Everything about the Cucuteni Culture totally explained
The
Cucuteni culture, better known in the countries of the former
Soviet Union as
Trypillian culture or
Tripolie culture, is a late
Neolithic archaeological culture that flourished between ca. 5500 BC and 2750 BC in the
Dniester-
Dnieper region of modern-day
Romania,
Moldova, and
Ukraine.
Nomenclature
The culture was named after
Cucuteni,
Iaşi county, Romania, where the first objects associated with this culture were discovered in 1884 and excavations started in 1909. In 1897, similar objects were excavated in
Trypillia (Трипiлля; Russian:
Tripolye),
Kiev Governorate, Ukraine. As a result, the culture has been known in Soviet, Russian, and Ukrainian publications as
Tripolie culture or
Tripolian culture. A compromise name is
Cucuteni-Trypillia.
Extent
As of 2003, about 2000 sites of Cucuteni-Trypillian culture have been identified in Romania, Ukraine, and Moldova. J.P. Mallory reports that the
culture is attested from well over a thousand sites in the form of everything from small villages to vast settlements comprised of hundreds of dwellings surrounded by multiple ditches
It was centered on the middle to upper
Dniester River (in the present-day
Republic of Moldova) with an extension in the northeast to as far as the
Dnieper.
The largest cities
Talianki whit up to 15,000 citizens and covered a area of 450 ha and 2700 houses, 3700 BC.
Dobrovody up to 10,000 citizens and covered a area of 2,5 square km and fortified 3800 BC.
Maydanets up to 10,000 citizens, area 250 ha, 1575 houses, 3700 BC.
Features
The largest collection of artifacts from the Cucuteni-Trypollia culture can be found in museums in Russia, Ukraine, and Romania, including the
Hermitage Museum in
St. Petersburg and the
Museum of History & Archaeology in
Piatra Neamţ.
The Cucuteni-Tripolye culture has been called the first urban culture in Europe. The Trypollia settlements were usually located on a plateau, fortified with earthworks and ditches. The earliest villages consisted of ten to fifteen households. In their heyday, settlements expanded to include several hundred large adobe huts, sometimes with two stories. These houses were typically warmed by an oven and had round windows.
Agriculture is attested to, as well as livestock-raising, mainly consisting of cattle, but goats/sheep and swine are also evidenced. Wild game is a regular part of the faunal remains. The pottery is connected to the
Linear Pottery culture. Copper was extensively imported from the
Balkans. Extant figurines excavated at the Cucuteni sites are thought to represent the
Mother goddess.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Cucuteni Culture'.
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