View source for Cucuteni–Trypillia culture

{{short description|Neolithic–Eneolithic archaeological culture}}
{{See also|Old Europe (archaeology)}}
{{Lead rewrite|date=January 2023}}
{{Cucuteni–Trypillia sidebar}}
{{Chalcolithic}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
The '''Cucuteni–Trypillia culture''', also known as the '''Cucuteni culture''' or '''Trypillia culture''' is a [[Neolithic Europe|Neolithic]]–[[Chalcolithic]] [[archaeological culture]] ({{ca.}} 5050 to 2950 BC)<ref>Arponen, V. P. J., René Ohlrau and Tim Kerig, (October 30, 2024). [https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/opar-2024-0013/html "The Capability Approach and Archaeological Interpretation of Transformations: On the Role of Philosophy for Archaeology"], in: Open Archaeology Volume 10 Issue 1.</ref> 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 {{convert|350,000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, with a diameter of 500&nbsp;km (300&nbsp;mi; roughly from [[Kyiv]] in the northeast to [[Brașov]] in the southwest).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna26839697 |title=7,000 years ago, Neolithic optical art flourished – Technology & science – Science – DiscoveryNews.com |work=NBC News |date=22 September 2008 |access-date=24 December 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224112849/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26839697/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/years-ago-neolithic-optical-art-flourished/ |archive-date=24 December 2015}}</ref><ref name="Mantu">{{cite journal | last = Mantu | first = Cornelia-Magda | title = Cucuteni–Tripolye cultural complex: relations and synchronisms with other contemporaneous cultures from the Black Sea area | journal = Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica | volume = VII | page = 267 | publisher = Iași University | location = Iași, Romania | year = 2000 | url = http://cisa.uaic.ro/saa/no7.htm | oclc = 228808567 | url-status = live | archive-url = http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110711055237/http://cisa.uaic.ro/saa/no7.htm | archive-date = 11 July 2011}}</ref>
The majority of Cucuteni–Trypillia settlements were of small size, high density (spaced 3 to 4 kilometres apart), concentrated mainly in the [[Siret (river)|Siret]], [[Prut]] and Dniester river valleys.<ref name="Mallory">{{cite book|last1= Mallory|first1= James P|title= In search of the Indo-Europeans: language, archaeology and myth|year= 1989|publisher= Thames and Hudson|location= London|isbn= 0-500-05052-X|oclc= 246601873|url= https://archive.org/details/insearchofindoeu00jpma}}</ref> During its middle phase (c. 4100 to 3500 BC), populations belonging to the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture built some of the largest settlements in [[Eurasia]], some of which contained as many as three thousand structures and were possibly inhabited by 20,000 to 46,000 people.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Diachenko|first=Aleksandr|author2=Francesco Menotti|title=The gravity model: monitoring the formation and development of the Tripolye culture giant-settlements in Ukraine|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|year=2012|volume=39|issue=8|pages=2810–2817|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2012.04.025|bibcode=2012JArSc..39.2810D }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/8641305|title=High precision Tripolye settlement plans, demographic estimations and settlement organization|first=Johannes|last=Müller|website=academia.edu|access-date=6 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113190128/http://www.academia.edu/8641305/High_precision_Tripolye_settlement_plans_demographic_estimations_and_settlement_organization|archive-date=13 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="MüllerRassmann2016">{{cite book|last1=Müller|first1=Johannes|last2=Rassmann|first2=Knut|last3=Videiko|first3=Mykhailo|title=Trypillia Mega-Sites and European Prehistory: 4100–3400 BCE|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-3twCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT347|year=2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-24791-3|page=347}}</ref> The 'mega-sites' of the culture, which have been claimed to be early forms of cities, were the largest settlements in Europe, dating to the [[5th millennium BC]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Gaydarska |first1=Bisserka |last2=Nebbia |first2=Marco |last3=Chapman |first3=John |date=2020 |title=Trypillia Megasites in Context: Independent Urban Development in Chalcolithic Eastern Europe |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0959774319000301/type/journal_article |journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal |language=en |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=97–121 |doi=10.1017/S0959774319000301 |issn=0959-7743}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last1=Kirleis |first1=Wiebke |last2=Corso |first2=Marta Dal |last3=Pashkevych |first3=Galyna |last4=Schlütz |first4=Frank |last5=Hofmann |first5=Robert |last6=Terna |first6=Andreea |last7=Dreibrodt |first7=Stefan |last8=Rud |first8=Vitalii |last9=Videiko |first9=Mykhailo Y. |last10=Müller |first10=Johannes |date=2024-01-01 |title=A complex subsistence regime revealed for Cucuteni–Trypillia sites in Chalcolithic eastern Europe based on new and old macrobotanical data |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00334-023-00936-y |journal=Vegetation History and Archaeobotany |language=en |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=75–90 |doi=10.1007/s00334-023-00936-y |issn=1617-6278|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chapman |first1=John |last2=Gaydarska |first2=Bisserka |last3=Nebbia |first3=Marco |date=2019-05-31 |title=The Origins of Trypillia Megasites |journal=Frontiers in Digital Humanities |volume=6 |doi=10.3389/fdigh.2019.00010 |doi-access=free |issn=2297-2668}}</ref> The population of the culture at its peak may have reached or exceeded one million people.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Kovtun |first=Valeria |date=2021-08-06 |title=Cucuteni-Trypillia: Eastern Europe's lost civilisation |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210805-cucuteni-trypillia-eastern-europes-lost-civilisation |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}</ref> The culture was wealthy and influential in [[Eneolithic]] Europe<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Brigand |first1=Robin |last2=Weller |first2=Olivier |date=2018 |title=Neo-Eneolithic settlement pattern and salt exploitation in Romanian Moldavia |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2352409X17304790 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |language=en |volume=17 |pages=68–78 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.10.032}}</ref> and the late Trypillia culture has also been described by scholar [[Asko Parpola]] as thriving and populous during the Copper Age.<ref name=":42">{{Cite book |last=Parpola |first=Asko |author-link=Asko Parpola |url=https://archive.org/details/rootsofhinduisme0000parp/page/43/mode/1up |title=The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and The Indus Civilization |date=2015-09-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-022690-9 |pages=43–46 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190226909.001.0001}}</ref> It has been proposed that it was initially egalitarian and that the rise of inequality contributed to its downfall.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hofmann |first1=Robert |last2=Müller-Scheeßel |first2=Nils |last3=Müller |first3=Johannes |date=2024 |title=Trypillia mega-sites: a social levelling concept? |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/trypillia-megasites-a-social-levelling-concept/A0048EA63DA8D0B00A513BFD7C24A679 |journal=Antiquity |language=en |volume=98 |issue=398 |pages=380–400 |doi=10.15184/aqy.2024.18 |issn=0003-598X|doi-access=free }}</ref>
The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture had elaborately designed [[pottery]] made with the help of advanced [[Kiln|kilns]], advanced architectural techniques that allowed for the construction of large buildings, advanced agricultural practices, and developed [[metallurgy]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Prostak |first=Sergio |date=2024-07-02 |title=Trypillia Mega-Sites Avoided Wealth Inequalities between Individual Households, Archaeologists Say |url=https://www.sci.news/archaeology/trypillia-mega-sites-13069.html |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=Sci.News: Breaking Science News |language=en-US}}</ref> The economy was based on an elaborate agricultural system, along with [[animal husbandry]], with the inhabitants knowing how to grow plants that could withstand the ecological constraints of growth.<ref name=":5" /> Cultivation practices of the culture were important in the establishment of the cultural steppe in the present-day region as well.<ref name=":5" />
A [[potter's wheel]] from the middle of the 5th millennium BC is the oldest ever found, and predates evidence of wheels in [[Mesopotamia]] by several hundred years.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Haarmann |first=Harald |author-link=Harald Haarmann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FkL_DwAAQBAJ&dq=danube+river+civilization+potter%27s+wheel&pg=PA40 |title=Advancement in Ancient Civilizations: Life, Culture, Science and Thought |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-4766-4075-4 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |pages=40 |language=en}}</ref> The culture also has the oldest evidence of wheels for vehicles, which predate any evidence of wheels for vehicles in Mesopotamia by several hundred years as well.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Parpola |first=Asko |author-link=Asko Parpola |url=https://archive.org/details/rootsofhinduisme0000parp/page/43/mode/1up |title=The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and The Indus Civilization |date=2015-09-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-022690-9 |pages=43–46 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190226909.001.0001}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2PAkBwAAQBAJ&dq=Starokorsunskaya+wheel&pg=PA113 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe |date=2015-03-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-954584-1 |editor-last=Fowler |editor-first=Chris |pages=113 |language=en |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199545841.001.0001 |editor-last2=Harding |editor-first2=Jan |editor-last3=Hofmann |editor-first3=Daniela}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bulliet |first=Richard W. |author-link=Richard W. Bulliet |url=https://archive.org/details/the-wheel-inventions-and-reinventions-0231173385-9780231173384-9780231540612_compress |title=The Wheel: Inventions And Reinventions |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-231-54061-2 |series= |location=New York |pages=6, 51–70 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Standage |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Standage |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YoQWEAAAQBAJ&dq=wheel+originated+eastern+europe&pg=PA2 |title=A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel, to the Car, to What Comes Next |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-63557-361-9 |location=New York |pages=2–5 |language=en |oclc=on1184237267}}</ref>
One of the most notable aspects of this culture was the [[burned house horizon|periodic destruction of settlements]], with each single-habitation site having a lifetime of roughly 60 to 80 years.<ref name="Monah">{{Citation | first1 = Dan | last1 = Monah | editor-last = Dumitroaia | editor-first = Gheorghe | chapter = Religie si arta in cultura Cucuteni |trans-chapter=Religion and art in Cucuteni culture | title = Primul muzeu Cucuteni din Romania |trans-title=The first Cucuteni museum for Romania | series = Bibliotheca memoriae antiquitatis XV | year = 2005 | pages = 162–173 | place = Piatra-Neamț, Romania | publisher = Editura Foton | language = ro | oclc = 319165024}}</ref> The purpose of burning these settlements is a subject of debate among scholars; some of the settlements were reconstructed several times on top of earlier habitational levels, preserving the shape and the orientation of the older buildings. One location, the [[Poduri]] site in Romania, revealed thirteen habitation levels that were constructed on top of each other over many years.<ref name="Monah" />
== Nomenclature ==
[[File:库库特尼陶碗陶罐.JPG|thumb|Three [[Chalcolithic]] ceramic vessels (from left to right): a bowl on stand, a vessel on stand and an amphora, ca. 4300–4000 BC; from [[Scânteia, Iași|Scânteia]], Romania and displayed at the [[Palace of Culture (Iași)|Moldavia National Museum Complex]]|267x267px]]
