There are places in Ukraine that seem to open a door leading through the mist of centuries: ancient streets in Kyiv or Chernihiv, remains of once sturdy fortress walls, Polovtsian baba stone images, silent steppe burial mounds, primordial settlements...This rich and generous land lifts the veil over its secrets. Today’s tale is about the unique site that has for many years remained a benchmark of the mysterious cultural- archaeological phenomenon of Trypillia.
Volodymyrivka is a small village in a quiet corner of the Ukrainian steppe, on a hill by the scenic river Syniukha (Kirovohrad oblast). Outwardly just another Ukrainian village, one of many, waking washed in morning dew and going to sleep after a long day of hard work, becoming quiet in the evening and listening to old-timers’ stories about local treasures. Since time immemorial callused tillers’ and smooth tender children’s hands have picked strange clay figurines and fragments of pottery, dishes, and vessels with an unusually bright and whimsical ornamentation. The plows would now and then unearth a big chunk of baked clay feeling harder than brick. And countless legends were spun about the people who had lived here God knows how long ago, plowing this steppe and molding all those strange-looking things of clay!...
In 1940 an archaeological expedition arrived in Volodymyrivka, led by Tetiana Passek. An experienced researcher in the field, she was very impressed by what she saw. A settlement dating from the third or fourth millenium BC on an area of 72 hectares (about 178 acres). 150 homes were unearthed. According to Trypillian tradition, they were placed in a circle around an unknown center, leaving a large square. There were several such circles, the homes rectangular and pise-walled, occupying an area of 120-150 square meters. Each must have been inhabited by several families, as each had two to four rooms, and each room a stove.
Villagers came to the excavation site to watch and help. Gray and bearded men were amazed to see contours of dwellings emerge from the debris of baked clay. They refused to believe that so many centuries ago people had built homes using the same techniques they did. Clay and wood had been the principal materials. The house’s frame consisted of split blocks of wood with a caution of several layers of clay mixed with chaff above. The clay floor was smoothed and a bonfire started to burn it orange-red. The ancient craftsmen knew it was the only way to protect the structure from destructive humidity. The same kind of clay was used to make the stove and a bench.
People in Trypillia regarded their homes as not just places to live in, but as a small world, shelter, cosmos, temple. It was in Volodymyrivka that the archaeologists discovered the first cross-shaped altars, also made from clay, placed on the floor, but always slightly above it. Each was made with jealous care, sometimes decorated with concentric circles and invariably directed toward the parts of the world. These proved exceptional finds, indicative of the ancient contacts of the Trypillian culture to the southwest. Similar stone altars were unearthed on the island of Crete by British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans when digging for Minoan culture, in strata dating from the middle third millenium BC.
Beside large pise-walled buildings, closer to the river, the archaeologists stumbled on an entirely different object, a dugout. The onlookers wondered if it had also been inhabited. Their question was answered when the researchers retrieved fragments of ceramic vessels with black ornamentation, stone mills, flint implements (knives, scrapers), and several antler hoes. At the bottom they found three firesides kept meticulously clean and surrounded by stones. As they continued to work their brushes with gentle precise strokes, their eyes widened at the sight of a clay figurine, a woman.
The Trypillia phenomenon had been known for many years, yet the researchers had been unable to reconstruct the image of its inhabitants, their anthropological type and racial identity. Were they steppe autochthons, or had they come from somewhere else? Every Trypillia figurine was considered more precious than a whole treasure. They examined every detail of the discovery, trying to find parallels. Who did this oblong face with a prominent Roman nose merging into the forehead recall? They examined the contours of the eyes, raised ears with pierced earlobes, bare breasts. There were two black lines on the right cheek, probably tattooed. Raised black lines portray long hair thrown back and tied with a heavy knot.
Trypillia statuettes, mostly female, are discovered quite often. Thousands of them have been unearthed in digs, are still debated. Various hypotheses are put forth but the mystery remains unsolved. Clay “Madonnas,” products of human skill and imagination, are found not only in the steppe adjoining the Dnipro, but also beyond the Danube, in the Balkans, even in the legendary land of Troy. Who was the prototype in this case, considered the ideal of beauty? Or could it be an abstract female portrayal? An idol? A symbol of fertility, prosperity, perhaps a child’s toy made with loving care? Excavations elsewhere in Trypillia can answer some of these questions. Clay figurines were found by the stove, on a special elevation — talismans, keepers of the hearth, no doubt. Note that the protective role was entrusted to women as the beginning of life, well-being, and embodiment of safety.
The first studies at Volodymyrivka yielded unique material and simultaneously gave rise to a host of questions. The expedition resumed work in the first year after the war. The war had devastated not only human lives and homes, but also historic treasures. The area of the Trypillian settlement had been crossed by an antitank ditch, destroying dozens of dwellings. The archaeologists went to work, expecting new discoveries. Their expectations were soon rewarded. Remnants of walls were seldom discovered on the well-known Trypillian sites and those actually unearthed were in a lamentable condition. Part of a fallen wall was discovered in a dwelling, so the researchers could reconstruct the wall. It turned out made of moderately thick whickered stakes, then pasted with clay and burned. The resultant wall was quite strong, keeping warmth in and protecting from humidity.
Clay models of homes, found now and then on other sites, make it possible to form an idea of how the Trypillian people actually lived. One such model was found in Volodymyrivka by sheer chance. It dates back at least 5,000 years, was shattered and covered in lime. Skilled restorers spent a number of days, carefully cleansing the pink-beige surface of the tiny clay house on tall pillars. What made the discovery unique was the white, red, and black lines covering the walls, floor, and threshold.
In 1947, a different kind of altar was discovered in an ancient dwelling: a rectangular elevation tiled with baked clay. It was a special place of worship and sacrifice. And again almost every ancient home unearthed would yield female figurines of clay, some quite realistic, others manifestly schematic, painted, or decorated with raised lines. Most finds were ceramic fragments. These were not just kitchen utensils but poems in clay. Made from fine clay and skillfully molded, their singular ornament was in red, black, and white on a yellow background, sometimes with exquisite engravings shaped as spirals, coils, serpents, ovals, circles... One could see a whole cosmos encoded on clay surface.
A total of 200 ancient dwellings were discovered in 1946-47, an all-time record. Step by step the researchers unearthed ancient structures, ascertaining architectural details, tracing the inhabitants’ daily routine, social system, and ideology among the Trypillian tribes. Gradually a striking picture unfolded, showing the way the oldest known tillers had lived in the steppe, breaking the virgin soil, building homes, worshipping their gods, falling in love, raising children, then dying and returning to the lap of Mother Earth.
Tetiana Passek said Volodymyrivka was the capital of the Trypillian world. Many years ago archaeologists had discovered other giant settlements: Talianky and Maidanetske. True urban prototypes stretching over an area of 270-400 hectares, subsequently attributed the status of a capital. Volodymyrivka, with its multitude of precious archaeological finds and numerous questions remaining unanswered, has not faded into the background and nor has it lost its significance in the studies of Trypillia, the roots of its culture and legacy.
It ad stood at the crossroads of routes leading since primeval times from the Dnipro Basin to the South to the south all the way to the Black Sea and to the eastern Mediterranean; to the far south, Middle East, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and further. Such were the cultural ties of Trypillia and the roots of its agricultural tradition. Scholarly debate continues. This ancient grain-growing world amazes one with its vast expanses crossing all of Eurasia and reaching China. The Ukrainian steppe and Trypillia are small islands in this cultural-historical ocean, a mystery that has haunted inquisitive minds for centuries.
