Grooved Ware culture

Most Neolithic cultures in Britain are best identified by the pottery remains which they left. A large number of apparently unrelated cultures seem to have thrown urns which have characteristic grooves near the top rim, hence the name Grooved Ware People.

One way in which the tradition may have spread is through trade routes up the west coast of Britain, but what seems unusual is that although they shared the same style of pottery, different regions still maintained vastly different traditions.

In Orkney, a variation on Grooved Ware, Unstan Ware, emerged. They had totally different burial practices but still managed to co-exist with their Grooved Ware counterparts.