Cucuteni–Trypillia culture (c. 4800 to 3000 BC) |
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The study of the settlements of the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture provides important insights into the early history of Europe. The Cucuteni-Trypillia culture, which existed in the present-day southeastern European nations of Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine during the Neolithic Age and Copper Age, from approximately 5500 to 2750 BC, left behind thousands of settlement ruins containing a wealth of archaeological artifacts attesting to their cultural and technological characteristics. [2]
The latest research (2014) suggests that some of the largest mega sites contain as many as 3000 structures and the possibility of 20,000 to 46,000 inhabitants. Maidanetske may have contained almost 3,000 houses and a population between 12,000 and 46,000, with 29,000 as the average population figure. Dobrovody and Talianki are estimated with populations of up to 16,200 and 21,000. [3] [4] [5]
In terms of overall size, some of Cucuteni-Trypillia sites, such as Talianki (with a population of 15,000 and covering an area of some 340 hectares – 840 acres) in the Uman Raion of Ukraine, are as large as (or perhaps larger than) the more famous city-states of Sumer in the Fertile Crescent. These Eastern European settlements predate the Sumerian cities by over half a millennium. Academicians have not designated the gigantic settlements of Cucuteni-Trypillia culture as "cities" due to the lack of conclusive evidence for internal social differentiation or specialization. [6] However, there is some debate among scholars whether these settlements ought to be labeled as proto-cities. [7]
The Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements were usually located on a place where the geomorphology provided natural barriers to protect the site, most notably using high river terraces or canyon edges. The natural barriers were supplemented with fences, earthworks and ditches, or even more elaborate wooden and clay ramparts. [8] : 103 The role of the fortifications found at these settlements was probably to protect the tribe's domestic animal herd from wild predators. [9] Other hypotheses are that the fortifications were for protection against enemy attacks, or as a means to gather the community. [8] : 112 The role of these fortifications, however, is still debated among scholars.
The most common arrangement of construction for Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements was to place most of the buildings in a circular pattern surrounding a central structure; some examples of this arrangement were found at Târpeşti, Ioblona, Berezivka, Onoprievka, and Răşcani. [8] : 103 The earliest villages consisted of ten to fifteen wattle-and-daub households. In their heyday, settlements expanded to include several hundred large huts, sometimes with two stories. These houses were typically warmed by an oven and had round windows. Some huts included kilns, which were used to fire the distinctive pottery for which the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture is known.
These settlements underwent periodical acts of destruction and re-creation, as they were burned and rebuilt every 60–80 years. Some scholars have theorized that these settlements' inhabitants believed every house symbolized an organic, almost living, entity. Each house, including its ceramic vases, ovens, figurines and innumerable objects made of perishable materials, shared the same circle of life, and all of the buildings in the settlement were physically linked together as a larger symbolic entity. As with living beings, the settlements may have been seen as having a life cycle of death and rebirth. [10]
As the settlements grew, the houses were arranged in two elliptical rows, separated by a space of 70–100 metres (220–320 feet). Each household was almost completely self-supportive within these communities as if instead of being located within a settlement, each family was living away from town and neighbors in the country. A lack of public infrastructure within these settlements compelled the inhabitants to include all aspects of their lives within their domicile; ovens, kilns, working, and sleeping areas were all within the same space as the family's sacred altars. The buildings included both the sacred and profane, which some authorities see as evidence to support the idea that the inhabitants viewed their homes as living beings. [11]
The existence of the giant settlements was discovered in the 1960s, when the military topographer K.V. Shishkin noticed the presence of peculiar spots from certain aerial photographs. [7]
Scholars posit two theories regarding the impetus behind the formation of the large Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements:
Ukrainian archeologist Ivan T. Černjakov credits the large size of some of the Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements to their agricultural system, which was affected by the climatic changes over the years. [12] This can be seen by examining the historic and modern changes in sea level of the nearby Black Sea. [12]
Some of these large settlements include:
A 2009 British-Ukrainian archaeological expedition, organized by John Chapman and Mykhailo Videiko, focussed on the 300 ha mega-site of Nebelivka, Kirovograd domain, enabling the production of a 15 ha geophysics plot with over 50 burnt structures and a small number of unburnt structures, as well as pits and other anomalies. The remains of one house were excavated. This settlement, dated to the B II period of Trypillia Culture, was the largest around 4000 BCE.
