Five thousand years ago the Chechens used to grow 11 varieties of cereals on the territory of present-day Ukraine. You can draw a conclusion like this after hearing a small fragment of the excursion organized by the Ukrainian Institute of Archeology and the Raffinade Communications agency to get familiarized with the Trypillian culture as part of the “History of Ukraine: New Facts” campaign launched on July 27, 2007. It is on our land that scientists have an opportunity to examine gigantic settlements set up 3,000 years before the era of Sumerians and Ancient Egyptians.
Archeologists, now working in Talne, Uman, and Zvenyhorod districts, are still trying to find out who the Trypillian people were, what they did, what was the way they lived and died.
Aerial photo survey spotted a large field of mounds on this very territory. Meanwhile, researchers believe that it was typical of the Trypillian culture (4th-3rd millennia BC) to have both underground and in-mound burials.
In general, according to Oleksii Korvin-Piotrovsky, the findings have already furnished considerable information on the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture whose settlements really look gigantic against the backdrop of the overall worldwide picture at the time: while a 100-ha settlement is considered a large one, in this case the areas are 450 ha (Talinky), 250 ha (Maidanetske), etc. Yet, as Korvin-Piotrovsky noted, the Trypillian culture is only one of the tiny marks on the archeological map of Ukraine — it was just “hyped” by the country’s leadership and the black market.
Now the state does not seem to be taking even this kind of “care,” and one has to resort to seeking “alternative sources of energy,” i.e., foreign investments. Trypillia is being explored for the US, British and Swiss money.
At the same time, the next destination of our journey showed that tourists were at last being taken care of — a state-run historical and cultural preserve called Trypillian Culture, with central museum to be set up in the village of Lehedzyne, has been established within the limits of Talne, Uman and Zvenyhorod districts.
Although the researchers largely owe the establishment of the museum complex to the Golden Horseshoe of Cherkasy Region program, the museum people often have rely on themselves. For example, they are planning to use the current excavations as a source of profit as well as to set up a permanent archeological site.
In other words, everybody but the state cares about the development of national archeology (and, hence, history and culture as a whole), and our efforts are based on pure enthusiasm.
For the time being, it is altruists who are promoting the study of Ukrainian history. Among them is the Raffinade Communications agency and, oddly enough, some foreign charitable foundations. “It would be good if this problem was tackled, so that Ukraine knows what civilizations once existed here,” said Bertrand Coste, managing director of the British facility QES Investment Ltd., one of the sponsors of Trypillian culture research.
