Алексей Виноградов – Holy waters of the ancestral homeland of mankind (страница 4)

A comparison of the dates of settlements from the late Early Period and sites from the first half of the Middle Period allows us to consider 3600 BC as the beginning of the Middle Period, and 3400 BC as the end of its first half. The end of the middle period can be considered to be 3250 BC.

Radiocarbon dates rarely correspond to the settlement periodization. For example, the 14 absolute dates obtained for settlements of the A2 phase of the Gumelnitsa culture cover an inordinately long period, from 3915 to 3410 BC. However, judging by the finds of Trypillian ceramics at the Gumelnitsa settlements, the A2 phase corresponds to the end of the early and beginning of the middle periods of the Trypillian-Cucuteni culture. Therefore, dates placed between 3600 and 3450 BC are acceptable and comparable with the dates of the Trypillian settlements.

Several radiocarbon dates have been obtained for settlements of the late Trypillia culture:

3000 BC (Cucuteni B1), 2920, 2840, 2650, 2450, 2425, 2390 BC (Trypillia), and 2380 BC (Usatovo).

This list can be expanded with dates obtained for cultures that were in contact with the Trypillia culture:

Funnelbeaker culture - 2725, 2665 BC.

Globular Amphora culture - 2490, 2240, 2195 BC.

Yamnaya culture - 2380, 2100 BC.

Cernavoda I culture - 2555, 2435, 2310 BC.

Karanovo culture - 2385, 2360 BC.

3.

Approximately 3,000 Trypillian settlements are known in Ukraine. Some settlements have been explored over large areas, while others have been excavated almost entirely. Aerial photographic decipherment in the 1960s revealed the presence of large settlements covering several hundred hectares, containing up to 2,000 dwellings, some of which were two-story. Rectangular (up to 200 square meters), multi-chambered adobe-frame houses (limestone was also used) have been found.

The first settlers of the Upper Olt and Carpathian regions, from whom the Trypillian communities trace their origins, emerged as a society with an established tradition in the construction of settlements, the production of household implements, and methods of agricultural and livestock farming. The agricultural and domestic economy methods they developed were so efficient that they persisted for centuries without significant change. It has been established that settlements of the initial stage of cultural development (Docucuteni 1) were localized within a very small area of southeastern Transylvania and the Eastern Carpathian region, while settlements of the next stage (Docucuteni 2) occupied a vast area from the Eastern Carpathian region to the Middle Dniester region. Almost all communities left Transylvania and settled the fertile lands of the forest-steppe zone from the Siret to the Dniester. The dispersal of sites across this territory indicates that it was not overpopulation that forced people to migrate long distances, but rather an extensive method of agriculture and livestock farming, which necessitated periodic changes of land.

The cultural area had approximately doubled by this time, indicating a fairly rapid process of settlement of Trypillian communities from the Eastern Carpathian region toward the Dniester, and then the Southern Bug.

The early period of the Trypillian culture is characterized by a predominance of small settlements (1-1.5 hectares), small and medium-sized adobe houses, the widespread use of dugouts and semi-dugouts for housing and utility rooms, and the construction of family altars near hearths.

In the middle period of the Trypillian culture (Trypillian B), settlements were located in areas with natural protection. During this stage, settlements fortified with a ditch and rampart (sometimes two) became more common. A ring-shaped (circular) settlement layout with nest-like groupings of dwellings is characteristic. The area of settlements increased to 8, and sometimes to 60 hectares (Veremye, Vladimirovka) and even over 150 hectares (Vesely Kut).

The increase in the number of settlements was associated with an increase in population size and density. The Trypillian tribes continued to disperse further to the northeast, into the Dnieper region and to the southeast. From the mid- to late 4th millennium BC, the Trypillian tribes expanded their territory, inhabiting the Upper Dniester region, the Bug-Dnieper region, and reached the right bank of the Dnieper.

In the late period of the Trypillian culture (Trypillian C), the territory expanded as the tribes advanced north and east. The Trypillians settled the upper reaches of the Pripyat, Sluch, Goryn, and Styr rivers, and in the south, they reached the Black Sea coast. Remote settlements were founded along the Don and Volga rivers. The Trypillian culture occupied a territory equal in size to the Harappan civilization.

