The Cucuteni-Trypillia culture is a Neolithic and Copper Age archaeological group (c. 5500 - 2750 BCE) of SE Europe. From the Carpathians to the fertile Dniester and Dnieper river valleys, the people spread through the lands. Trade and building boom.
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Regions center on modern-day Moldova, parts of western Ukraine and NE Romania. The group ranges over an area of 350,000 km2 (140,000 sq mi), with a diameter of 500 km (300 mi) approximately from Kyiv in the northeast to Brașov in the southwest.
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Most Cucuteni–Trypillia settlements are modest in size, spaced c. 3-4 km (c. 1.8 - 2.5 mi) apart. Greatest populations inhabit the Siret, Prut and Dniester River Valleys. The Cucuteni Civilization (c. 5500 - 3500 BCE) is the oldest confirmed European civilization.
Pottery remains from the early period are rare. Those found indicate the vessels are fired in a kiln. Use of pottery kilns goes back to c. 8000 BCE. Neolithic pottery varies widely over time and region.
Early salt production uses briquetage pottery vessels. Briquetage first appears in the 5th millennium BCE, as salt trade expands to industrial proportions. Evidence indicates the Cucuteni - Trypillia culture extracts salt from earth-born springs.
In the Black Sea regions, one of the first known salt works is at Poiana Slatinei, near the village of Lunca (Vânători-Neamț), Romania. It's first used in the early Neolithic, around 6050 BCE.
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The oldest known town in the world is Solnitsata, a contemporary salt trade site off the Black Sea coast of today's Bulgaria. The salt comes from mineral springs rising up in the ground. Along with amber, flint and obsidian, salt is among the earliest items traded.
During its middle phase (c. 4000 to 3500 BC), the Cucuteni–Trypillia populations build the largest settlements in Neolithic Europe. Thousands are found, some with up to 3000 buildings, altogether inhabited by 20,000 to 46,000 people.
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Some settlements are rebuilt multiple times on earlier levels of habitation, preserving shape and orientation of the older buildings. The Poduri site in Romania reveals thirteen habitation levels constructed on top of each other over many years.
Neolithic settlements favor a longhouse style of building. In the north, timber is plentiful. In some areas the wattle and daub method is popular, using woven wood or reed pieces smoothed with sticky clay and animal dung, which dries waterproof.
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Whitewash might be used on the inside or outside of houses. Thick slaked lime is common in Neolithic construction as in later monumental building. White buildings gleam like jewels in the sun and reflect heat, keeping the interior cool.
Rivers in the Ukraine and area reveal substantial iron ore. Although iron is worked from found meteorites, the Neolithic people have little use for the metal, as smelting technology is still in process.
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At first, iron is slag from smelting copper. Even in the Iron Age the preferred metal is bronze, until weapons of steel appear, the first in c. 1800 BCE Anatolia. In the Neolithic the rich, naturally occurring iron oxide reds find use in red ocher decor paint, body decor and ritual.
The red ochers are a great influence in art such as as some of the vibrant pottery produced by the Cucuteni people. In the Upper Dniester are found about 30 burials with ochre either covering the body, or placed as chunks in the grave.
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Graves of ocher burials also contain remains of wooden floors or ceilings. Burials with ochre in the Upper Dniester region date to c. 2500 BCE are influenced by the widespread Yamna culture of the Pontic-Caspian steppe.
Besides being skilled potters the early people of the Dniester River are expert metallurgists and play a strong role in bringing the region into the Chalcolithic Age. Trade conducted with other cultures such as those of the Dnipro includes pottery and metals.
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While no textiles are found at the Dniester sites it's not surprising due to the impermanence of fabrics over thousands of years. Fabric weave impressions appear on pottery and evidence of looms, weaving and even a type of knitting attest to textile creation.
The Danube and Dniester river drainages are a part of a single ancient watercourse. Together they make up the largest river basin system in the Western Pontic basin (Pontic-Caspian Steppe).
Most the Neolithic settlements are near rivers, with a few on plateaus. Early dwellings are pit houses, dug fully or partially into the ground. Above-ground houses appear shortly after, with floors and hearths of clay. Walls are wattle and clay, with roofs of thatched straw or reeds.
In Cucuteni-Trypillian culture a burdei house (above - a later Mennonite house in Kansas, USA, common Neolithic architecture style) has a wooden floor about 1.5 m (5 ft) below ground. The roof is slightly higher than ground level.
The riverside inhabitants use selective animal and grain breeding; fishing, hunting and foraging. Wheat, rye and peas are common crops. Tools included plows of antler, stone, bone and sharp sticks. The harvest is reaped with scythes of flint-inlaid blades.
Tools of flint, rock, clay, wood and bones are used for cultivation and other chores into the Middle Period. Copper axes made from ore mined in Volyn, Ukraine, as well as some deposits along the Dnieper river are found.
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Pottery-making still relies on the art of hand-constructed pottery, as the wheel is not in use. Characteristics of the Cucuteni–Trypillia pottery include a monochromic spiral design. Large pear-shaped pottery for storage of grain and other goods is also used.
Ceramic statues of female "goddess" figures, animals and house models originating in this period are also found. Grain is milled into flour by quern-stones, round grindstones with a handle or pole attached for rotating.
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Women are potters, textile- and garment-makers, and leaders in community life. Men hunt, herd livestock and make implements of flint, bone, antler and stone.
Clay statues of women, and amulets also date to the Neolithic. Copper bracelets, rings and hooks appear from this time. A hoard of copper items discovered in Cărbuna, Moldova, comes from c. 5000 BCE.
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Of livestock, cattle take precedence, with smaller numbers of swine, sheep and goats. Domestication of the horse beings during the later Cucuteni–Trypillia culture. Horse remains are found at settlements. Horses are regularly hunted as prey before being domesticated.
The Dniester Estuary or Dniester Liman forms at the Black Sea coast. A natural lagoon caused by a sedimentary spit at the river mouth, the Dniester Liman is 42.5 km (26.4 mi) long and 12 km (7.5 mi) wide, and shallow. with maximum depth of 2.7m (8.8 ft).
The Dniester Liman is the closest open body of water to landlocked Moldova; only 3 km of Ukrainian territory separates Moldova from the Black Sea. On the spit separating the liman from the open Black Sea to the south is the resort town of Zatoka.
Entering the Bronze Age c. 3300 - 3000 BCE
During the late period, the Cucuteni-Trypillia territory expands considerably. Members of the Cucuteni-Trypillia along the coastal regions near the Black Sea encounter other cultures. Animal husbandry advances, hunting declines and horses become more important.
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The end of the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture is vague. One theory holds that aggressive Yamnaya destroy them in a succession of raids. In the Bronze Age there is definitely a change from the development of farming societies to building of hill forts and defenses.
On the spit of the Dniester Liman is the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi fortress, a medieval citadel. It's built 13-14th century on the remains of ancient Greek Tyras. A city on the north coast of the Black Sea, Tyras prospers until destroyed by tribal onslaughts by c. 400.