With the mega settlements of the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture starting in 4300 BCE, very large settlements would continue for almost 2000 years. As of 2014 [update] , more than 2440 Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements have been discovered so far in Moldova, Ukraine and Romania. 194 (8%) of these settlements had an area of more than 10 hectares between 5000–2700 BCE and more than 29 settlements had an area in the range 100–450 hectares and 2,800 houses. [15] [16] [17] [18]
The settlements were primarily administrative, military, and religious centres and not for crafts. The typical Trypillia hierarchy was one dominant "capital" with a population up to 15,000 people and more than 100 hectares; this capital was surrounded by satellite towns typically in the size range of 10–40 hectares and villages in the range of 2–7 hectares. The capital-controlled territories are as far away as 20 km (12,5 mi) from the center. [19]
The latest research indicates that the settlements had a three-level settlement hierarchy, with the possibility of state-level societies. An excavated mega-structures suggests the presence of public buildings for meetings or ceremonies. [20]
The following is a list of the largest settlements with the approximate peak population times. Remember, population estimates of ancient settlements should always be taken with caution, with different interpretations depending on the scholar.
5000–4600 BCE | 4300–4000 BCE | 4000–3600 BCE | 3600–3200 BCE | 3200–2750 BCE |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mogylna. 500–800 | ||||
Vesioly Kut. 5,000–7,500 | ||||
Nebelivka. 10,000–15,000 | ||||
Trypillia. 6,600–10,000 | ||||
Myropillya. 6,600–10,000 | ||||
Kharkivka. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Glubochek. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Pianeshkove. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Vil’khovets. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Fedorovka, Ukraine. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Tomashovka. 6,600–10,000 | ||||
Maydanets. 10,000–46,000 | ||||
Dobrovody. 10,000–16,200 | ||||
Talianki. 6,300–15,000–30,000 | ||||
Khrystynivka. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Volodymyrivka. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Peregonivka. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Vladyslavcyk. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Chychyrkozivka. 10,000–15,000 | ||||
Kvitky. 5,000–7,500 | ||||
Ksaverove. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Yaltushkiv. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Sushkivka. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Stina, Ukraine. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Romanivka. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Rozsokhuvatka. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Apolyanka. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Apolyanka. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Kosenivka. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Kocherzhyntsi. 3,300–6,500 | ||||
Ultimately, the large scale of the Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements may have contributed to the downfall of their society, according to a theory that attributes their collapse to ecological factors. [21] Due to a dramatic worldwide climate change around 3200 BCE, the area of the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture would have been plunged into a devastating Dust Bowl drought. With their reliance on agriculture to produce food, feeding the many inhabitants of these large-scale settlements would have been unsustainable, leading to the dramatic end of the Cucuteni-Trypillia farming society and replaced by the more drought-appropriate pastoral nomadic society of the Proto-Indo-Europeans that followed. [22]
More recent research based on the geophysical survey and excavation of a number of the large settlements or "megasites" suggests that these declined in part due to a process of social fissioning as emerging hierarchical decision-making models were rejected by communities politically organized into autonomous segmented lineages. [23]
Old Europe is a term coined by the Lithuanian archaeologist Marija Gimbutas to describe what she perceived as a relatively homogeneous pre-Indo-European Neolithic and Copper Age culture or civilisation in Southeast Europe, centred in the Lower Danube Valley. Old Europe is also referred to in some literature as the Danube civilisation.
The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, also known as the Cucuteni culture, Trypillia culture or Tripolye culture is a Neolithic–Chalcolithic archaeological culture of Southeast Europe. It extended from the Carpathian Mountains to the Dniester and Dnieper regions, centered on modern-day Moldova and covering substantial parts of western Ukraine and northeastern Romania, encompassing an area of 350,000 km2 (140,000 sq mi), with a diameter of 500 km.
Trypillia is a village in Obukhiv Raion (district) of Kyiv Oblast in central Ukraine, with 2,800 inhabitants. It belongs to Ukrainka urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Trypillia lies about 40 km (25 mi) south from Kyiv on the Dnipro.
Vikentiy Viacheslavovych Khvoyka was an archaeologist who discovered the Neolithic Trypillia culture of Ukraine. He also researched the Scythian, Zarubintsy, Chernyakhov and early Slavic archaeological cultures.
Dobrovody is a village located within the Uman Raion (district) of the Cherkasy Oblast (province), Ukraine.
Maidanetske is a village located within the Zvenyhorodka Raion (district) of the Cherkasy Oblast (province), about 235 kilometers (146 mi) driving distance south of Kyiv. It belongs to Talne urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.
Shypyntsi, a village in Ukraine, is located within Chernivtsi Raion (district) of Chernivtsi Oblast (province), about 530 kilometers (330 mi) driving distance southwest of Kyiv, and about 30 kilometers (19 mi) northwest from the provincial capital of Chernivtsi. Shypyntsi is about 48 kilometers (30 mi) from the Ukrainian/Romanian border, about 64 kilometers (40 mi) from the Ukrainian/Moldovan border, and about 80 kilometers (50 mi) from the city of Suceava, Romania. Boxing champion Oleksander Usyk is from this village, which is located on the left bank of the Prut River, amid rolling hills covered with farms and forests, in the region generally known as the Dniester Hills. It belongs to Kitsman urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.
