The pottery consists of simple cups, bowls, vases, jugs without handles and, in a later phase, with pierced lugs, bases, and necks.

[1] 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.

[citation needed] Since Starčevo-Körös pottery was earlier than the LBK and was located in a contiguous food-producing region, the early investigators looked for precedents there.

[citation needed] It began in regions of densest occupation on the middle Danube (Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary) and spread over about 1,500 km (930 mi) along the rivers in 360 years.

[citation needed] 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.

One such analysis by Stadler and Lennais[6] 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.

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.

The late phase, or Stroked Pottery culture (Stichbandkeramik (SBK), 5000–4500 BC) evolved in central Europe and went eastward, moving down the Vistula and Elbe.

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,[8][16] which flourished about 5260–4880: These are all characterised by finely crafted and decorated ware.

Before the chronology and many of the sites were known, the Bükk was thought to be a major variant; in fact, Gimbutas[17] at one point believed it to be identical with the Eastern Linear Pottery culture.

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.

The lower layers feature Starčevo-type plain pottery, with large number of stone tools made of material from near Lake Balaton, Hungary.

[19] 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[12] in which a barrier seems to have been in effect.

[citation needed] In 2005, scientists successfully sequenced mtDNA coding region 15997–16409 derived from twenty-four 7,500- to 7,000-year-old human remains associated with the LBK culture.

[23] 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 samples of mtDNA extracted were various subclades of T, H, N, U, K, J, X, HV, and V.[32][33] The LBK people settled on fluvial terraces and in the proximity of rivers in regions with fertile loess.

[35] 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.

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.

[40] Investigation of the Neolithic skeletons found in the Talheim Death Pit (c. 5000 BC) suggests that prehistoric men from neighboring tribes were prepared to fight and kill each other in order to capture and secure women.

[41] 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.

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.

One tool, the "shoe-last celt", was made of a ground stone chisel blade tied to a handle,[48] with shape and wear showing that they were used as adzes to fell trees and to work wood.

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.

[54][55] Analysis of preserved wells has shown that the LBK culture possessed sophisticated carpentry skills and were capable of complex timber constructions.

[60] Excavations at Oslonki in Poland revealed a large, fortified settlement (dating to 4300 BC, i.e., Late LBK), covering an area of 4000m2.

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."

[70] 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.

[71] 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.

[citation needed] These practices are contrasted to mass graves, such as the Talheim Death Pit, the Herxheim archeological site and the settlement of Vráble.