Excavations of Trypillian settlements are taking place in the village of Lehedzyne, Cherkasy oblast. Bertrand Coste, a French patron, and a group of representatives of Ukrainian mass media recently visited the archeologists.
As the director of the expedition Volodymyr Kruts highlighted that it was the largest known Trypillian settlement between the modern villages of Lehedzyne and Talianky. Scholars have long been interested in the huge settlements of the Trypillians between the Buh and the Dniester. Their dimensions are astonishing: the settlement at Talianky has an area of 450 hectares, that at Maidanets — 250 hectares.
Geomagnetic surveillance showed that they contained 1,500 to 2,800 buildings located in concentric circles, inhabited by 6,000 to 25,000 people. So far, less than 50 settlements have been excavated. According to the director of the expedition, it takes half a month to clear the site and reach the top layer of the constructions.
Oleksii Korvin-Piotrovsky, the project leader, stated that a building with unique architectural details had been found this year; the floor and the altar survived in a particularly good condition. There was the first recorded evidence that the people who left the dwelling took the furnace, a symbol of the family hearth, with them. The pot found under the house was probably the family talisman. The project leader emphasized that such results enable scholars to make inferences about the microchronology of the development of settlements.
The expedition to excavate Trypillian settlements started in 1981. Mr. Coste has been co-financing the research for more than 10 years now. From time to time he arrives at the excavation site to see the progress, celebrate the successes and gains together with the expedition, and settle certain issues that arise in the course of excavations.
What urged the French businessman to create, in 2001, a joint project with the Institute of Archeology at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the charitable fund SEARCH Foundation “Exploration of Gigantic Settlements of the Trypillian Culture”?
“Ukraine is a young independent state with an ancient history. There was a lot of talk about the Trypillian culture, but nothing was getting done. That is why I decided to help the Intsitute of Archeology at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,” said Coste.
By the way, in the recent years the expedition has been financed totally at the expense of its patrons. Scholars do not get any state funds for excavations. “Our dream is that the officials at least let us expand the sphere of research, help create favorable conditions for work, and realize at last that financial support for the projects preserving the historical heritage will enhance the patriotic sentiment of the Ukrainian people,” emphasized the participants of the expedition.
