Mysteries of Ancient Ukraine The Remarkable Trypillian Culture 5400-2700 BC

Publisher: ROM (November 1, 2008)

Language: English
Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
The world's first large-scale exhibition on Trypilia, Mysteries of Antient Ukraine explores the compelling, sophisticated culture that existed in present-day Ukraine 5,000 to 7,000 years ago. This civilization created the largest settlements anywhere in the world at that time, only to disappear inexplicably. We know of it only through artifacts, some 300 of which will be on display, most for the first time in North America.

Ukrainian archaeologist Vikenty Khvoika found the first remains of this prehistoric people in 1896, the great age of archaeological discoveries that also unearthed Troy, Mycenae, Knossos, and the many civilizations of Mesopotamia. Near the village of Trypilia he found tools, items of adornment, ceramic figures, earthenware, portraits, and pottery. The exhibition, whose honorary patron is Ukraine's First Lady, Kateryna-Yushchenko, features items personally excavated by Khvoika as well as those from numerous other Trypilian sites. Objects from the ROM's collections are also on view.

Thought to have flourished in the forest-steppe region of present-day Ukraine, the Trypilian people were not only expert farmers, herders, and craftsmen, they also excelled in pottery making evident in the technical and artistic excellence of the pieces on display, considered second to none in the neolithic world.

But what the culture may best be known for is its two-storey houses and giant settlements, which the Trypilians burned to the ground every 60 to 80 years before moving to a new location.