The culture was initially named after the village of [[Cucuteni]] in [[Iași County]], Romania. In 1884, [[Teodor Burada|Teodor T. Burada]], after having seen ceramic fragments in the gravel used to maintain the road from [[Târgu Frumos]] to [[Iași]], investigated the quarry in Cucuteni from where the material was mined, where he found fragments of pottery and [[terracotta]] figurines. Burada and other scholars from Iași, including the poet [[Nicolae Beldiceanu]] and [[archeologists]] [[Grigore Butureanu]], [[Dimitrie C. Butculescu]] and [[George Diamandy]], subsequently began the first excavations at Cucuteni in the spring of 1885.<ref name="Sapienza" /> Their findings were published in 1885<ref>{{cite journal | last = Beldiceanu | first = Nicolae | title = Antichitățile de la Cucuteni | language=ro |trans-title=The Antiquities at Cucuteni | journal = Schiță Arheologică | location = Iași | year = 1885}}</ref> and 1889,<ref>{{cite journal | last = Butureanu | first = Grigore | title=Notita asupra sapaturilor si cercetarilor facute la Cucuteni | language=ro |trans-title=Note on the Diggings and Research at Cucuteni | journal = Arhiva Societății științifice și Literare din Iași | volume=I | year = 1989 }}</ref> and presented in two international conferences in 1889, both in Paris: at the [[International Union for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences]] by Butureanu<ref name="Sapienza">{{Cite press release | title = Cucuteni-Trypillya: una grande civiltà dell'antica Europa | trans-title = Cucuteni–Trypillia: a great civilization of ancient Europe | publisher = Sapienza – Università di Roma | date = 16 September – 31 October 2008 | language = it | url = http://cisadu2.let.uniroma1.it/air/docs/appuntamenti/CUCUTENI.doc | access-date = 21 November 2009 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110717203007/http://cisadu2.let.uniroma1.it/air/docs/appuntamenti/CUCUTENI.doc | archive-date = 17 July 2011 }}</ref> and at a meeting of the [[Society of Anthropology of Paris]] by Diamandi.<ref>{{cite web | title = In search of time past | publisher = The Institute of archaeology in Iași | url = http://www.arheo.ro/text/eng/istoric_eng.html | access-date = 21 November 2009 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110904080521/http://www.arheo.ro/text/eng/istoric_eng.html | archive-date = 4 September 2011 }}</ref>
At the same time, the first Ukrainian sites ascribed to the culture were discovered by [[Vikentiy Khvoyka|Vincenc Chvojka]] (Vikentiy Khvoyka), a Czech-born Ukrainian archeologist, in Kyiv at Kyrylivska street 55. The year of his discoveries has been variously claimed as 1893,<ref name="Trypillia.com">{{cite web|title=Welcome to the Trypillian e-Museum |publisher=The Trypillian Civilization Society |url=http://www.trypillia.com/museum/index.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607190617/http://www.trypillia.com/museum/index.shtml |archive-date=7 June 2008 |access-date=21 November 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 1896<ref>{{cite web|last=Videiko |first=Mykhailo |title=Trypillian Civilization in the prehistory of Europe |publisher=The Trypillian Civilization Society |url=http://www.trypillia.com/articles/eng/se4.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621083222/http://www.trypillia.com/articles/eng/se4.shtml |archive-date=21 June 2008 |access-date=21 November 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and 1887.<ref name="Taranec">{{cite web|last=Taranec |first=Natalie |title=The Trypilska Kultura – The Spiritual Birthplace of Ukraine? |publisher=The Trypillian Civilization Society |url=http://www.trypillia.com/articles/eng/re1.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621083210/http://www.trypillia.com/articles/eng/re1.shtml |archive-date=21 June 2008 |access-date=21 November 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Subsequently, Vincenc Chvojka presented his findings at the 11th Congress of Archaeologists in 1897, which is considered the official date of the discovery of the Trypillia culture in Ukraine.<ref name="Trypillia.com" /><ref name="Taranec" /> In the same year, similar artifacts were found in the village of [[Trypillia]] ({{langx|uk|Трипiлля}}), in [[Kyiv Oblast]], Ukraine. As a result, this culture became identified in Ukrainian publications (and later in Soviet Russia), as the 'Tripolie' (or 'Tripolye', from [[Russian language|Russian]] Триполье), 'Tripolian' or 'Trypillia' culture.
Today, the finds from both Romania and Ukraine, as well as those from [[Moldova]], are recognised as belonging to the same cultural complex. It is generally called the Cucuteni culture in Romania and the Trypillia culture in Ukraine. In English, "Cucuteni–Tripolye culture" is most commonly used to refer to the whole culture,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ellis|first1=Linda|title=The Cucuteni–Tripolye culture: study in technology and the origins of complex society|series=BAR international series|volume=217|year=1984|publisher=British Archaeological Reports (B.A.R)|location=Oxford|isbn=0-86054-279-3|oclc=11385722}}</ref> with the Ukrainian-derived term "Cucuteni–Trypillia culture" gaining currency following the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]].
== Geography ==
[[File:SEE-Eneolithic-cultures-Cucuteni.jpg|thumb|300px|Chalcolithic cultures of Southeastern Europe, with major archaeological sites. (See: [[Old Europe (archaeology)|Old Europe]])]]
The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture flourished in the territory of what is now [[Moldova]], eastern and northeastern [[Romania]] and parts of [[Western Ukraine|Western]], [[Central Ukraine|Central]] and [[Southern Ukraine]].
The culture thus extended northeast from the [[Danube]] river basin around the [[Iron Gates]] to the [[Black Sea]] and the [[Dnieper]]. It encompassed the central [[Carpathian Mountains]] as well as the plains, [[steppe]] and [[forest steppe]] on either side of the range. Its historical core lay around the middle to upper [[Dniester]] (the [[Podolian Upland]]).<ref name="Mantu" /> During the [[Atlantic (period)|Atlantic]] and [[Subboreal]] climatic periods in which the culture flourished, Europe was at its warmest and moistest since the end of the last Ice Age, creating favorable conditions for agriculture in this region.
As of 2003, about 3,000 cultural sites have been identified,<ref name="Monah" /> ranging from small villages to "vast settlements consisting of hundreds of dwellings surrounded by multiple ditches".<ref>{{Citation | last1 = Mallory | first1 = J.P. | last2 = Adams | first2 = D.Q. | title = Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture | place = Chicago | publisher = Fitzroy Dearborn | year = 1997 | oclc = 37931209| title-link = Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture }}</ref>
== Chronology ==
=== Periodization ===
Traditionally separate schemes of periodization have been used for the Ukrainian Trypillia and Romanian Cucuteni variants of the culture. The Cucuteni scheme, proposed by the German archaeologist Hubert Schmidt in 1932,<ref>{{Citation | last = Schmidt | first = Hubert | title = Cucuteni in der oberen Moldau, Rumănien: die befestigte Siedlung mit bemalter Keramik von der Steinkupferzeit bis in die vollentwickelte Bronzezeit |trans-title=Cucuteni in upper Moldova, Romania: the fortified settlement with painted pottery from the stone age to the copper age | place = Berlin | publisher = W. de Gruyter | year = 1932 | language = de | oclc = 4942033}}</ref> distinguished three cultures: Pre-Cucuteni, Cucuteni and Horodiștea–Foltești; which were further divided into phases (Pre-Cucuteni I–III and Cucuteni A and B).<ref name="Lazarovici 2010">{{cite journal|last=Lazarovici|first=Cornelia-Magda|year=2010|title=New data regarding the chronology of the Pre-Cucuteni, Cucuteni and Horodiștea–Erbiceni cultures|journal=PANTA RHEI: Studies on the Chronology and Cultural Development of South-Eastern and Central Europe in Earlier Prehistory Presented to Juraj Pavúk on the Occasion of His 75th Birthday|pages=71–94}}</ref> The Ukrainian scheme was first developed by [[Tatiana Sergeyevna Passek]] in 1949<ref name="Passek">{{Citation | last = Passek | first = Tatiana Sergeyevna | title = Periodizatsiia tripolʹskikh poseleniĭ, iii–ii tysiacheletie do n. ė. |trans-title=Trypillia settlement periodization… | place = Moscow | publisher = Izd-vo Akademii nauk SSSR | series = Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii SSSR | year = 1949 | volume = 10 | ol = 22401126M | url = https://openlibrary.org/b/OL22401126M/Periodizat︠s︡ii︠a︡_tripolʹskikh_poseleniĭ | language = ru | oclc = 27000780}}</ref> and divided the Trypillia culture into three main phases (A, B, and C) with further sub-phases (BI–II and CI–II).<ref name="Lazarovici 2010" /> Initially based on informal [[seriation (archaeology)|ceramic seriation]], both schemes have been extended and revised since first proposed, incorporating new data and formalised mathematical techniques for artifact seriation.<ref name="Bailey">{{cite book | last = Bailey | first = Douglass W. | title = Prehistoric figurines: representation and corporeality in the Neolithic | publisher = Routledge | year = 2005 | location = London; New York | url = http://www.routledge.com/9780415331517 | oclc = 56686499}}</ref>{{rp|page=103}}
The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture is commonly divided into Early, Middle, and Late periods, with varying smaller sub-divisions marked by changes in settlement and material culture. A key point of contention lies in how these phases correspond to [[radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon data]]. The following chart represents this most current interpretation:<ref name="Lazarovici 2010" />
{|
|- valign=top
|• Early (Pre-Cucuteni I–III to Cucuteni A–B, Trypillia A to Trypillia BI–II): ||5800 to 5000 BC
|- valign=top
|• Middle (Cucuteni B, Trypillia BII to CI–II):&nbsp; &nbsp;||5000 to 3500 BC
|- valign=top
|• Late (Horodiștea–Foltești, Trypillia CII):&nbsp; &nbsp;||3500 to 3000 BC
|}
=== Early period (5800–5000 BC) ===
[[File:Goddess figurine with Tattoos.jpg|thumb|286x286px|Goddess figurine, Romania, 4050–3900 BC]]
The roots of Cucuteni–Trypillia culture can be found in the [[Starčevo culture|Starčevo–Körös–Criș]] and [[Vinča culture|Vinča]] cultures of the 6th to 5th millennia,<ref name="Monah" /> with additional influence from the [[Bug–Dniester culture]] (6500–5000 BC).<ref name="Khol">{{cite journal | last = Khol | first = Philip L. | title = Archeological transformations: crossing the pastoral/agricultural bridge | journal = Iranica Antiqua | volume = 37 | pages = 151–190 | publisher = E.J. Brill | location = Leiden | year = 2002 | url = http://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=121&journal_code=IA | oclc = 60616426 | access-date = 21 November 2009 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110717084019/http://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=121&journal_code=IA | archive-date = 17 July 2011 }}</ref> During the early period of its existence (in the fifth millennium BC), the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture was also influenced by the [[Linear Pottery culture]] from the north, and by the [[Boian culture]] from the south.<ref name="Monah" /> Through colonisation and acculturation from these other cultures, the formative Pre-Cucuteni/Trypillia A culture was established. Over the course of the fifth millennium, the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture expanded from its 'homeland' in the [[Prut]]–[[Siret]] region along the eastern foothills of the Carpathian Mountains into the basins and plains of the Dnieper and [[Southern Bug]] rivers of central Ukraine.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Zbenovich|first=Vladimir G.|date=1 June 1996|title=The Tripolye culture: Centenary of research|journal=Journal of World Prehistory|language=en|volume=10|issue=2|pages=199–241|doi=10.1007/BF02221076|s2cid=161588641|issn=1573-7802}}</ref> Settlements also developed in the southeastern stretches of the Carpathian Mountains, with the materials known locally as the '''Ariușd culture''' (''see also: [[Prehistory of Transylvania]]''). Most of the settlements were located close to rivers, with fewer settlements located on the plateaus. Most early dwellings took the form of [[pit-house]]s, though they were accompanied by an ever-increasing incidence of above-ground clay houses.<ref name=":0" /> The floors and hearths of these structures were made of clay, and the walls of clay-plastered wood or reeds. Roofing was made of thatched straw or reeds.
