Cucuteni culture
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The Cucuteni culture (after the Romanian Cucuteni village located in Iaşi county, also Trypillian culture, or Tripolie culture after the Ukrainian Trypillia (Трипiлля) village, or Tripolie culture, Tripolian culture, from the Russian version of the name: Триполье (Tripolye culture), or, as a compromise, Cucuteni-Trypillia) is a late Neolithic archaeological culture that flourished ca. 4500 BC – 3000 BC. It is a neolithic culture of Central Europe, in the area of modern-day Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine, in the Dniester-Dnieper region. Mallory reports that the
- culture is attested from well over a thousand sites in the form of everything from small villages to vast settlements comprised of hundreds of dwellings surrounded by multiple ditches. —EIEC, "Tripolye Culture".
An urban culture is present, perhaps the first in Europe. Agriculture is attested, as well as livestock-raising, cattle mainly, but goats/sheep and swine are also evidenced. Wild game is a regular part of the faunal remains.
It has been known since 1884 in Romania, and first excavations were begun in 1909.
The first settlements discovered were in northern Romania, hence the naming of the culture after a Romanian village, but further artifacts discovered later indicate that the geographical center of the culture probably lay further north, perhaps in the Republic of Moldova. Some suggest that the center lay near the Ukrainian village of Trypillia, discovered in 1897, this suggestion being mostly advanced by Ukrainian researchers.
It may be an Indo-European culture. At the very least, it is IE influenced[[Citing sources citation needed]]. The pottery is connected to the Linear Pottery culture.
The largest collection of artifacts of Cucuteni culture can be found at the Museum of History & Archaeology in Piatra Neamţ, Romania.
As of 2003, about 2000 sites of Trypillian culture have been identified.
It is suggested to enter the Trypillia Reserve into the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
See also
Sources
J. P. Mallory, "Tripolye Culture", Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
External links
- http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/harsova/en/balk4.htm
- http://www.dacia.org/Dacian_Virtual_Museum/The_Earlyest/the_earlyest.html
- [Tripillian civilization homepage]
- [To The Question of the Origin and the Ethnical Belonging of Trypilla (Tripolje) Culture]
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