Cucuteni–Trypillia culture

The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, also known as the Cucuteni culture or Trypillia culture is a <a href="/facts/Neolithic_Europe/rK7oRvBP">Neolithic</a>–<a href="/facts/Chalcolithic/asevzSXh">Chalcolithic</a> <a href="/facts/Archaeological_culture/atr9Dx9M">archaeological culture</a> (c. 5050 to 2950 BC) of <a href="/facts/Southeast_Europe/zxgEvCdQ">Southeast Europe</a>. It extended from the Carpathian Mountains to the <a href="/facts/Dniester/UhEG0beX">Dniester</a> and <a href="/facts/Dnieper/RLJ1G8pH">Dnieper</a> regions, centered on modern-day <a href="/facts/Moldova/qGBNGewt">Moldova</a> and covering substantial parts of western <a href="/facts/Ukraine/Qof0uqAj">Ukraine</a> and northeastern <a href="/facts/Romania/yolzk5cN">Romania</a>, encompassing an area of 350,000 km2 (140,000 sq mi), with a diameter of 500 km (300 mi; roughly from <a href="/facts/Kyiv/uVAMxK8R">Kyiv</a> in the northeast to <a href="/facts/Bra%25C8%2599ov/U0I6JfxX">Brașov</a> in the southwest).
The majority of Cucuteni–Trypillia settlements were of small size, high density (spaced 3 to 4 kilometres apart), concentrated mainly in the <a href="/facts/Siret_(river)/3vDeu8Yv">Siret</a>, <a href="/facts/Prut/07CPkkhy">Prut</a> and Dniester river valleys. During its middle phase (c. 4100 to 3500 BC), populations belonging to the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture built some of the largest settlements in <a href="/facts/Eurasia/KlLI9GDM">Eurasia</a>, some of which contained as many as three thousand structures and were possibly inhabited by 20,000 to 46,000 people. The 'mega-sites' of the culture, which have been claimed to be early forms of cities, were the largest settlements in Eurasia, and possibly the world, dating to the <a href="/facts/5th_millennium_BC/UGAYsP0f">5th millennium BC</a>. The population of the culture at its peak may have reached or exceeded one million people. The culture was wealthy and influential in <a href="/facts/Eneolithic/asevzSXh">Eneolithic</a> Europe and the late Trypillia culture has been described by scholar <a href="/facts/Asko_Parpola/eoTG0dy4">Asko Parpola</a> as thriving and populous during the <a href="/facts/Chalcolithic/asevzSXh">Copper Age</a>. It has been proposed that it was initially egalitarian and that the rise of inequality contributed to its downfall.
The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture had elaborately designed <a href="/facts/Pottery/XLcUT1mX">pottery</a> made with the help of advanced <a href="/facts/Kiln/MFTuDWhU">kilns</a>, advanced architectural techniques that allowed for the construction of large buildings, advanced agricultural practices, and developed <a href="/facts/Metallurgy/1SANyxX4">metallurgy</a>. The economy was based on an elaborate agricultural system, along with <a href="/facts/Animal_husbandry/aJforlQp">animal husbandry</a>, with the inhabitants knowing how to grow plants that could withstand the ecological constraints of growth. Cultivation practices of the culture were important in the establishment of the cultural steppe in the present-day region as well.
The remains of a <a href="/facts/Potter%2527s_wheel/T3IuyAtF">potter's wheel</a> from the middle of the 5th millennium BC is the oldest ever found; it predates evidence of wheels in <a href="/facts/Mesopotamia/f0mmbhTK">Mesopotamia</a> by several hundred years. The culture also has the oldest evidence of wheeled vehicles, which predate any evidence of wheels for vehicles in Mesopotamia by several hundred years as well.
One of the most notable aspects of this culture was the <a href="/facts/Burned_house_horizon/NKlFBm0r">periodic destruction of settlements</a>, with each single-habitation site having a lifetime of roughly 60 to 80 years. 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 <a href="/facts/Poduri/1QKUJoC4">Poduri</a> site in Romania, revealed thirteen habitation levels that were constructed on top of each other over many years.

Cucuteni–Trypillia culture open-in-new

Cucuteni–Trypillia culture