The LBK Expansion and Epicardial Settlements

By about 5,200 BC, the cardio gives way to what's called the epicardial. This is another phase that clearly develops out of its predecessor but epicardial settlements and artifacts appear much further inland. They followed the available river routes away from the coast, up the Rhone in southern France in the Ebro and northeastern Iberia. The two cultures have different characteristics: where the LBK was an extremely conservative and set cultural package, the epicardials were more of a chameleon.