LBK and Vinča pottery styles are markers of large cultural units with common roots in the early Neolithic Starčevo/Körös/Criş cultural complex. Most likely these units are the result of differently directed transformations and regional adaptions of the earlier Middle Eastern Neolithic system which resulted in the case of Vinča in a spatial standstill and subsequent increased sedentariness. In contrast, in LBK societies the much longer-lasting and wider spatial expansion and perhaps a higher residential mobility might have been used as a strategy to avoid or at least reduce social tensions. Resulting differences concern for example economic strategies, the social organisation and the treatment of the dead. 

After 5400 BCE  human communities in the Central Balkans (Vinča & related neighbours) and later also in in the Great Hungarian Plain started to found densely populated and for long time occupied agglomerated villages with up to several thousands of inhabitants. In contrast, in the Western Pannonian Basin (LBK) the degree of population agglomeration remains moderate and the residential mobility higher. Major differences resulting from this differentiation process concern also the spatial arrangement and the size of houses indicating differences regarding the composition and organisation of households.

In our paper, instead of stressing these structural differences, we would rather like to analyse commonalities between these cultural and regional units. Noticeable similarities among other things concern the orientation of Neolithic dwellings, which seems to follow certain common rules on the one hand and partly show regional patterns on the other hand. Based on plans of large scale magnetic surveys we would like to compare the orientation of Neolithic houses in the Pannonian Basin and the central and western Balkan area. Thereby, we would like to address the question what meaning might be hidden behind these patterns: Could they reflect common cosmological concepts or are they rather the result of adaptions on specific regional environmental conditions?