The inhabitants were involved with [[animal husbandry]], agriculture, fishing and [[Hunter-gatherer|gathering]]. Wheat, rye and peas were grown. Tools included ploughs made of antler, stone, bone and sharpened sticks. The harvest was collected with [[scythe]]s made of flint-inlaid blades. The grain was milled into flour by [[quern-stone]]s. Women were involved in pottery, [[textile]]- and garment-making, and played a leading role in community life. Men hunted, herded the livestock, made tools from flint, bone and stone.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} Of their livestock, cattle were the most important, with swine, sheep and goats playing lesser roles. The question of whether or not the horse was [[domestication of the horse|domesticated]] during this time of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture is disputed among historians; horse remains have been found in some of their settlements, but it is unclear whether these remains were from [[wild horse]]s or domesticated ones.
Clay statues of females and amulets have been found dating to this period. Copper items, primarily bracelets, rings and hooks, are occasionally found as well. A hoard of a large number of copper items was discovered in the village of [[Cărbuna]], Moldova, consisting primarily of items of jewelry, which were dated back to the beginning of the fifth millennium BC. Some historians have used this evidence to support the theory that a social stratification was present in early Cucuteni culture, but this is disputed by others.<ref name="Monah" />
Pottery remains from this early period are very rarely discovered; the remains that have been found indicate that the ceramics were used after being [[pit fired pottery|fired in a kiln]]. The outer colour of the pottery is a smoky grey, with raised and sunken [[relief]] decorations. Toward the end of this early Cucuteni–Trypillia period, the pottery begins to be painted before firing. The white-painting technique found on some of the pottery from this period was imported from the earlier and contemporary (5th millennium) [[Gumelnița–Karanovo culture]]. Historians point to this transition to kiln-fired, white-painted pottery as the turning point for when the Pre-Cucuteni culture ended and Cucuteni Phase (or Cucuteni–Trypillia culture) began.<ref name="Monah"/>
Cucuteni and the neighbouring Gumelnița–Karanovo cultures seem to be largely contemporary; the "Cucuteni A phase seems to be very long (4600–4050) and covers the entire evolution of the Gumelnița–Karanovo A1, A2, B2 phases (maybe 4650–4050)."<ref>Cornelia-Magda Mantu (PDF file) [http://saa.uaic.ro/articles/SAA.7.2000-2001.267-284.pdf Cucuteni–Tripolye Cultural Complex: Relations and Synchronisms with Other Contemporaneous Cultures from the Black Sea Area.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150608054145/http://saa.uaic.ro/articles/SAA.7.2000-2001.267-284.pdf |date=8 June 2015 }} Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica, VII, 2000</ref>
=== Middle period (5000–3500 BC) ===
[[File:CucuteniRitualStatues.jpg|279x279px|thumb|Clay figurines, 4900–4750 BC, discovered in Balta Popii, Romania (Cucuteni Neolithic Art Museum, Piatra-Neamţ, Romania). The "Council of the Goddesses" was discovered consisting of 36 artifacts: 21 anthropomorphic statuettes, 13 thrones, 1 cone and 1 bead.<ref>[https://www.romaniajournal.ro/society-people/fibonacci-numbers-in-the-ancient-cucuteni-culture/ Fibonacci Numbers In The Ancient “Cucuteni” Culture.] Romania Journal (2023) - www.romaniajournal.ro</ref>]]
In the middle era, the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture spread over a wide area from Eastern [[Transylvania]] in the west to the Dnieper River in the east. During this period, the population immigrated into and settled along the banks of the upper and middle regions of the [[Right-bank Ukraine|Right Bank]] (or western side) of the Dnieper River, in present-day Ukraine. The population grew considerably during this time, resulting in settlements being established on plateaus, near major rivers and springs.
[[File:SoborulZeitelor2.JPG|thumb|left|One of the 'Council of the Goddesses'|176x176px]]
Their dwellings were built by placing vertical poles in the form of circles or ovals. The construction techniques incorporated log floors covered in clay, [[Wattle and daub|wattle-and-daub]] walls that were woven from pliable branches and covered in clay and a clay [[oven]], which was situated in the centre of the dwelling. As the population in this area grew, more land was put under cultivation. Hunting supplemented the practice of animal husbandry of domestic livestock.
Tools made of flint, rock, clay, wood and bones continued to be used for cultivation and other chores. Much less common than other materials, copper axes and other tools have been discovered that were made from ore mined in [[Volyn Oblast|Volyn]], Ukraine, as well as some deposits along the Dnieper river. Pottery-making by this time had become sophisticated, however they still relied on techniques of making pottery by hand (the [[potter's wheel]] was not used yet). Characteristics of the Cucuteni–Trypillia pottery included a [[Monochrome|monochromic]] spiral design, painted with black paint on a yellow and red base. Large pear-shaped pottery for the storage of grain, dining plates and other goods, was also prevalent. Additionally, ceramic statues of female "goddess" figures, as well as figurines of animals and models of houses dating to this period have also been discovered.
Some scholars have used the abundance of these clay female [[Fetishism|fetish]] statues to base the theory that this culture was [[Matriarchy|matriarchal]] in nature. Indeed, it was partially the archaeological evidence from Cucuteni–Trypillia culture that inspired [[Marija Gimbutas]], [[Joseph Campbell]] and some latter 20th century [[Second-wave feminism|feminists]] to set forth the [[goddess movement|popular theory]] of an [[Old European culture]] of peaceful, egalitarian (counter to a widespread misconception, "matristic" ''not'' matriarchal<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sibyllineorder.org/history/hist_marija.htm |title=Interview with Marija Gimbutas |access-date=17 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007222300/http://www.sibyllineorder.org/history/hist_marija.htm |archive-date=7 October 2016 }}</ref>), [[goddess movement#Prehistoric cultures|goddess-centred]] neolithic European societies that were wiped out by [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]], [[Sky father|Sky Father]]-worshipping, warlike, [[Bronze-Age]] [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Proto-Indo-European]] tribes that swept out of [[Eurasian Steppe|the steppes]] north and east of the Black Sea.{{Citation needed|date=September 2018}}<!-- The following sentence is a strawman, Gimbutas intentionally did not call it a matriarchy, because she explicitly opposed the idea of "a strictly matriarchal society", and the matriarchy angle is the only aspect that the quote shows is discredited, except that is not even part of her theory: This theory [actually: The idea of a matriarchy] has been discredited by some in recent years,<ref>{{Citation | contribution="The view of matriarchy as constituting a stage of cultural development now is generally discredited. Furthermore, the consensus among modern anthropologists and sociologists is that a strictly matriarchal society never existed." | year = 2006 | title = Matriarchy | journal = Encyclopaedia Britannica 2007 | place = North Sydney | publisher = Encyclopaedia Britannica |isbn = 978-1-59339-329-8 | oclc = 224958314}}</ref> but there are still [[Sky father#Cultural influences|many]] people who adhere to it, at least to some degree. -->
[[File:库库特尼陶罐.JPG|thumb|Pottery, Romania, 3700-3500 BC]]
=== Late period (3500–3000 BC) ===
During the late period, the Cucuteni–Trypillia territory expanded to include the Volyn region in northwest Ukraine, the [[Sluch River (Ukraine)|Sluch]] and [[Horyn River|Horyn]] Rivers in northern Ukraine and along both banks of the Dnieper river near Kiev. Members of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture who lived along the coastal regions near the Black Sea came into contact with other cultures. Animal husbandry increased in importance, as hunting diminished; horses also became more important. Outlying communities were established on the [[Don River (Russia)|Don]] and [[Volga River|Volga]] rivers in present-day Russia. Dwellings were constructed differently from previous periods, and a new rope-like design replaced the older spiral-patterned designs on the pottery. Different forms of ritual burial were developed where the deceased were interred in the ground with elaborate burial rituals. An increasingly larger number of Bronze Age artefacts originating from other lands were found as the end of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture drew near.<ref name="Monah" />
=== Decline and end ===
{{Main|Decline and end of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture}}
{{See|Neolithic decline}}
There is a debate among scholars regarding how the end of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture took place.