During this period, on the left bank of the Dnieper, the Trypillian culture encountered a genetically unrelated, rapidly developing Catacomb culture. This likely contributed to the delay in the further eastward expansion of the Trypillian tribes. It was in the Dnieper region, based on the Late Trypillian foundations, that the Middle Dnieper culture later emerged.

Settlements were located in high, inaccessible areas. Moats and ramparts were not used to fortify the entire settlement, but only a portion of it—the highest point. At the same time, there exist small settlements with irregular development and giant settlements (up to 300-400 hectares) with populations of 10,000-60,000 people, strictly planned (with rings and radii), fortified and unfortified settlements, and one- and two-story houses of medium (40-80 square meters) and large (100-150 square meters) sizes.

The number of 30-40 houses for a small settlement is constant, and based on the calculation of seven people per house, the total population was approximately 500. This is also confirmed by materials from ancient Sumer. The settlement, with a population of tens of thousands of people, was significantly larger in size than any ancient Eastern city.

The subsequent simultaneous decline in the number of settlements, the gradual loss of individual regions by the Trypillian tribes, and other phenomena indicate a growing crisis of sorts in the development of Trypillian society. Most Trypillian settlements were suddenly abandoned; traces of exposure to high temperatures and the presence of a glassy mass are present.

Experiments burning adobe structures have demonstrated the impossibility of reducing the walls to the condition seen in Trypillian structures by a conventional fire lasting many hours. Research by A. Ya. Bryusov (1951) revealed the presence of residual radioactivity in the ruins of Trypillian settlements.

4.

Despite the enormous abundance of settlements and material artifacts of the Trypillian culture, it is virtually devoid of burials. For this reason, the genetics of this culture are poorly studied. American archaeologist Douglas W. Bailey writes: "Cucuteni cemeteries do not exist, and the discovered Trypillian cemeteries belong to a very late period." The anthropological composition of the early Trypillians is unknown due to the lack of skeletal remains.

Perhaps this culture practiced a burial rite in which neither bones nor even ashes were left in the ground. This rite developed precisely in the early Neolithic culture of Anatolia, from which, according to genetic and archaeological data, the Neolithic wave of migration originated, leading to the formation of the agricultural cultures of Southeastern Europe, including the Trypillian culture.

Cemeteries from the early and middle periods of the Trypillian-Cucuteni culture have not yet been discovered. Currently, the only Trypillian site where human remains dating from 3600-2500 BC have been found is Verteba Cave in western Ukraine. This cave was not identified as a Trypillian site.

A 2022 study published in the journal Scientific Reports analyzed DNA samples from Verteba Cave.

Regarding Y-DNA haplogroups, the following were found: G2a2b2a3, G2a2a1, G2a2a1, C1a, E, I2a1a2a-L161.1, I2a2a1, and I2c.

According to mtDNA, the haplogroups are J1c2, K1a2, T2b, H, H5a, H5b, H15a1, H1b, HV, J1c5, K1a, K1a1b1, K1b1, N1a1a1a, T2, T2b, T2c1d1, T4, U5a, U5a2, U8b, W.

This set of markers confirms the kinship of the population of this culture with the peoples of the Balkan Neolithic and Asia Minor. In Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, some carriers of G2a are Kurds. Also in the Caucasus, there are many carriers of G2a, including Ossetians, Circassians, Avars, Lezgins, and Chechens. Haplogroup I2 is concentrated in Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia. Haplogroup C1a is present among both Oceania and Siberia. Haplogroup E distinguishes the peoples of East Africa.

All studied samples "are primarily characterized by an ancestral component dominant in Anatolian-Neolithic individuals, suggesting a strong connection with European Neolithic populations. This indicates a common origin with the Baden culture population. Genotypes of local origin associated with Ukrainian Neolithic hunter-gatherers are absent."

Neolithic farmers from Asia Minor brought a set of mitochondrial lineages to Europe: J, T2, HV, and N1a. New haplogroups first appeared in the Balkans, the northern Mediterranean, and the Iberian Peninsula, and then spread to Central and Northern Europe, leading to the gradual disappearance of haplogroup U representatives. By the end of the Neolithic, mitochondrial haplogroup U had virtually disappeared from Europe.