Croatian art describes the visual arts in Croatia, and art by Croatian artists from prehistoric times to the present. In Early Middle Ages, Croatia was an important centre for art and architecture in south eastern Europe. There were many Croatian artists during the Medieval period, and the arts flourished during the Renaissance. Later styles in Croatia included Baroque and Rococo. Ancient heritage Prehistoric art The Neolithic inhabitants of the Adriatic Coast and those on the Pannonian plain, developed their cultures within the boundaries of present-day Croatia. The Neolithic is marked by the production of ceramics and sculptures with human and animal themes presented as symbolic art. In contrast to the cave paintings of the palaeolithic age, in the more settled agricultural age, pottery became the main art form, with stylised forms and was primarily ornamental in character. Neolithic artists did not merely imitate or reproduce, but created new forms by inscribing geometrical patterns and decorations. Starčevo culture (a Pannonian plain culture) had characteristically fine red and ochre ceramics. Istrian culture (named after the Istrian peninsula) whose characteristic stone houses (Bunja) built using only dry-stone construction (suhozid). Sopot culture and Korenovo culture (named after the towns of Sopot and Korenovo in Slavonia) with original ceramic pots decorated with flat parallel lines, curves or V-shaped cuts. Danilo culture (found on Adriatic coast and islands) was rich with fine dark ceramics decorated with engraved geometrical motifs, spirals and meanders. Out of this culture developed the Hvar culture (after the island of Hvar) that is linked with Neolithic Greek cultures. There are also Neolithic excavation sites in Ščitarjevo near Zagreb, Nakovanj on the Pelješac peninsula and elsewhere. Copper Age Ceramics of the Vučedol culture (named after Vučedol in eastern Slavonia) during the transitional Eneolithic period (3500-2300 BC) are of extraordinary quality with black colour, high glow and specific decorative geometrical cuts encrusted with white, red or yellow colours. The influence of metal working techniques can be seen as potters construct with sheets of clay giving distinct edges where surfaces meet and the final pot is burnished for a gleaming look. Neolithic figurines in moulded clay were stylized versions of human (particularly female) figures, and animals. The distinctive Vučedol Dove is a pot in the shape of a bird, somewhat stylized, with impressed patterning around its body, a double-headed axe (labrys) on its neck and three legs for stability. Bronze Age The Bronze Age Vinkovci