The Trypillian/Tripolie/Cucuteni culture

The Trypillian/Tripolie/Cucuteni culture
Some basics. Note the difference in dating

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"The Cucuteni culture, better known in the countries of
the former Soviet Union as Trypillian culture or Tripolie
culture, is a late Neolithic archaeological culture that
flourished between ca. 5508 BC and 2750 BC in the
Dniester-Dnieper region of modern-day Romania,
Moldova, and Ukraine"
[wikipedia]
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"Trypillian Proto-Civilization
Between the long eras of proto-historical hunter societies
and the epoch of the first civilizations (such as those in
Egypt and Mesopotamia) lies a long period. This period
is associated with the formation of the bases of these
civilizations, such as the creation of reproductive
economies, handicrafts, first bridges, and written
language. These historical-cultural periods of human
development are called "proto-civilizations".

Among the agricultural proto-civilizations of ancient
Europe, the Trypillian proto-civilization existed from the
6th until the end of 4th millennium BC. This was a
contemporary to proto-civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia,
Hindus valley, and China. During this period these proto-
civilizations were at approximately the same level of
development.

During the 5th millennium BC, when agricultural proto-
civilizations in the Balkans and Central Europe were
gradually disappearing, the Trypillian culture (in Ukraine,
on the boundaries of the European "civilized world" of
that time) continued to flourish for another millennium.
Proto-cities, monumental architecture, first foundations,
handicrafts (metallurgies, weaving, ceramics), denotation
systems as written language, all continued to develop
and are reasons to consider Trypillia as one of the most
interesting and developed proto-civilizations."
http://www.iananu.kiev.ua/privatl/pages/Widejko/coursesE/study.htm
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"The Cucuteni culture (after the Romanian Cucuteni
village located in Iasi county, also Trypillian culture, or
Tripolie culture after the Ukrainian Trypillia village, or
Tripolie culture, Tripolian culture, from the Russian
version of the name (Tripolye culture), or, as a
compromise, Cucuteni-Trypillia) is a late Neolithic
archaeological culture that flourished 4500 BC - 3000
BC. It is a neolithic culture of Central Europe, in the
area of modern-day Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine, in
the Dniestr-Dnjepr 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.
It was centered on the middle to upper Dniester River
with an extension in the northeast to as far as the
Dnieper.
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.

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. 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 Neam, Romania."
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/cucuteni-culture/
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