Trypillia

19th-century view of Trypillia, prior to damming of Dnieper river (Regional Archeological Museum)

Trypillia (Ukrainian: Трипiлля, Russian: Триполье, Tripolye) is a village in the Obukhiv Raion (district) of the Kiev Oblast, in central Ukraine, with 2,800 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2005). It lies about 40 km (25 mi) south from Kiev on the Dnieper River.

Trypillia is the site of an ancient mega-settlement dating to 4300 - 4000 B.C. belonging to the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture. The settlement were as large as 200 hectares. This proto-city are just one of 2440 Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements discovered so far in Moldova and Ukraine. 194 (8%) of these settlements had a area of more than 10 hectares between 5000 - 2700 B.C. and more than 29 settlements had an area in the range 100 - 300 - 450 Hectares.[1]

History

Trypillian pots (Regional Archeological Museum)

It was near Trypillia that archaeologist Vikentiy Khvoyka discovered an extensive Neolithic site of the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture, one of the major Neolithic-Chalcolithic cultures of Eastern Europe.[2] Khvoika reported his findings in 1897 to the 11th Congress of Archaeologists, marking the official date of the discovery of this culture.[3]

The name of Trypillia means "three fields" in Slavic languages and is unrelated to Tripoli. It was first mentioned by Kievan chroniclers in connection with the Battle of the Stugna River in 1093. During the 12th century, Trypillia 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.

Notes

Bibliography

See also

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tripillia.

Coordinates: 50°07′N 30°46′E / 50.117°N 30.767°E