The Tripolye Culture Giant-Settlements in Ukraine Formation, Development and Decline
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The Tripolye Culture Giant-Settlements in Ukraine Formation, Development and Decline edited by Francesco Menotti and Aleksey G. Korvin-Piotrovskiy OXBOW BOOKS Oxford and Oakville Published by Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK © Oxbow Books and the authors, 2012 ISBN 978-1-84217-483-8 This book is available direct from: Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK (Phone: 01865-241249; Fax: 01865-794449) and The David Brown Book Company PO Box 511, Oakville, CT 06779, USA (Phone: 860-945-9329; Fax: 860-945-9468) or from our website www.oxbowbooks.com A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Tripolye culture giant-settlements in Ukraine : formation, development and decline / edited by Francesco Menotti and Aleksey G. Korvin-Piotrovskiy. pages ; cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-84217-483-8 1. Cucuteni-Trypillia culture--Ukraine. 2. Neolithic period--Ukraine. 3. Ukraine--Antiquities. I. Menotti, Francesco. II. Korvin-Piotrovskiy, A. O. GN776.2.C83T75 2012 306.0939’52--dc23 2012022297 Front cover: Reconstruction of Tripolian Houses by E. Chernych and V. Markevich (design by Lizzie Holiday) Back cover: Full-size reconstruction of a Tripolian house by V. Kruts and V. Chabanyuk (photographed by V. Chabanyuk); 1:10-scaled reconstruction of a Trypolian house by A. Korvin-Piotrovskiy and L. Shatilo (photograph by L. Shatilo); Decorated pot from the Peschane Settlement, House 3 (Photographed by V. Chabanyuk) Printed in Great Britain by Short Run Press, Exeter Contents List of Contributors .................................................................................................................vii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................viii Introduction ...............................................................................................................................1 Francesco Menotti 1. Tripolye culture in Ukraine ................................................................................................6 Aleksey G. Korvin-Piotrovskiy 2. Absolute chronology of Ukrainian Tripolian settlements ................................................19 Yuri Rassamakin 3. Giant-settlements of Tripolye culture ..............................................................................70 Vladimir Kruts 4. Relative chronology of the giant-settlement period BII-CI .............................................79 Sergei N. Ryzhov 5. Settlement system of west Tripolye culture in the Southern Bug and Dnieper interfl uve: formation problems ..................................................................116 Aleksandr Diachenko 6. Tripolian pottery of the giant-settlements: characteristics and typology .......................139 Sergei N. Ryzhov 7. The fl int tools of Andreevka, the Tripolian settlement on the Bolshaya Vys River ............................................................................................ 169 Evgeniy Pichkur 8. Houses of the Tomashovskaya local group ....................................................................182 Dmitriy Chernovol 9. Tripolian house construction: conceptions and experiments ......................................... 210 Aleksey G. Korvin-Piotrovskiy, Vladislav Chabanyuk and Liudmilla Shatilo 10. The latest stage of development of the Tripolye culture ............................................... 230 Vladimir Kruts Epilogue ................................................................................................................................ 254 Francesco Menotti Index...................................................................................................................................... 257 Contributors VLADISLAV CHABANYUK Tripolye Culture Museum Legedzeno, Ukraine DMITRIY CHERNOVOL Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences Kiev, Ukraine ALEKSANDR DIACHENKO Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences and Institute for Eastern European and Mediterranean Archaeology State University of New York at Buffalo, United States ALEKSEY G. KORVIN-PIOTROVSKIY Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences Kiev, Ukraine VLADIMIR KRUTS Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences Kiev, Ukraine FRANCESCO MENOTTI Institute of Prehistory and Archaeological Science Basel University, Switzerland EVGENIY PICHKUR Archaeological Museum of the National Academy of Sciences Kiev, Ukraine YURI RASSAMAKIN Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences, Kiev, Ukraine and German Archaeological Institute, Germany SERGEI N. RYZHOV Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences, and T. Shevchenko, National University, Kiev, Ukraine LIUDMILLA SHATILO National University ‘Kiev Mohyla Academy’ Kiev, Ukraine Acknowledgements The book originates from an international collaborative project between the Institute of Prehistory and Archaeological Science, Basel University (Switzerland), and the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Science in Kiev (Ukraine), which was fully sponsored by the Swiss-Liechtenstein Foundation for Archaeological Research Abroad (SLSA). Therefore, our most sincere gratitude goes fi rst of all to the SLSA for its invaluable support, without which the project and consequently the writing of this book would not have been possible! We would also like to thank the Tripolye Museum and the local community of Legedzeno (Ukraine) for their support! A special thank you goes to the students of T. G. Shevchenko National University (Ukraine), the Kiev-Mohyla Academy (Ukraine) and the Uman National University for their invaluable work! We would like to express our appreciation to all the contributors for their collaborative effort in writing the chapters and to Viktoria Barchenko and Andrey Slivka for translating them from the original language (Russian) into English. We are fi nally grateful to Anna Hurina for her most-appreciated help throughout the entire editing process of the volume! Introduction Francesco Menotti The crucial role theUkrainian ‘branch’ of the Tripolye culture played in shaping the historical formation of Ukraine, and indeed that of Europe, is still not fully understood or appreciated. Although we are mostly aware of its fi nely-crafted and decorated pottery, along with the much- discussed house architecture and huge settlements (also known as ‘giant-settlements’), we often fail to connect the various dots in order to understand the different aspects of its development, from the very fi rst eastward migrations, to the scission into two separate local groups (eastern and western Tripolye culture), the formation of the so-called giant-settlements, and fi nally to its inexorable decline after more than 2000 years of prosperous existence. The challenging aim of this book, which has originated from a collaborative project between the Institute of Prehistory and Archaeological Science, Basel University (Switzerland), and the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences in Kiev (Ukraine), is that of attempting to join not only the scattered pieces of the large jigsaw puzzle of archaeological evidence, but also that of bringing together different research traditions, which, if not properly understood (and dealt with), might hinder the full potential of national and international synergetic collaborations. Different research traditions between Eastern and Western Europe are not the only shortcomings. In fact, even though English has become a sort of lingua franca for international publications within academia, the language barrier between the two ‘academic’ worlds is still very much present. Old-school scholars of the ex-Soviet Union countries are, in fact, still reluctant to publish in English, and continue to express their thoughts (and most importantly, publish) in the language they are more familiar with. At the same time, Western European researchers’ lack of knowledge of Eastern European languages (notably Russian and Ukrainian) prevents them from accessing valuable sources of information. The purpose of this volume is to surmount this obstacle and not only bridge the gap between internal (within Ukraine) research traditions (old- and new-school archaeologists), but also to make Western scholars aware of the crucial publications on the subject, which would otherwise be overlooked. In order to avoid misunderstanding and loss of precious information, all the chapters in the book were initially written in the various scholars’ mother tongues and then translated into English by professional translators. The various authors have been asked to cover all the possible fi elds of research into the Tripolye culture in Ukraine, and list all of the most relevant old and new references (which too have been translated into English) that are not readily available in the Western academic world. The volume has been organised so as to give the reader a clear image of the Tripolye culture in Ukraine, with a special emphasis placed upon the development of the so-called ‘giant-settlements’ (see Fig. 1). In addition to a general introduction to the various aspects of the Tripolye culture, from its initial stage (end of the sixth millennium cal BC) to the decline (end of the fourth–beginning of the third millennium cal BC) (see Fig. 2), the fi rst chapter places the main topic (the giant-settlement phenomenon) into a geographical and chronological context, highlighting the different facets of the culture