According to some proponents of the [[Kurgan hypothesis]] of the origin of Proto-Indo-Europeans, and in particular the archaeologist [[Marija Gimbutas]], in her article "Notes on the chronology and expansion of the Pit-grave culture" (1961, later expanded by her and others), the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture was destroyed by force. Arguing from archaeological and linguistic evidence, Gimbutas concluded that the people of the [[Kurgan culture]] (a term grouping the [[Yamnaya culture]] and its predecessors) of the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]], being most likely speakers of the [[Proto-Indo-European language]], effectively destroyed the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture in a series of invasions undertaken during their expansion to the west. Based on this archaeological evidence Gimbutas saw distinct cultural differences between the patriarchal, warlike Kurgan culture and the more peaceful egalitarian Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, which she argued was a significant component of the "[[Old Europe (archaeology)|Old European cultures]]" which finally met extinction in a process visible in the progressing appearance of fortified settlements, [[hillfort]]s and the graves of warrior-chieftains, as well as in the religious transformation from the matriarchy to patriarchy, in a correlated east–west movement.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Gimbutas|1982|p=1}}</ref> In this, "the process of Indo-Europeanization was a cultural, not a physical, transformation and must be understood as a military victory in terms of successfully imposing a new administrative system, language, and religion upon the indigenous groups.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Gimbutas|1997|p=309}}</ref> Accordingly, these proponents of the Kurgan hypothesis hold that this invasion took place during the third wave of Kurgan expansion between 3000–2800 BC, permanently ending the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture. The theory "may find corroboration in the frequent evidence of violent death discovered in Verteba cave".{{sfn|Gelabert|2022}}
[[File:Archaeological finds in National Museum of the History of Ukraine 02.jpg|thumb|Cucuteni-Typillia ceramic vessel (National Museum of the History of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine)]]
In his 1989 book ''In Search of the Indo-Europeans'', Irish-American archaeologist [[J. P. Mallory]], summarising the three existing theories concerning the end of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, mentions that archaeological findings in the region indicate Kurgan (i.e. [[Yamnaya culture]]) settlements in the eastern part of the Cucuteni–Trypillia area, co-existing for some time with those of the Cucuteni–Trypillia.<ref name="Mallory" /> Artifacts from both cultures found within each of their respective archaeological settlement sites attest to an open trade in goods for a period,<ref name="Mallory" /> though he points out that the archaeological evidence clearly points to what he termed "a dark age," its population seeking refuge in every direction except east. He cites evidence of the refugees having used caves, islands and hilltops (abandoning in the process 600–700 settlements) to argue for the possibility of a gradual transformation rather than an armed onslaught bringing about cultural extinction.<ref name="Mallory" /> The potential issue with that theory is the limited common historical life-time between the Cucuteni–Trypillia (4800–2750 BC) and the [[Yamnaya culture]] (3300–2600 BC). At the same time, genetic analyses of Trypillian remains from the CII period of Trypillian chronology indicate a substantial presence of the so-called [[Western Steppe Herders|"steppe" genetic ancestry]] that characterizes representatives of the Yamna culture complex.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite journal |last1=Immel |first1=Alexander |last2=Țerna |first2=Stanislav |last3=Simalcsik |first3=Angela |last4=Susat |first4=Julian |last5=Šarov |first5=Oleg |last6=Sîrbu |first6=Ghenadie |last7=Hofmann |first7=Robert |last8=Müller |first8=Johannes |last9=Nebel |first9=Almut |last10=Krause-Kyora |first10=Ben |date=6 March 2020 |title=Gene-flow from steppe individuals into Cucuteni-Trypillia associated populations indicates long-standing contacts and gradual admixture |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=4253 |doi=10.1038/s41598-020-61190-0 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=7060214 |pmid=32144348|bibcode=2020NatSR..10.4253I }}</ref> Another potential contradicting indication is that the kurgans that replaced the traditional horizontal graves in the area now contain human remains of a fairly diversified skeletal type approximately ten centimeters taller on average than the previous population.<ref name="Mallory" /> At the same time, some Eneolithic steppe burials from the northwest Pontic region already displayed rather tall stature hundreds of years before the emergence of the Yamna culture complex.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nikitin |first1=Alexey G |last2=Ivanova |first2=Svetlana |last3=Kiosak |first3=Dmytro |last4=Badgerow |first4=Jessica |last5=Pashnick |first5=Jeff |date=June 2017 |title=Subdivisions of haplogroups U and C encompass mitochondrial DNA lineages of Eneolithic–Early Bronze Age Kurgan populations of western North Pontic steppe |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/jhg201712 |journal=Journal of Human Genetics |language=en |volume=62 |issue=6 |pages=605–613 |doi=10.1038/jhg.2017.12 |pmid=28148921 |s2cid=7459815 |issn=1434-5161}}</ref>
In the 1990s and 2000s, another theory regarding the end of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture emerged based on climatic change that took place at the end of their culture's existence that is known as the [[Blytt–Sernander system#Sub-Boreal|Blytt–Sernander Sub-Boreal]] phase. Beginning around 3200 BC, the Earth's climate became colder and drier than it had ever been since the end of the last [[Ice age]], resulting in the worst drought in the history of Europe since the beginning of agriculture.<ref name="autogenerated2007">Anthony, David W. (2007). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-691-05887-0}}.</ref> The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture relied primarily on farming, which would have collapsed under these climatic conditions in a scenario similar to the [[Dust Bowl]] of the American Midwest in the 1930s.<ref name="autogenerated79">Todorova, Henrietta (1995). "The Neolithic, Eneolithic, and Transitional in Bulgarian Prehistory". in Bailey, Douglass W.; Panayotov, Ivan. Prehistoric Bulgaria. Monographs in World Archaeology. 22. Madison, WI: Prehistoric Press. pp. 79–98. {{ISBN|1-881094-11-1}}.</ref> According to The American Geographical Union,
{{blockquote|The transition to today's arid climate was not gradual, but occurred in two specific episodes. The first, which was less severe, occurred between 6,700 and 5,500 years ago. The second, which was brutal, lasted from 4,000 to 3,600 years ago. Summer temperatures increased sharply, and precipitation decreased, according to carbon-14 dating. According to that theory, the neighboring Yamnaya culture people were [[Pastoralism|pastoralists]], and were able to maintain their survival much more effectively in drought conditions. This has led some scholars to come to the conclusion that the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture ended not violently, but as a matter of survival, converting their economy from agriculture to pastoralism, and becoming integrated into the Yamnaya culture.<ref name="Khol" /><ref name="autogenerated2007" /><ref name="autogenerated79" /><ref name="DeMeo">{{cite book|last1=DeMeo|first1=James|title=Saharasia: the 4000 BCE origins of child abuse, sex-repression, warfare and social violence in the deserts of the Old World: the revolutionary discovery of a geographic basis to human behavior|year=1998|publisher=Orgone Biophysical Research Lab|location=Greensprings, Oregon|isbn=0-9621855-5-8|oclc=39569359}}</ref>}} However, the Blytt–Sernander approach as a way to identify stages of technology in Europe with specific climate periods is an oversimplification not generally accepted. A conflict with that theoretical possibility is that during the warm [[Atlantic (period)|Atlantic period]], Denmark was occupied by [[Mesolithic]] cultures, rather than [[Neolithic]], notwithstanding the climatic evidence.{{Citation needed|date=September 2018}} Moreover, the technology stages varied widely globally. To this must be added that the first period of the climate transformation ended 500 years before the end of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture and the second approximately 1400 years after.
== Economy ==
{{Main|Economy of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture}}
[[File:Hubyn.JPG|thumb|Dniester landscape in [[Ternopil Oblast]], [[Western Ukraine]]]]
Throughout the 2,750 years of its existence, the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture was fairly stable and static; however, there were changes that took place. This article addresses some of these changes that have to do with the economic aspects. These include the basic economic conditions of the culture, the development of trade, interaction with other cultures and the apparent use of barter tokens, an early form of money.
Members of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture shared common features with other Neolithic societies, including:
* Almost nonexistent [[social stratification]]
* Lack of a [[Acephalous society|political elite]]
* Rudimentary economy, most likely a [[Subsistence economy|subsistence]] or [[gift economy]]
* [[Pastoralism|Pastoralists]] and [[Subsistence agriculture|subsistence farmers]]
Earlier societies of hunter-gatherer tribes had no social stratification, and later societies of the [[Bronze Age]] had noticeable social stratification, which saw the creation of [[Division of labour|occupational specialization]], the [[State (polity)|state]] and [[Class stratification|social classes]] of individuals who were of the elite [[Ruling class|ruling]] or religious classes, full-time [[warrior]]s and wealthy [[Barter|merchants]], contrasted with those individuals on the other end of the [[Social class|economic spectrum]] who were [[Poverty|poor]], [[History of slavery|enslaved]] and [[Hunger|hungry]]. In between these two economic models (the hunter-gatherer tribes and Bronze Age civilisations) we find the later Neolithic and [[Copper Age|Eneolithic]] societies such as the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, where the first indications of social stratification began to be found. However, it would be a mistake to overemphasise the impact of social stratification in the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, since it was still (even in its later phases) very much an [[Egalitarianism|egalitarian]] society. And of course, social stratification was just one of the many aspects of what is regarded as a fully established [[Civilization|civilised society]], which began to appear in the Bronze Age.<ref name="Khol" />
[[File:CucuteniBattleAxes.JPG|thumb|Copper tools]]
Like other Neolithic societies, the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture had almost no [[division of labor]]. Although this culture's settlements sometimes grew to become the largest on Earth at the time (up to 15,000 people in the largest),<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chapman|first1=John|last2=Videiko|first2=Mikhail Yu|last3=Hale|first3=Duncan|last4=Gaydarska|first4=Bisserka|last5=Burdo|first5=Natalia|last6=Rassmann|first6=Knut|last7=Mischka|first7=Carsten|last8=Müller|first8=Johannes|last9=Korvin-Piotrovskiy|first9=Aleksey|date=2014|title=The Second Phase of the Trypillia Mega-Site Methodological Revolution: A New Research Agenda|journal=European Journal of Archaeology|language=en|volume=17|issue=3|pages=369–406|doi=10.1179/1461957114Y.0000000062|issn=1461-9571|doi-access=free}}</ref> there is no evidence that has been discovered of labour specialisation. Every household probably had members of the extended family who would work in the fields to raise crops, go to the woods to hunt game and bring back firewood, work by the river to bring back clay or fish and all of the other duties that would be needed to survive. Contrary to popular belief, the Neolithic people experienced considerable abundance of food and other resources.<ref name="Mantu" />
Each household was mostly self-sufficient and there was very little need for trade. However, there were certain mineral resources that, because of limitations due to distance and prevalence, did form the rudimentary foundation for a trade network that towards the end of the culture began to develop into a more complex system, as is attested to by an increasing number of artifacts from other cultures that have been dated to the latter period.<ref name="Mallory" />
Toward the end of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture's existence (from roughly 3000 BC to 2750 BC), [[copper]] traded from other societies (notably, from the [[Balkans]]) began to appear throughout the region, and members of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture began to acquire skills necessary to use it to create various items. Along with the raw copper ore, finished copper tools, hunting weapons and other artefacts were also brought in from other cultures.<ref name="Mantu" /> This marked the transition from the Neolithic to the Eneolithic, also known as the Chalcolithic or Copper Age. Bronze artifacts began to show up in archaeological sites toward the very end of the culture. The primitive trade network of this society, that had been slowly growing more complex, was supplanted by the more complex trade network of the Proto-Indo-European culture that eventually replaced the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture.<ref name="Mantu" />
