animals were deer and wild boar. They also resorted to gathering and fishing. Stone axes and grain grinders are found in settlement remains. The discovery of Spondylus shells in burials indicates trade relations with southern coastal tribes.
The tribe could remain in an inhabited region for hundreds of years until natural population growth led to the utilization of all available land for crops and soil depletion. Then people moved to less populated regions. For example, in the Wetterau region (Hesse), the LBK culture existed for about 400 years. Initially, there were only 14 villages, 53 houses, and 318 people, and at the end — 47 villages, 122 houses, and 732 people, after which the population suddenly dropped to the initial level. The community still had enough land available for agriculture, from which researchers concluded that the limiting factor was the availability of pastures for livestock. When compared with the relatively populous Neolithic cities of the Middle East, it can be concluded that there the population lived mainly on a grain diet, while the LBK culture lived on a meat and dairy economy.
Pottery
The tribes of this culture used spherical clay vessels with thin walls, decorated with geometric or spiral ornaments. Hence the name of the culture — Linear Pottery.
Tools
The main materials for making tools were flint and obsidian. Flint was mined in southern Poland, obsidian in the Bükk and Tatra mountains. In these regions, the inhabitants specialized in mining and making stone products, which they exported to all other regions inhabited by LBK tribes, which indirectly indicates the relative ethnic homogeneity of the culture.
There are no signs of metal use. Grains were harvested with wooden sickles with stone blades. Stone axes in the form of celts were used both for cutting wood and as weapons. Numerous remains of stone knives and scrapers have also been found.
Early or Western LBK
It is believed that this variant emerged in 5700−5500 BC in western Hungary and the adjacent regions of Germany, Austria, and Czechia. Within it, separate variants are also distinguished. The end of the early phase dates to 5200 BC, when Western LBK appears in the Netherlands, and in Austria a variant of "notched" pottery appears, in which punctured pits ("notes") appear on the lines. "Notched" pottery, characteristic of the middle phase of LBK, spreads from here to the east — to the territory of Romania and Ukraine. In the late phase (5000−4500 BC), "Stroked Pottery" appears, which also spreads from Central Europe to the east.
Eastern LBK
Developed in eastern Hungary several centuries later than the western variant. This territory had previously been occupied by the Starčevo-Körös culture (according to some data — around 6100 BC, according to others — until 5400 BC). The latter spread along the Tisza river valley north to the Bükk mountains, where at that time a Mesolithic culture flourished, selling local flint products to neighboring tribes.
Here, around 5330−4940 BC, the early Eastern LBK existed, also called the Alföld Culture or ALV (from the Hungarian name Alföldi Vonaldíszes Kerámia). Some authors consider it to originate directly from the Starčevo-Körös culture, as transitional variants are distinguished within it that can be attributed to both the Starčevo-Körös culture and LBK. Traditionally, the former decorated pottery with white paint, but the edges of the white stripes were incised, as in LBK.
Nevertheless, as noted above, the appearance of the Neolithic culture in the north was not accompanied by the migration of southerners into the territory of the northern tribes; it was an act of borrowing or imitating a foreign cultural tradition. By 5770−5230 BC, the Starčevo-Körös culture entered the final phase of its development where it had previously existed, that is, south of the LBK area. This late phase of the Starčevo-Körös culture is also called Proto-Vinča, since in 5390−4960 BC the Vinča culture emerged in its place. There is no basis for assuming a close connection between the Starčevo-Körös culture and Eastern LBK. The economy of LBK differed significantly from that of Starčevo-Körös. The latter, like other Balkan cultures, was based on sheep breeding, while LBK was based on pig breeding and cattle breeding, which were apparently domesticated from local wild species. In addition, LBK tribes continued to actively supplement their diet with game.
In the period 5260−4880 BC, Eastern LBK also splits into a number of local variants, among which the Bükk culture is particularly distinguished, which gradually becomes predominant. Their pottery is distinguished by particular elegance. The end of the Eastern LBK tradition is not as clear as that of the Western. Another culture appears in this territory, which either cannot be attributed to the LBK tradition, or is transitional from LBK to the Tisza culture.
Genetics
Two studied LBKT samples contained G2a2b (L30/S126) and I1 (M253). Also, 8 samples with incomplete SNP profiles presumably belong to the same haplogroups: three to G2a2b (S126), two to G2a (P15), and one to I (M170); LBKT: one to G2a2b (S126) and one to F* (M89)
Materials
Tracing the genetic origin of Europe's first farmers reveals insights into their social organization. Szécsényi-Nagy 2014
4400—3000 BC Pitted Ware culture