Trypillia

19th-century view of Trypillia, prior to damming of Dnieper river (Regional Archeological Museum)

Trypillia (Ukrainian: Трипiлля, Russian: Триполье, Tripolye) is a village in the Obukhiv Raion (district) of the Kiev Oblast in central Ukraine, with 2800 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2005). It lies about 40 km (25 mi) south from Kiev on the Dnieper.

Trypillia is the site of an ancient mega-settlement dating to 4300–4000 BCE belonging to the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture. Settlements of this culture were as large as 200 hectares. This proto-city is just one of 2440 Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements discovered so far in Moldova and Ukraine. 194 (8%) of these settlements had an area of more than 10 hectares between 5000–2700 BCE and more than 29 settlements had an area in the range 100–450 Hectares.

History

Trypillian pots (Regional Archeological Museum)

It was near Trypillia that archaeologist Vikentiy Khvoyka discovered an extensive Neolithic site of the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture, one of the major Neolithic-Chalcolithic cultures of Eastern Europe. Khvoika reported his findings in 1897 to the 11th Congress of Archaeologists, marking the official date of the discovery of this culture.

The name "Trypillia" means "three fields" in the Slavic languages. It was first mentioned by Kievan chroniclers in connection with the Battle of the Stugna River in 1093. During the 12th century, Trypillia was a fortress which defended approaches towards Kiev from the steppe. One of its rulers was Mstislav Mstislavich. During the subsequent centuries, the town dwindled into insignificance. In 1919 it was the venue of the Trypillia Incident, in which Ukrainian forces under Danylo Terpylo massacred a unit of Bolsheviks.

See also

• History of Ukraine
• Neolithic Europe

Bibliography

• Videiko M. Yu. Trypillia Civilization in Prehistory of Europe. Kiev Domain Archeological Museum, Kiev, 2005.

External links

• Trypillian Museum
• Ukrainian Neolith
• The Trypillia-USA-Project The Trypillian Civilization Society homepage (in English).
• Trypillian Culture from Ukraine A page from the UK-based group "Arattagar" about Trypillian Culture, which has many great photographs of the group's trip to the Trypillian Museum in Trypillia, Ukraine (in English).