=== Gallery ===
<gallery perrow="8">
File:02013 Der bemalten Keramik vom Trypillja-Typus am Anfang des 30.Jhs.v. Chr. beim Dorfe Biltsche-Solote, B4.JPG
File:MuzeuldeistorienaturalavienaCucutenitripolieartefacts.JPG|Copper hoard, 4000 BC
File:CucutenibirdGoddess.JPG
File:Cucuteni IMG 3697.JPG
File:Cucutenireprezentarezoomorfica.JPG
File:Trypillian house.jpg
File:Trypillian house2.jpg
File:Cucuteni IMG 3666.JPG
File:VasantropomorficCucuteni.JPG
File:CucuteniOmegaPottery.JPG
File:CucuteniPottery6.jpg
File:CucuteniNeoliticBirdSpoon.JPG
File:Cucutetenipottery.JPG
File:CycyteniOmegaPottery34.JPG
File:Finds at the Middle Tripolye settlement of Branzeni IV (the lower layer), Edinet District painted bomb-like goblet. (49537840277).jpg
File:Expoziția Cultura Cucuteni, valori regăsite ale preistoriei moderne.jpg
File:02013 Der "bemalten Keramik" vom Trypillja-Typus am Anfang des 30.Jhs.v. Chr. beim Dorfe Biltsche-Solote, B5.JPG
File:CucuteniTokens.JPG
File:Bone plaque in the shape of a bull’s head from Bilche Zolote (MAK-8475).jpg
File:CucuteniLatePeriodClayFigure.JPG|Anthropomorphic clay figurine
File:MuzeuldeistorienaturalavienaCucuteni3.JPG
File:CucuteniShine.JPG
File:Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte Berlin 095.jpg
File:CucuteniIMG 3681.JPG|Copper jewellery
File:Tezaurul de la Brad (cultura Cucuteni).jpg|Copper and gold hoard
File:NMHU006.jpg
File:Cucuteni IMG 3685.JPG
File:Neolithic Pottery (28650540752).jpg
File:CucuteniOmegaandbull.JPG
File:NMHU011.jpg
File:NHM - Menschenfiguren aus Sipinci, 1890 ausgegraben (01).jpg
File:Vas pictat de la Traian (Cultura Cucuteni).jpg
</gallery>
=== Diet ===
The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture was a society of [[Subsistence economy|subsistence]] farmers. Cultivating the soil (using an [[ard (plough)|ard]] or scratch plough), harvesting crops and tending livestock was probably the main occupation for most people. Typically for a Neolithic culture, the majority of their diet consisted of [[cereal]] grains. They cultivated [[Common wheat|club wheat]], oats, rye, [[proso millet]], barley and hemp, which were probably ground and baked as [[Flatbread|unleavened bread]] in clay ovens or on heated stones in the home. They also grew peas and beans, [[apricot]], [[Prunus cerasifera|cherry plum]] and [[Vitis vinifera|wine grapes]] – though there is no solid evidence that they actually made [[wine]].<ref name="Comșa">{{cite journal | last = Comșa | first = Eugen | title = Cultura plantelor în cursul epocii neolitice pe teritoriul României |trans-title=Cultivated plants of the Neolithic current epoch in Romanian territory | journal = Terra Nostra: Culegere de Materiale Privind Istoria Agriculturii în România (Our Earth: Selections from a Material Perspective of Agricultural History in Romania) | volume = 3 | pages = 243–252 | publisher = Consiliul Superior al Agriculturii | location = Bucharest | year = 1973 | oclc = 72954112}}</ref> There is also evidence that they may have kept bees.<ref>{{Citation | last = Crane | first = Eva | title = The world history of beekeeping and honey hunting | place = New York | publisher = Routledge | year = 1999 | pages = 40–41 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ANTSvKj1AZEC | oclc = 41049690 | isbn = 0-415-92467-7}}</ref>
[[File:Trypillia culture settlement site of Trinca-La Șanț, Moldova.png|thumb|Site of a hill-top Trypillia settlement at Trinca-La Șanț, Moldova]]
The [[zooarchaeology]] of Cucuteni–Trypillia sites indicate that the inhabitants practiced animal husbandry. Their domesticated livestock consisted primarily of cattle, but included smaller numbers of pigs, sheep and goats. There is evidence, based on some of the surviving artistic depictions of animals from Cucuteni–Trypillia sites, that the [[ox]] was employed as a draft animal.<ref name="Comșa" />
Both remains and artistic depictions of horses have been discovered at Cucuteni–Trypillia sites. However, whether these finds are of domesticated or wild horses is debated. Before they were domesticated, humans hunted wild horses for meat. On the other hand, one hypothesis of [[horse domestication]] places it in the steppe region adjacent to the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture at roughly the same time (4000–3500 BC), so it is possible the culture was familiar with the domestic horse. At this time horses could have been kept both for meat or as a work animal.<ref name="Cucoș1">{{cite journal | last = Cucoș | first = Ștefan | title = Faza Cucuteni B în zona subcarpatică a Moldovei | trans-title = Cucuteni B period in the lower Carpathian region of Moldova | journal = Bibliotheca Memoriae Antiquitatis (BMA) (Memorial Library Antiquities) | volume = 6 | publisher = Muzeul de Istorie Piatra Neamț (Historical Museum Piatra Neamț) | location = Piatra Neamț, Romania | year = 1999 | url = http://www.neamt.ro/cmj/istorie/piatra-neamt/BMA_2.html | language = ro | oclc = 223302267 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101009043421/http://www.neamt.ro/cmj/istorie/piatra-neamt/BMA_2.html | archive-date = 9 October 2010 }}</ref> The direct evidence remains inconclusive.<ref>{{Citation|first=Valentin A. |last=Dergachev |contribution=Two studies in defense of the migration concept <!-- |conference=McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 2000 (unsupported parameter)--> |editor-last=Boyle |editor-first=Katherine V. |editor2-last=Renfrew |editor2-first=Colin |editor3-last=Levine |editor3-first=Marsha |title=Ancient Interactions: East and West in Eurasia |series=McDonald Institute monographs |year=2002 |pages=93–112 |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxbow Books |url=http://www.mcdonald.cam.ac.uk/publications/monographs/conference-volumes/ |isbn=1-902937-19-8 |oclc=52221476 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120221224723/http://www.mcdonald.cam.ac.uk/publications/monographs/conference-volumes/ |archive-date=21 February 2012 }}</ref>
Hunting supplemented the Cucuteni–Trypillia diet. They used traps to catch their prey, as well as various weapons, including the [[Bow (weapon)|bow and arrow]], the spear and clubs. To help them in stalking game, they sometimes disguised themselves with camouflage.<ref name="Cucoș1" /> Remains of game species found at Cucuteni–Trypillia sites include [[red deer]], [[roe deer]], [[aurochs]], [[wild boar]], fox and brown bear.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}
=== Salt ===
The earliest known salt works in the world is at [[Poiana Slatinei]], near the village of Lunca in [[Vânători-Neamț]], Romania. It was first used in the early Neolithic, around 6050 BC, by the [[Starčevo culture]], and later by the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture in the Pre-Cucuteni period.<ref>[http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/weller/ Antiquity Vol 79 No 306 December 2005 The earliest salt production in the world: an early Neolithic exploitation in Poiana Slatinei-Lunca, Romania Olivier Weller & Gheorghe Dumitroaia] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430145935/http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/weller/ |date=30 April 2011 }}</ref> Evidence from this and other sites indicates that the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture extracted salt from salt-laden spring-water through the process of [[briquetage]]. First, the brackish water from the spring was boiled in large pottery vessels, producing a dense [[brine]]. The brine was then heated in a ceramic briquetage vessel until all moisture was evaporated, with the remaining crystallised salt adhering to the inside walls of the vessel. Then the briquetage vessel was broken open, and the salt was scraped from the shards.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cimec.ro/arheologie/sarea/index.html|title=Sarea, Timpul și Omul|first=Vasile|last=Andrei|website=www.cimec.ro|access-date=6 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221030521/http://www.cimec.ro/arheologie/sarea/index.html|archive-date=21 February 2009}}</ref>
The provision of salt was a major logistical problem for the largest Cucuteni–Trypillia settlements. As they came to rely upon cereal foods over salty meat and fish, Neolithic cultures had to incorporate supplementary sources of salt into their diet. Similarly, domestic cattle need to be provided with extra sources of salt beyond their normal diet or their milk production is reduced. Cucuteni–Trypillia mega-sites, with a population of likely thousands of people and animals, are estimated to have required between 36,000 and 100,000&nbsp;kg of salt per year. This was not available locally, and so had to be moved in bulk from distant sources on the western Black Sea coast and in the Carpathian Mountains, probably by river.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Chapman|first1=J|last2=Gaydarska|first2=Bisserka|title=Tripolye settlements-giants. The international symposium materials.|year=2003|publisher=Institute of Archaeology|location=Kiev|pages=203–211|chapter-url=http://www.dur.ac.uk/j.c.chapman/tripillia/pdf/Chapman_and_Gaydarska_2003.pdf|editor=Korvin-Piotrovsky, A |editor2=Kruts, V |editor3=Ryzhov, S M |chapter=The provision of salt to Tripolye mega-sites}}</ref>
== Technology and material culture ==
The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture is known by its distinctive settlements, architecture, intricately decorated pottery and anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines, which are preserved in archaeological remains. At its peak it was one of the most technologically advanced societies in the world at the time,<ref name="Mallory" /> developing new techniques for ceramic production, housing building, agriculture and producing woven textiles (although these have not survived and are known indirectly).
=== Settlements ===
[[File:Maidanetske - Cover Ohlrau Dissertation by Susanne Beyer.jpg|thumb|354x354px|Reconstruction of the main occupation phase of the [[Maidanetske]] mega-site, c. 3800 BC.<ref name="jna.uni-kiel.de">{{cite journal|url=https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/view/109|journal=Journal of Neolithic Archaeology|volume=16|date=2014|title=High precision Tripolye settlement plans, demographic estimations and settlement organization|first1=Knut|last1=Rassmann|doi=10.12766/jna.2014.3|pages=96–134}}</ref>]]
{{Main|Settlements of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture|Architecture of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture|House burning of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture}}
In terms of overall size, some of Cucuteni–Trypillia sites, such as [[Talianki (archaeological site)|Talianki]] (with a population of 15,000 and covering an area of 335<ref name="Harper 2012">{{cite book|last=Harper|first=T. K.|title=Title Forthcoming (in press)|year=2012|publisher=Institut Arkheologii NAN Ukrainy|location=Kiev|chapter-url=http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~tkharper/Harper2012.pdf|chapter=Regarding the Problem of the Size of the Settlement Near Tal'yanki|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413155619/http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~tkharper/Harper2012.pdf|archive-date=13 April 2014}}</ref> hectares) in the province of [[Uman Raion]], Ukraine, are as large as (or perhaps even larger than) the [[city-states]] of [[Sumer]] in the [[Fertile Crescent]], and these Eastern European settlements predate the Sumerian cities by more than half of a millennium.<ref name="Menotti">{{Citation | first = Francesco | last = Menotti | contribution = The Tripolye house, a sacred and profane coexistence! | contribution-url = http://www.wac6.org/livesite/item.php?itemID=1683&itemType=PAPER | series = 6th [[World Archaeological Congress]] (WAC6) | year = 2007 | place = Dublin | url = http://www.ucd.ie/wac-6/|title=WAC-6 | oclc = 368044032|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413144155/http://www.wac6.org/livesite/item.php?itemID=1683&itemType=PAPER|archive-date=13 April 2014}}</ref>
Archaeologists have uncovered a large number of artefacts from these ancient ruins. The largest collections of Cucuteni–Trypillia artefacts are to be found in museums in Russia, Ukraine and Romania, including the [[Hermitage Museum]] in St. Petersburg and the [[Archaeology Museum Piatra Neamț]] in Romania. However, smaller collections of artefacts are kept in many local museums scattered throughout the region.<ref name="Khol" />
These settlements underwent periodical acts of destruction and re-creation, as they were burned and then rebuilt every 60–80 years. Some scholars{{who|date=June 2014}} have theorised that the inhabitants of these settlements believed that every house symbolised 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 also having a life cycle of death and rebirth.<ref>{{Citation|first=Dragoș |last=Gheorghiu |editor-last=Barrowclough |editor-first=David A. |editor2-last=Malone |editor2-first=Caroline |title=Explorations into the conditions of spiritual creativity in prehistoric Malta |chapter=A fire cult in South European Chalcolithic traditions? On the relationship between ritual contexts and the instrumentality of fire |series=Cult in context: comparative approaches to prehistoric and ethnographic religious practices |year=2006 |pages=269–284 |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxbow |chapter-url=http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/cult/ |isbn=978-1-84217-303-9 |oclc=309578661 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511200022/http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/cult/ |archive-date=11 May 2008 }}</ref>
The houses of the Cucuteni–Trypillia settlements were constructed in several general ways:
* [[Wattle-and-daub]] homes.
