The Samarra culture is an eneolithic (copper age) culture of the early 5th millennium BCE at the Samara bend region of the middle Volga, discovered during archaeological excavations in 1973 near the village of Syezzheye (Съезжее) in Russia.

The valley of the Samara river contains sites from subsequent cultures as well, which are descriptively termed "Samara cultures" or "Samara valley cultures".

Some of these sites are currently under excavation.

"The Samara culture" as a proper name, however, is reserved for the early Eneolithic of the region.

"Eneolithic" has a similar equivocal meaning.

The Eneolithic culture of the region is a proper name, referring to the Samara culture, the subsequent Khvalynsk culture and the still later early Yamna culture.

These are termed the early, middle (or developed), and late Eneolithic, respectively, with the substitution of period for culture; e.g., the Samara period.

"Eneolithic" as a common name refers to any culture in the eneolithic stage of tool development.

It does not refer to a timeframe.