Neolithic culture that expanded over large areas of Europe north and west of the Danube River (from Slovakia to the Netherlands) about the 5th millennium BC. Farmers probably practiced a form of shifting cultivation on the loess soil. Emmer wheat and barley were grown, and domestic animals, usually cattle, were kept. The name LBK derives from an abbreviation of the German Linienbandkeramik, or Linearbandkeramik, a reference to the culture's characteristic pottery, which was ornamented with pairs of parallel lines arranged in spiral or meander patterns. The most common stone tool was a polished stone adze. The people occupied large rectangular houses grouped in medium-sized village communities or as small, dispersed clusters.