The study of the religion and ritual of the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture has provided important insights into the early history of Europe. The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture inhabited the present-day southeastern European nations of Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine during the Neolithic and Copper Ages. It left behind many settlement ruins that contain archaeological artifacts attesting to their cultural and technological characteristics.
Throughout most of its existence, the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture was fairly stable. Near the end it began to change from a gift economy to an early form of trade called reciprocity, and introduced the apparent use of barter tokens, an early form of money.
Due partly to the fact that this took place before the written record of this region began, there have been a number of theories presented over the years to fill the gap of knowledge about how and why the end of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture happened. These theories include invasions from various groups of people, a gradual cultural shift as more advanced societies settled in their region, and environmental collapse.
Talianki or Talianky is an archaeological site near the village of the same name in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. It was the location of a large Cucuteni-Trypillian settlement dating to around 3850–3700 BC, currently the largest known settlement in Neolithic Europe. The settlement, built on a bluff between the Talianka River and a smaller stream, was made up of ovular, concentric rows of interconnected buildings. Built on top of the older Cucuteni-Trypillian settlement are the remains of some Yamnaya culture tumuli dating to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, as well as some graves from the late Bronze Age.
Nebelivka, or Nebelovka, located in the village of the same name in Kirovohrad Oblast, Ukraine, is the site of an ancient mega-settlement dating to 4000 B.C. belonging to the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture. The settlement was for the time huge, covering an area of 260-300 hectares and home to perhaps 15,000 - 17,000 people. The settlement within the boundary ditch includes over 1200 structures. Research from 2012 to 2014 imply "the possibility of state-level societies", contemporary with similar developments in Uruk. Mega-structures "suggest the presence of public buildings for meetings or ceremonies".
Fedorivka is a selo in Novoukrainka Raion, Kirovohrad Oblast of Ukraine. Fedorivka belongs to Tyshkivka rural hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The village is best known as the site of an ancient mega-settlement dating to 4100 BC belonging to the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture. The settlement was very large for that time, covering an area of 50–100 hectares and an estimated population of 6,700.
Valyava, in Ukraine, is the site of an ancient mega-settlement dating to 4000 - 3600 B.C. belonging to the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture. The settlement was for the time very large, covering an area of 100 hectares. This proto-city are just one of 2440 Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements discovered so far in Moldova and Ukraine. 194 (8%) of these settlements had an area of more than 10 hectares between 5000 - 2700 B.C. and more than 29 settlements had an area in the range 100 - 300 - 450 Hectares.
Garbusyn, in Ukraine, is the site of an ancient mega-settlement dating to 4000 - 3600 B.C. belonging to the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture. The settlement was for the time very large, covering an area of 80 hectares. This proto-city are just one of 2440 Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements discovered so far in Moldova and Ukraine. 194 (8%) of these settlements had an area of more than 10 hectares between 5000 - 2700 B.C. and more than 29 settlements had an area in the range 100 - 300 - 450 Hectares.
Vasylkove, in Ukraine, is the site of an ancient mega-settlement dating to 3600 - 3200 B.C. belonging to the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture. The settlement was for the time very large, covering an area of 100 hectares. This proto-city is just one of 2440 Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements discovered so far in Moldova and Ukraine. 194 (8%) of these settlements had an area of more than 10 hectares between 5000 - 2700 B.C. and more than 29 settlements had an area in the range 100 - 300 - 450 hectares.
Olkhovets is the site of an ancient mega-settlement dating to 2750 B.C. belonging to the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture, located in present day Ukraine. The settlement was for the time very large, covering an area of 180 hectares. This proto-city are just one of 2440 Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements discovered so far in Moldova and Ukraine. 194 (8%) of these settlements had an area of more than 10 hectares between 5000 - 2700 B.C. and more than 29 settlements had an area in the range 100 - 300 - 450 Hectares.
Petreny, Moldova is a Cucuteni–Trypillian culture settlement dating to 4000-3600 BC which had 500 buildings covering an area of 30 hectare. The layout of the settlement consists of concentric circles of buildings, similar to other Cucuteni–Trypillian settlements, but at Petreny there are the very high number of 10 concentric circles. Most of the building was the same size, but some was considerably larger at the length of 15 x 6 m.
Nebelivka is a village in Holovanivsk Raion, Kirovohrad Oblast, Ukraine. It belongs to Pidvysoke rural hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. As of 2001, it had a population of 713.
Verteba Cave is a karstic cave near the village of Bilche-Zolote, Chortkiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine. It sits near the Seret river, on a high plateau known as the Podolian Upland, and is one of several such caves in the region formed in gypsum. Verteba is the only cave in this cluster to show signs of prehistoric occupation. In Copper Age Europe, the cave was inhabited periodically by the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture. Thousands of artefacts, including ceramic vessels, clay figurines, bones, and tools, have been found inside. Human remains—which mainly consist of disembodied skulls—have been found bearing injuries consistent with having been intentionally killed.
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