Cardium pottery or Cardial ware is a Neolithic decorative style that gets its name from the imprinting of the clay with the heart-shaped shell of the Corculum cardissa, a member of the cockle family Cardiidae. These forms of pottery are in turn used to define the Neolithic culture which produced and spread them, commonly called the "Cardial culture".
Image: Vaso geminado con decoración impresa cardial
Image: Fragmento de cerámica impresa de pinta. Cova de l´Or
Image: Cerámica cardial. Museo Arqueológico Municipal de Alcoy 03
Image: Gran vaso con decoración impresa cardial
Prehistoric Europe refers to Europe before the start of written records, beginning in the Lower Paleolithic. As history progresses, considerable regional unevenness in cultural development emerges and grows. The region of the eastern Mediterranean is, due to its geographic proximity, greatly influenced and inspired by the classical Middle Eastern civilizations, and adopts and develops the earliest systems of communal organization and writing. The Histories of Herodotus is the oldest known European text that seeks to systematically record traditions, public affairs and notable events.
Tarxien Temples, Malta, around 3150 BC
Acheulean hand axes and hand axe-like implements, flint, 800,000–300,000 BC
Lascaux cave painting, Magdalenian, 15,000 BC
Adorant from the Geißenklösterle cave, Aurignacian, 42,000 to 40,000 BC
