Cardium pottery

Cardium pottery culture

Geographical range	Southern Europe, Near East, North Africa
Period	Neolithic
Dates	c. 6400 BC – c. 5500 BC
Major sites	Liguria, Sardinia, Coppa Nevigata
Preceded by	Neolithic Greece, Mesolithic Europe,
Followed by	Danilo culture, Kakanj culture, Stentinello culture, Neolithic Italy, Neolithic Malta, Neolithic Sardinia, Neolithic France, Neolithic Iberia, La Hoguette culture

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".

The alternative name, impressed ware, is given by some archaeologists to define this culture, because impressions can be made with sharp objects other than cockle shells, such as a nail or comb.^[1] Impressed pottery is much more widespread than the Cardial.^[2] Impressed ware is found in the zone "covering Italy to the Ligurian coast" as distinct from the more western Cardial extending from Provence to western Portugal. The sequence in prehistoric Europe has traditionally been supposed to start with widespread Cardial ware, and then to develop other methods of impression locally, termed "epi-Cardial". However the widespread Cardial and Impressed pattern types overlap and are now considered more likely to be contemporary.^[3]