Trypillia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Trypillia (Ukrainian: Трипiлля, Russian: Триполье, Tripolye) is a village in Ukraine in Kiev Oblast with 2,800 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2005). It lies about 40 km south from Kiev on the Dnieper River.
As established by excavations undertaken from 1897 onward, Trypillia was the site of a Neolithic civilization that existed on the territory of modern Ukraine 5,400 - 2,700 BCE. Trypillia had a sister culture, Cucuteni culture, that existed in Romania at the same time. The two most prominent features of the Trypillian civilization are the colorful ornamental pottery and the sizable proto-cities. The latter were discovered only 30 years ago with the help of aerial photography. Carbon dating places some of these cities at 4,200 - 2,750 BCE, making them the oldest known cities in pre-historic Europe. A Trypillian proto-city near modern Tal'anky in Ukraine was the largest of them all. It covered an area of about 450 ha and stretched over 3.5 km in diameter. Tal'anky was built around 3,700 - 3,500 BCE.
The name of Trypillia means "three fields" in Slavic languages. It was first mentioned by Kievan chroniclers in connection with the Battle of the Stugna River in 1093. During the 12th century, Tripillia was a fortress which defended approaches towards Kiev from the steppe. One of its rulers was Mstislav the Bold. 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.
[edit] References
- Videiko M. Yu. Trypillia Civilization in Prehistory of Europe. Kyiv Domain Archeological Museum, Kyiv, 2005.
