Archaeological discoveries from recent decades in Ukraine show that the culture Cucuteni-Trypolealso called the culture of painted cupsdeveloping around 6 thousand years agomay have been one of the first to create huge, carefully planned settlements in which thousands of people lived.
The settlements built by the painted pottery culture were characterized by a regular street layout and a large number of houses. Research conducted in one of the largest such places, Nebeliwce located about 250 kilometers south of Kiev, showed that the settlement had over 1.4 thousand houses, grouped in 14 districts.
The layout of the old settlements in Ukraine differs significantly from the organic growth of many historical cities. From a bird’s eye view, they have circular or oval shapeand the houses are arranged in concentric circles. The circles of buildings are regularly interrupted by wide streetsand in the center there is usually open, undeveloped space.
This order clearly indicates the earlier planning. The settlements did not develop by chance – the plots were marked out and construction was carried out gradually. It can therefore be said that these are among the first planned cities in the world. The smallest settlements occupy about 30 hectares, while the largest stretch over an area of up to 3.2 km², larger than the principality of Monaco.
The houses in these settlements were built of wood i clay like modern half-timbered buildings. Although there is some dispute as to whether they were one or two storeys high, and whether they had gabled or arched roofs, they were remarkably similar. They were usually about 5 m wide and 14 m long.
Interestingly, these houses were finally burnedbut not by invaders during conflicts, but in an organized manner by the inhabitants themselves. The reasons for this custom, however, still remain unknown.
Unlike the cities of Mesopotamia, which were highly centralized and had a hierarchical power structure, the settlements of the Painted Beaker culture show no clear signs of division into social classes. There is simply no evidence of the existence of a power elite or wealthy social groups in the form of, for example, richly decorated vessels or jewelry. Only modest objects such as clay figurines or painted vessels that were commonly used have been found.
Traditionally, the first city in the world is considered Uruk in Mesopotamiawhere in the 4th millennium BC there was a ruling elite, monumental architecture and an administrative system. The settlements of the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture probably did not have these features for the most part, but archaeologist Johannes Müller considers them cities. He argues that the key to a city is planning and urban conceptthat were present in the case of these settlements.
Some researchers, such as Mykhailo Videiko from the University of Kyiv, are inclined to the theory that there was a ruling class in the settlements, although most evidence seems to contradict this. They explain it by the mechanism where, with the growth of society social differences arise naturallyfrom which power grows over time.
A completely different interpretation is proposed by researchers from Durham University. They suggest that the sediments were not permanently inhabited by large populations. Instead, they served as pilgrimage centerswhere people from the surrounding areas came once a year to participate in rituals and festivals.
The Painted Beaker Culture settlements, despite their size, they didn’t last very longThe main reasons given for their decline are the peculiar administrative paralysis. The people there lacked a system that would allow for efficient management. There was no writing system or central authority, and as the population grew, communication deteriorated and problems became more serious. Eventually, it led to the disappearance of these large settlements around 3600 BC
Source: geekweek.interia.pl