* Log homes, called ({{langx |uk|площадки|italic=yes|translit=ploshchadky}}).
* Semi-underground homes called [[bordei]].
Some Cucuteni–Trypillia homes were two storeys tall, and evidence shows that the members of this culture sometimes decorated the outsides of their homes with many of the same red-ochre complex swirling designs that are to be found on their pottery. Most houses had thatched roofs and wooden floors covered with clay.<ref name="Menotti" />
<gallery perrow="9">
File:Maidanetske 3D model.jpg|[[Maidanetske]] mega-site, c. 3700 BC, 3D model.<ref name="jna.uni-kiel.de" />
File:Talianki 1c.jpg|Reconstruction of the [[Talianki (archaeological site)|Talianki]] mega-site
File:CucuteniInteriorReconstruction.JPG|House interior reconstruction
File:Cucuteni MNIR IMG 7622.JPG|Top view of Cucuteni house model
File:ScaleRepoductionOfaCucutenivillage.JPG|Village model
File:Nebelivka megastructure, reconstruction.jpg|[[Nebelivka (archaeological site)|Nebelivka]] temple, reconstruction.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-archaeological-journal/article/trypillia-megasites-in-context-independent-urban-development-in-chalcolithic-eastern-europe/C33D85AF4EE4BA2D61AAB77D3E399E4D|journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal|volume=30|issue=1|date=February 2020|title=Trypillia Megasites in Context: Independent Urban Development in Chalcolithic Eastern Europe|first1=Bisserka|last1= Gaydarska|doi=10.1017/S0959774319000301|pages=97–121|s2cid=208245898 }}</ref>
File:Trypillia house.png|House with raised platform at Maidanetsk, c. 3700 BC, reconstruction
File:Cucuteni houses 1.jpg|Illustration of interconnected houses from Maidanetsk
</gallery>
=== Pottery ===
[[File:Cucuteni owen reconstruction.JPG|thumb|210x210px|Model of a Cucuteni-Trypillia pottery kiln]]
Most Cucuteni–Trypillia pottery was [[Pottery#Methods of shaping|hand coiled]] from local clay. Long coils of clay were placed in circles to form first the base and then the walls of the vessel. Once the desired shape and height of the finished product was built up the sides would then be smoothed to create a seamless surface. This technique was the earliest form of pottery shaping and the most common in the Neolithic; however, there is some evidence that they also used a primitive type of slow-turning [[potter's wheel]], an innovation that did not become common in Europe until the [[Iron Age]].<ref name="Cucoș1" />
Characteristically, vessels were elaborately decorated with swirling patterns and intricate designs. Sometimes decorative incisions were added prior to firing, and sometimes these were filled with coloured dye to produce a dimensional effect. In the early period, the colours used to decorate pottery were limited to a rusty-red and white. Later, potters added additional colours to their products and experimented with more advanced ceramic techniques.<ref name="Monah"/> The pigments used to decorate ceramics were based on [[iron oxide]] for red hues, [[calcium carbonate]], [[Magnetite|iron magnetite]] and [[Jacobsite|manganese Jacobsite]] ores for black and [[calcium silicate]] for white. The black pigment, which was introduced during the later period of the culture, was a rare commodity: taken from a few sources and circulated (to a limited degree) throughout the region. The probable sources of these pigments were [[Iacobeni, Suceava|Iacobeni]] in Romania for the iron magnetite ore and [[Nikopol, Ukraine|Nikopol]] in Ukraine for the manganese Jacobsite ore.<ref name="193.2.104.55">{{cite web |url=http://193.2.104.55/documenta/pdf34/DPConstantinescu34.pdf |title=Phase and chemical composition analysis of pigments used in Cucuteni Neolithic painted ceramics |access-date=17 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514095641/http://193.2.104.55/documenta/pdf34/DPConstantinescu34.pdf |archive-date=14 May 2011}} Phase and chemical composition analysis of pigments used in Cucuteni Neolithic painted ceramics. B. Constantinescu, R. Bugoi, E. Pantos, D. Popovici
Documenta Praehistorica XXXIV (2007)</ref><ref>Investigation of Neolithic ceramic pigments using synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction
Roxana Bugoi and Bogdan Constantinescu "Horia Hulubei" National Institute of Nuclear Physics and Engineering, 077125 Bucharest, Romania
Emmanuel Pantos CCLRC, Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington WA4 4AD, United Kingdom Dragomir Popovici National Museum of Romanian History, Bucharest, Romania</ref> No traces of the iron magnetite pigment mined in the easternmost limit of the Cucuteni–Trypillia region have been found to be used in ceramics from the western settlements, suggesting exchange throughout the entire cultural area was limited. In addition to mineral sources, pigments derived from organic materials (including bone and wood) were used to create various colours.<ref>[http://www.nipne.ro/about/reports/docs/anuar20032004.pdf Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering Scientific report 2003–2004] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224105956/http://www.nipne.ro/about/reports/docs/anuar20032004.pdf |date=24 December 2015 }}</ref>
{|align=right
|<gallery widths="100" heights="120" perrow="2">
File:CucuteniModelingSystem.svg|Pottery wheel reconstruction
File:CucuteniPotteryTable.svg|Pottery wheel reconstruction
</gallery>
|}
In the late period of Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, kilns with a controlled atmosphere were used for pottery production. These kilns were constructed with two separate chambers—the combustion chamber and the filling chamber— separated by a grate. Temperatures in the combustion chamber could reach 1000–1100&nbsp;°C but were usually maintained at around 900&nbsp;°C to achieve a uniform and complete firing of vessels.<ref name="193.2.104.55" />
Toward the end of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, as copper became more readily available, advances in ceramic technology levelled off as more emphasis was placed on developing metallurgical techniques.
=== Ceramic figurines ===
An anthropomorphic ceramic artefact was discovered during an archaeological dig in 1942 on [[Seven hills of Iași|Cetatuia Hill]] near [[Bodești]], [[Neamț County]], Romania, which became known as the "Cucuteni Frumusica Dance" (after a nearby village of the same name). It was used as a support or stand, and upon its discovery was hailed as a symbolic masterpiece of Cucuteni–Trypillia culture. It is believed that the four stylised feminine silhouettes facing inward in an interlinked circle represented a ''[[Hora (dance)|hora]]'', or ritualistic dance. Similar artefacts were later found in [[Berești]] and [[Drăgușeni, Iași|Drăgușeni]].
Extant figurines excavated at the Cucuteni sites are thought to represent religious artifacts, but their meaning or use is still unknown. Some historians as Gimbutas claim that:
<blockquote>...the stiff nude to be representative of death on the basis that the color white is associated with the bone (that which shows after death). Stiff nudes can be found in Hamangia, Karanovo, and Cucuteni cultures<ref name="Collins"/></blockquote>
=== Textiles ===
[[File:VerticalLoom.JPG|baseline|200px|thumb|right|Reconstructed Cucuteni–Trypillia loom]]
No examples of Cucuteni–Trypillia textiles have yet been found – preservation of prehistoric textiles is rare and the region does not have a suitable climate. However, impressions of textiles are found on pottery [[sherds]] (because the clay was placed there before it was fired). These show that woven fabrics were common in Cucuteni–Trypillia society.<ref>Pasternak 1963</ref><ref>Brjusov 1951</ref> Finds of ceramic weights with drilled holes suggest that these were manufactured with a [[warp-weighted loom]].<ref>Rekonstrukcija Ženske Odjeće U Eneolitiku Međuriječja Dunava, Drave I Save, Marina Milicevic</ref> It has also been suggested that these weights, especially "disposable" examples made from poor quality clay and inadequately fired, were used to weigh down fishing nets. These would probably have been frequently lost, explaining their inferior quality.<ref>Prehistoric textiles: the development of cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze By E.J.W. Barber</ref>
Other pottery sherds with textile impressions, found at Frumușica and [[Cucuteni]], suggest that textiles were also knitted (specifically using a technique known as [[Nålebinding|nalbinding]]).<ref>Carmen Marian Mestesuguri Textile in Cultura Cucuteni page 102 {{ISBN|978-973-155-128-9}}</ref>
=== Weapons and tools ===
[[File:FusaioleCucuteni.JPG|alt=|thumb|200x200px|loom weights]]
[[File:CucuteniStoneAxe.jpg|alt=|thumb|200x200px|Stone tools]]
[[File:CucuteniStoneTools2.JPG|alt=|thumb|200x200px|Stone tools]]
[[File:CucuteniCultureWeapons.JPG|alt=|thumb|200x200px|Bone artefacts]]
Cucuteni–Trypillia tools were made from [[Flintknapping|knapped]] and polished stone, organic materials (bone, antler and horn), and in the later period, copper. Local Miorcani [[flint]] was the most common material for stone tools, but a number of other types are known to have been used, including [[chert]], [[jasper]] and [[obsidian]]. Presumably these tools were hafted with wood, but this is not preserved. Weapons are rare but not unknown, implying the culture was relatively peaceful.<ref>{{cite web | last = Boghian | first = Dumitru | title = The Cucutenian Communities in the Bahlui Basin | work = Eneoliticul est-carpatic blog | publisher = Dumitru Boghian | date = 7 April 2008 | url = http://eneoliticulestcarpatic.blogspot.com | access-date = 22 February 2010 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110708034428/http://eneoliticulestcarpatic.blogspot.com/ | archive-date = 8 July 2011 }}</ref>
The following types of tools have been discovered at Cucuteni–Trypillia sites:{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="2" | Tool !! | Typical materials
|- valign="top"
| rowspan="5" | '''Woodworking'''
| [[Adze]]s
| rowspan="3" | Stone, flint, copper
|-
| [[Burin (lithic flake)|Burins]]
|-
|[[Scraper (archaeology)|Scrapers]]
|-
| Awls
| Stone, antler, horn, copper
|-
| [[Gouge (chisel)|Gouges/chisels]]
| Stone, bone
|- valign="top"
| rowspan="5" | '''[[Lithic reduction]]'''
| [[Pressure flaking]] tools, e.g. abrasive pieces,<br /> plungers, pressing and retouching tools
| rowspan="3" | Stone
|-
| [[Lithic reduction#Percussion reduction|Anvils]]
|-
| [[Hammerstone]]s
|-
| [[Lithic reduction#Soft-hammer percussion|Soft hammers]]
| Antler, horn
|-
| Polishing tools
| Bone, stone
|- valign="top"
| rowspan="5" | '''Textiles'''
| Knitting needles
| rowspan="2" | Bone
|-
| [[Shuttle (weaving)|Shuttles]]
|-
| Sewing needles
| Bone, copper
|- valign="top"
| [[Spindle (textiles)|Spindles]] and spindle whorls
| rowspan="2" | Clay
|-
| Loom weights
|- valign="top"
| rowspan="4" | '''Farming'''
| [[Hoe (tool)|Hoes]]
| rowspan="2" | Antler, horn
|-
| [[Ard (plough)|Ards]]
|-
| [[Ground stone]]s/[[metate]]s and [[grinding slab]]s
| Stone
|-
| Sickles
| Flint pieces inlaid into antler or wood blades
|- valign="top"
| rowspan="2" | '''Fishing'''
| Harpoons
| Bone
|-
| Fish hooks
| Bone, copper
|- valign="top"
| rowspan="6" | '''Other/multipurpose'''
| [[Flint tool#Polished stone axes|Axes]], including double-headed axes,<br /> hammer axes and possible battle axes
| Stone, copper
|-
| Clubs
| Stone
|-
| Knives and daggers
| Flint, bone, copper
|- valign="top"
| Arrow tips
| rowspan="3" | Flint, bone
|-
| Handles
|-
| Spatulas
|}
===Wheels===
Some researchers, e.g., [[Asko Parpola]], an Indologist at the University of Helsinki in Finland, believe that the CT-culture used the wheel with wagons.<ref>Christoph Baumer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yglkwD7pKV8C&pg=PA90 ''The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Steppe Warriors''.] I.B.Tauris, 2012 {{ISBN|1780760604}} p90</ref> However, only miniature models of animals and cups on 4 wheels have been found, and they date to the first half of the fourth millennium BC. Such models are often thought to have been children's toys; nevertheless, they do convey the idea that objects could be pulled on wheels.
