TRYPILLIA -- UKRAINE'S NEOLITHIC CULTURE
This is an overview of Trypilian culture, equivalent to about three (3) printed pages.
There are two (2) images (gifs) associated with this file, and bibliographic references are listed at
the end.
There are also a few links to WebPages of related interest.
UKRAINE'S
* TRYPILIAN CULTURE *
Copyright 1996
Tania Diakiw O'Neill
Introduction
Trypilian culture (Trypil'ska kultura) is the Ukrainian name given to a Neolithic population whose culture once flourished on the ethnically Ukrainian territories of present-day Ukraine, Moldova, and the northeast area of Romania. The parallel Romanian name is "Cucuteni" culture.
Both these names derive from the villages where artifacts of this culture were first discovered in Ukraine and in Romania, respectively. The Trypilia site is near Kyiv (Kiev), the capitol of Ukraine, and the Cucuteni site is near
Iasi in Romania, near the Moldovian border.
In her book (ref *1), Marija Gimbutas stated: "Tripolya (sic) is one of the best explored and richest cultures
of Old Europe, a true civilization in the best meaning of the word."
The Trypilian population's primordial deity was female, and their culture developed rich and complex artistic
symbols rooted in their religious beliefs based on the Great Goddess and her various aspects as Giver-of-Life, Wielder of Death, and Regeneratrix. This symbolic system reflects the natural, yet "represents cyclical, non-
linear, mythical time."
