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The Trypillia-Cucuteni cultural complex over a period of almost 2000 years was an outstanding phenomenon east of the Carpathians, but it fell into decay. The Late period of Trypillia culture dates back to 3200-2700 BC and is represented by a few local types or so-called 'post-Trypillia cultures', all located in regions with different natural condit...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... one looks closer at the diversity of variants of the Trypillian culture after 3400-3200 BC, one can see that different groups of the population overcame a crisis in a different way (Figs. 2 and 3). So, we can speak of a few 'anti-crisis programmes' implemen- ted in ancient times by the Trypillians, who were stri- ving desperately to survive. ...
Citations
... According to various sources, some researchers have seen the formation of six groups (лагодовська 1953; Захарук 1953; Пассек 1955; мовша 1972), others opted for seven groups (Niţu 1977), the number gradually rising to eight (Дергачев 1980), nine (маркевич 1981), then eleven (Черныш 1985), and eventually reaching fifteen local groups (Videiko 2011). These groups are similar to each other through a series of material culture elements, but diverge in terms of their funerary rites. ...
Cultural interactions between the societies of Old Europe and the Steppe ‘Kurgan people’ played a significant role in the academic writings of Maria Gimbutas. In her texts, the interplay between mentioned human groups was described as a dichotomy and was put into a framework of violent struggle. Three waves of destructive intrusion of steppe pastorals were reconstructed and the determinative role of ‘kurgan people’ in the spread of Indo-European nations was described (Gimbutas, 1993). However, although Gimbutas’ model is still influential and is used as a methodological framework for the most recent genomic studies (Haak et al., 2015), (Allentoft et al., 2015), (Juras et al., 2018), (Scorrano et al., 2021), there are certain archaeological data that allow suggesting a more complicated interaction than simple ‘east-to-west’ migration. In the current paper, we will publish a rare example of a kurgan burial with mixed Late Trypillia and ‘steppe’ traits, excavated by one of the authors in 1989 near the village of Pomichna. The context of similar burials discovered in the south of Eastern Europe between the South Buh and Dnieper rivers will be provided. The emergence of the Serezlievka local group with a hybrid Trypillia-steppe identity at the end of the 4th millennium BC will be conceptualized.
Until recently, only 7 inhumations in crouched on side position, found in Ak-Mechetka, Konstantynivka, Savran', Tsekynivka I and Hyrzhove have been published as attributed to the Bug-Dniester culture (BDC). An inhumation stretched on the back was excavated on Dobryanka 3 site in 2006. It disproved entrenched views and made the researchers have a closer look at available data. A study of field survey reports showed that 4 other inhumations stretched on the back, unearthed on the territory of the Bug-Dniester settlements Samchyntsi I, Haivoron-Polizhok and Sokiltsi VI in 1956-1961, have not been published. Analysis of arguments in favor of the Neolithic age of the twelve mentioned burials showed that 1 cenotaph and 3 inhumations with crouched skeletons and grave goods from Ak-Mechetka and Konstantynivka, in fact, belong to the Early Bronze Age. The Bug-Dniester attribution of the remaining burials without grave goods was neither proved nor disproved. The only way to determine their reliable age is to obtain radio-carbon dating of the bones. So far, the only date pointing to the turn of the Mesolithic and Neolithic has been obtained for a human bone from Dobryanka 3. The Neolithic age of the crouched skeleton from Tsekynivka I is indirectly proved by its position under a fragmented Neolithic vessel. Thus, for the moment, connection of inhumations stretched on the back with the BDC is better justified. However, there are some grounds to suppose that the funerary rite of its bearers also included inhumations in crouched on side position.