Up to now there is no evidence for wheels used with real wagons.<ref>Hans J.J.G. Holm: The Earliest Wheel Finds, Their Archeology and Indo-European Terminology in Time and Space, and Early Migrations around the Caucasus. Archaeolingua Alapítvány, Budapest, 2019, {{ISBN|978-615-5766-30-5}}</ref>
== Ritual and religion ==
{{Main|Religion and ritual of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture}}
[[File:MotherGoddessFertility.JPG|thumb|A typical Cucuteni–Trypillia clay "goddess" fetish|266x266px]]
Some Cucuteni–Trypillia communities have been found that contain a special building located in the centre of the settlement, which archaeologists have identified as sacred sanctuaries. Artefacts have been found inside these sanctuaries, some of them having been intentionally buried in the ground within the structure, that are clearly of a religious nature, and have provided insights into some of the beliefs, and perhaps some of the rituals and structure, of the members of this society. Additionally, artefacts of an apparent religious nature have also been found within many domestic Cucuteni–Trypillia homes.
[[File:AltarCucuteni.JPG|thumb|left|Ceramic altar (replica).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.capodopere2019.ro/the-temple-pediment-from-trueti.html |title=The temple pediment from Trușești |website=capodopere2019.ro |date=2019}}</ref> |179x179px]]
Many of these artefacts are clay figurines or statues. Archaeologists have identified many of these as [[Fetishism|fetishes]] or [[totem]]s, which are believed to be imbued with powers that can help and protect the people who look after them.<ref name="Bailey" /> These Cucuteni–Trypillia figurines have become known popularly as goddesses; however, this term is not necessarily accurate for all female anthropomorphic clay figurines, as the archaeological evidence suggests that different figurines were used for different purposes (such as for protection), and so are not all representative of a goddess.<ref name="Bailey" /> There have been so many of these figurines discovered in Cucuteni–Trypillia sites<ref name="Bailey" /> that many museums in eastern Europe have a sizeable collection of them, and as a result, they have come to represent one of the more readily identifiable visual markers of this culture to many people.
[[File:GanditorulDinTarpestiCucuteniCultura.JPG|thumb|'The Thinker from [[Tarpesti]]', 4500 BC. Cucuteni Eneolithic Art Museum, [[Piatra Neamt]], Moldavia|212x212px]]
The archaeologist [[Marija Gimbutas]] based at least part of her [[Kurgan hypothesis]] and [[Old European culture]] theories on these Cucuteni–Trypillia clay figurines.{{dubious|Ritual and religion section|date=March 2022}} Her conclusions, which were always controversial,{{why|date=March 2022}} today are discredited by many scholars,<ref name="Bailey" />{{page needed|date=March 2022}} but still there are some scholars{{who|date=March 2022}} who support her theories about how neolithic societies were [[matriarchal]], non-warlike, and worshipped an "earthy" [[mother goddess]], but were subsequently wiped out by invasions of [[patriarchal]] Indo-European tribes who burst out of the steppes of Russia and Kazakhstan beginning around 2500 BC, and who worshipped a warlike [[Sky father|Sky God]].<ref name="Collins">{{cite web | url = http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~gloria/Goddess.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/19991012001508/http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~gloria/Goddess.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 12 October 1999 | title = Will the "Great Goddess" resurface?: Reflections in Neolithic Europe | first = Gloria | last = Collins | publisher = University of Texas at Austin | location = Austin, Texas | access-date = 1 December 2009}} This site was a student brief done for a class assignment.</ref> However, Gimbutas' theories have been partially discredited by more recent{{when|date=March 2022}} discoveries and analyses.<ref name="Mallory" /> Today there are many scholars{{who|date=March 2022}} who disagree with Gimbutas, pointing to new evidence{{which|date=March 2022}} that suggests a much more complex society during the Neolithic era than she had been accounting for.{{vague|reason=More complex in what way?|date=March 2022}}<ref>Pre- & protohistorie van de lage landen, onder redactie van J.H.F. Bloemers & T. van Dorp 1991. De Haan/Open Universiteit. {{ISBN|90-269-4448-9}}, NUGI 644</ref>
One of the unanswered questions regarding the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture is the small number of artefacts associated with [[funerary rite]]s. Although very large settlements have been explored by archaeologists, the evidence for mortuary activity is almost invisible. Making a distinction between the eastern Trypillia and the western Cucuteni regions of the Cucuteni–Trypillia geographical area, American archaeologist Douglass W. Bailey writes:
{{blockquote|There are no Cucuteni cemeteries and the Trypillia ones that have been discovered are very late.<ref name="Bailey" />{{rp|page=115}}}}
Currently, the only Trypillian site where human remains dating to the first half of the 4th millennium BC have been consistently found is [[Verteba Cave]] in west Ukraine. The discovery of skulls is more frequent than other parts of the body, however because there has not yet been a comprehensive statistical survey done of all of the skeletal remains discovered at Cucuteni–Trypillia sites, precise [[post excavation]] analysis of these discoveries cannot be accurately determined at this time. Still, many questions remain concerning these issues, as well as why there seems to have been no male remains found at all.<ref>{{Citation | last = Gimbutas | first = Marija Alseikaitė | title = The civilization of the Goddess: the world of Old Europe | place = San Francisco | publisher = HarperSanFrancisco | year = 1991 | url = https://archive.org/details/civilizationofgo0000gimb | isbn = 0-06-250368-5 | oclc = 123210574 | access-date = 11 December 2009 | url-access = registration }}</ref> The only definite conclusion that can be drawn from archaeological evidence is that in the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, in the vast majority of cases, the bodies were not formally deposited within the settlement area.<ref name="Bailey" />{{rp|page=116}}
== Archaeogenetics ==
{{further|Early European Farmers|Archaeogenetics of Europe}}
[[File:Scientific Reports - Trypillia Verteba PCA, ADMIXTURE and Heatmap 2022.webp|thumb|"(A) PCA built with modern European populations in which Neolithic and Bronze Age populations of Eastern Europe have been projected. It is observed that the Verteba_Trypillia individuals are located within the European Neolithic populations genetic diversity (B) ADMIXTURE analysis of the most representative populations included in the analysis (K = 4). The different colors represent the source ancestries of the studied individuals: Yellow represents Anatolia_N related ancestry, Red represents WHG related ancestry and the purple colors represent Steppe related ancestries, each individual is represented by the proportions of these ancestries" per Gelabert et al. 2022.]]
The first archaeogenetic analysis of Trypillian remains was conducted by Nikitin et al. in 2010.<ref name="Nikitin">{{cite journal|last1 = Nikitin|first1 = Alexey G.|first2 = Mykhailo P.|last2 = Sokhatsky|first3 = Mykola M.|last3 = Kovaliukh|first4 = Mykhailo Y.|last4 = Videiko|title = Comprehensive Site Chronology and Ancient Mitochondrial DNA Analysis from Verteba Cave – a Trypillian Culture Site of Eneolithic Ukraine|journal = Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica - Natural Sciences in Archaeology|issue = 1–2|pages = 9–18|publisher = Archaeological Centre Olomouc, Government Funded Organisation|date = 14 April 2011|url = http://iansa.eu/papers/IANSA-2010-01-02-nikitin.pdf|access-date = 14 May 2013|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120424145229/http://www.iansa.eu/papers/IANSA-2010-01-02-nikitin.pdf|archive-date = 24 April 2012|doi = 10.24916/iansa.2011.1.1|volume = II|doi-access= free}}</ref> They analyzed [[mtDNA]] recovered from Cucuteni–Trypillia human [[osteological]] remains found in the [[Verteba Cave]] (on the bank of the [[Seret River]], [[Ternopil Oblast]], Ukraine). It revealed that seven of the individuals whose remains where analysed belonged to: two to [[Haplogroup HV (mtDNA)|haplogroup HV(xH)]], two to [[Haplogroup H (mtDNA)|haplogroup H]], one to [[Haplogroup R0 (mtDNA)|haplogroup R0(xHV)]], one to [[Haplogroup J (mtDNA)|haplogroup J]] and one to [[Haplogroup T4 (mtDNA)|haplogroup T4]], the latter also being the oldest sample of the set. The authors conclude that the population living around Verteba Cave was fairly heterogenous, but that the wide chronological age of the specimens might indicate that the heterogeneity might have been due to natural population flow during this timeframe. The authors also link the R0(xHV) and HV(xH) haplogroups with European [[Paleolithic]] populations, and consider the T4 and J haplogroups as hallmarks of Neolithic demic intrusions from the southeast (the north-pontic region) rather than from the west (i.e. the [[Linear Pottery culture]]).<ref name="Nikitin"/>
In 2017, Nikitin et al. presented mtDNA data of eight additional individuals from Verteba Cave,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nikitin |first1=Alexey G. |last2=Potekhina |first2=Inna |last3=Rohland |first3=Nadin |last4=Mallick |first4=Swapan |last5=Reich |first5=David |last6=Lillie |first6=Malcolm |date=24 February 2017 |editor-last=Capelli |editor-first=Cristian |title=Mitochondrial DNA analysis of eneolithic trypillians from Ukraine reveals neolithic farming genetic roots |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=e0172952 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0172952 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=5325568 |pmid=28235025|bibcode=2017PLoSO..1272952N |doi-access=free }}</ref> seven of them dating to the Trypillian period and one dating to the Iron Age.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lillie |first1=Malcolm C. |last2=Budd |first2=Chelsea E. |last3=Potekhina |first3=Inna D. |last4=Price |first4=Douglas |last5=Sokhatsky |first5=Mykhailo |last6=Nikitin |first6=Alexey G. |date=27 December 2017 |title=First isotope analysis and new radiocarbon dating of Trypillia (Tripolye) farmers from Verteba Cave, Bilche Zolote, Ukraine |url=https://journals.uni-lj.si/DocumentaPraehistorica/article/view/44.18 |journal=Documenta Praehistorica |volume=44 |pages=306–325 |doi=10.4312/dp.44.18 |issn=1854-2492|doi-access=free }}</ref> The Trypillia-age individuals carried haplogroups H, HV, HV0, H5a, as well as T2b, U8b1b, and U8b1a2. The authors linked H5a, T2b and U8b1 with Anatolian Neolithic Farmers ([[Early European Farmers|ANFs]]) and Early Neolithic Farmers of Europe ([[Early European Farmers|ENFs]]) influence on Trypillian population at Verteba. Since the representatives of the H clade of mtDNA comprised 28.6% of the sample, authors suggested a genetic link between the Trypillian population at Verteba and the [[Funnel Beaker culture]] groups, which displayed similar frequencies of H-bearing haplotypes.
A study by Mathiesson et al., published 2018 in [[Nature (journal)|''Nature'']], included a whole-genome analysis of four males from the Nikitin et al., 2017 study, and described them as roughly 80% EEF, with around 20% of the rest of their ancestry being intermediate between [[Eastern Hunter Gatherers|EHG]] and [[Western Hunter Gatherers|WHG]]. With respect to [[Y-DNA]], two carried haplogroup [[Haplogroup G-P303|G2a2b2a]] (G-CTS688 and G-PF3330), while one carried [[Haplogroup G-M201|G2a-PF3141]] and [[Haplogroup E-M96|E-CTS10894]]. With respect to [[mtDNA]], they carried [[Haplogroup H (mtDNA)#H5|H5a]], [[Haplogroup T (mtDNA)|T2b]], [[Haplogroup HV (mtDNA)|HV]] and [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)#Haplogroup U8|U8b1b]].{{sfn|Mathieson|2018}} According to admixture analysis they had approximately 75% [[Early European Farmers|EEF]], 10% both [[Western Hunter-Gatherer|Western]] and [[Eastern Hunter-Gatherer]] and less than 5% traces of [[Yamnaya culture|Yamnaya]]-related ancestry.{{sfn|Mathieson|2018|loc=Extended Data Figure 2: Supervised ADMIXTURE analysis.}}
In 2020 Immel et al. published a study of four unrelated females from two late CTCC period sites in Moldova.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> They carried mtDNA haplogroup K1a1, T1a, T2c1d1, U4a1 and "all individuals carried a large Neolithic-derived ancestry component and were genetically more closely related to Linear Pottery than to Anatolian farmers. Three of the specimens also showed considerable amounts of steppe-related ancestry, suggesting influx into the CTCC gene-pool from people affiliated with the steppe populations of the North Pontic. The authors conclude that "...the steppe component arrived in eastern Europe farming communities maybe as early as 3500 BCE".{{sfn|Immel|2020}}
A 2022 study published in ''Scientific Reports'' analyzed 18 individuals from Verteba Cave in Ukraine some of which have been reported in previous studies. With respect to Y-DNA haplogroup, three carried G2a2b2a3, two G2a2a1a, one G2a2a1, G2a2a1a3, C1a, I2a1a2a-L161.1, I2a2a1, and I2c, while mtDNA haplogroup, two J1c2, K1a2, T2b and one H, H15a1, H40, J1c5, K1a1b1, K1b1, N1a1a1a, T2, T2c1d1, U5a and U5a2. According to admixture analysis, all studied Ukrainian Trypillian samples "are mostly defined by the ancestral component dominant in Anatolia-Neolithic individuals, which suggests a strong relationship with European Neolithic populations, similar to previous studies. However, these samples also show the presence of [[Western Steppe Herder|steppe]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gelabert |first1=Pere |title=Genomes from Verteba cave suggest diversity within the Trypillians in Ukraine |journal=Scientific Reports |date=4 May 2022 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=7242 |doi=10.1038/s41598-022-11117-8 |pmid=35508651 |pmc=9068698 |bibcode=2022NatSR..12.7242G |language=en |issn=2045-2322}} "Results reveal that the CTCC individuals' ancestry is related to both western hunter-gatherers and Near Eastern farmers, has no local ancestry associated with Ukrainian Neolithic hunter-gatherers and has steppe ancestry...In fact, most of the Trypillian individuals can be modeled by Eneolithic populations from Europe that have steppe ancestry, however four out of the 20 individuals could be modeled as Moldovan Trypillians."</ref> EHG, CHG, and WHG components as described in Mathiesson et al., with the exception of one individual (I3151), who seems to be absent of any EHG/CHG ancestry". Phenotypically, all were lactose intolerant and almost all had a mutation associated with blue eyes.{{sfn|Gelabert|2022}}
According to the paper, it indicates shared ancestry with the population of [[Baden culture]], "in conclusion, the results show that Verteba Cave represents a significant mortuary site that connects East and West. The genetic structure of the CTCC peoples includes ancestry related to both earlier hunter-gatherers from the west and farmers from the Near East, and one that is genetically distinct from those of Moldovan CTCC peoples. The lack of local ancestry associated with Ukrainian Neolithic hunter-gatherers suggests that these farmers mostly replaced local foragers. Additionally, during the Bronze Age, Verteba Cave was used by successive waves of nomadic pastoralists from the east that eventually brought significant genetic and cultural changes to Europe that eventually mixed with the local descendants of Trypillia-culture population".{{sfn|Gelabert|2022}}
== See also ==<!---♦♦♦ Please keep the list in alphabetical order ♦♦♦--->
{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|
* [[Barter tokens of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture]]
* [[Chalcolithic Europe]]
* [[Copper Age]]
* [[Dnieper–Donets culture]]
* [[History of Ukraine]]
* [[Khvalynsk culture]]
* [[Linear Pottery culture]]
* [[Nebelivka (archaeological site)]]
* [[Neolithic Europe]]
* [[Old Europe (archaeology)|Old Europe]]
* [[Prehistoric Romania]]
* [[Prehistory of Southeastern Europe]]
* [[Proto-Indo-Europeans]]
* [[Samara culture]]
* [[Sredny Stog culture]]
* [[Varna culture]]
* [[Vinča culture]]
* [[Yamnaya culture]]
}}
== Notes ==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
===Works cited===
{{refbegin|2}}
*{{citation |last=Gimbutas |first=Marija |author-link=Marija Gimbutas |editor-last=Polomé |editor-first=Edgar C. |chapter=Old Europe in the Fifth Millenium B.C.: The European Situation on the Arrival of Indo-Europeans |title=The Indo-Europeans in the Fourth and Third Millennia |year=1982 |publisher=Karoma Publishers |location=Ann Arbor |isbn=0-89720-041-1}}
*{{citation |last=Gimbutas |first=Marija |year=1997 |editor-last=Dexter |editor-first=Miriam Robbins |editor2-last=Jones-Bley |editor2-first=Karlene |title=The Kurgan Culture and the Indo-Europeanization of Europe: Selected Articles from 1952 to 1993 |series=Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph Series |volume=18 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Institute for the Study of Man |isbn=978-0-941694-56-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hCZmAAAAMAAJ}}
{{refend}}
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'''''French'''''
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'''''German'''''
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== External links ==
{{Commons category|Cucuteni-Trypillia culture}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cHLnAgXLMY The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley 5000–3500 BC, Exhibition Video (2010)]
* [https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24933230-900-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-mysterious-culture-that-invented-civilisation/ The rise and fall of the mysterious culture that invented civilisation]
* [https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p09kw6r2/trypillia-7000-year-old-civilisation-silenced-by-communists Trypillia: 7000-year-old civilisation silenced by communists]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onY1QIv1Fro An interesting 6 minute video on an exhibition in Rome – "Cucuteni–Trypillia: A Great Civilization of Old Europe" with dialogue in English.]
* [http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/harsova/en/balk4.htm Cucuteni Culture] The French Government's Ministry of Culture's page on Cucuteni Culture (in English).
* [http://www.dacia.org/Dacian_Virtual_Museum/The_Earlyest/the_earlyest.html Cucuteni Culture] The Romanian Dacian Museum page on Cucuteni Culture (in English).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091128091014/http://www.arattagar.co.uk/Aratta/Trypillia/Trypillia.html Trypillian Culture from Ukraine] A page from the UK-based group "Arattagar" about Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, which has many great photographs of the group's trip to the Trypillian Museum in Trypillia, Ukraine (in English).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100122164908/http://www.archaeomythology.org/index.html The Institute of Archaeomythology] The homepage for The Institute of Archaeomythology, an international organization of scholars dedicated to fostering an interdisciplinary approach to cultural research with particular emphasis on the beliefs, rituals, social structure and symbolism of ancient societies. Much of their focus covers topics that relate to the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture (in English).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101031172828/http://www.cimec.ro/Arheologie/Vadastra/Vadastra_en/index.htm The Vădastra Village Project] A [[living history museum]] in Romania, supported by many international institutions.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051130034741/http://www.mnir.ro/ National Museum of Romanian History] in [[Bucharest]]. Their web site is in Romanian.
* [http://www.nationalmuseum.md/ro National History Museum of Moldova] in [[Chișinău]].
* [http://www.nyu.edu/isaw/exhibitions/oldeurope/ The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley, 5000–3500 BC] an exhibit at the [[Institute for the Study of the Ancient World]] in [[New York City]], from 10 November 2009 to 25 April 2010 .
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100504153358/http://www.piatra-neamt.neamtvirtual.ro/panorame-360/obiective-turistice/41-muzeul-de-arta-eneolitica-cucuteni-din-piatra-neamt.html 360 Virtual Tour of Cucuteni Museum from Piatra-Neamt] (in Romanian).
{{Cucuteni–Trypillia culture}}
{{Neolithic Europe}}
{{Prehistoric technology}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cucuteni-Trypillia culture}}
[[Category:Cucuteni–Trypillia culture| ]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures in Moldova]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures in Romania]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures in Ukraine]]
[[Category:Chalcolithic cultures of Europe]]
[[Category:Neolithic cultures of Europe]]
[[Category:Prehistory of Southeastern Europe]]
[[Category:Pre-Indo-Europeans]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures of Europe]]