Decline and end of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture

Due partly to the fact that this took place before the written record of this region began, there have been a number of theories presented over the years to fill the gap of knowledge about how and why the end of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture happened.

These theories include invasions from various groups of people, a gradual cultural shift as more advanced societies settled in their region, and environmental collapse.

Because the Cucuteni-Trypillia society was almost entirely egalitarian (with no ruling elite),[citation needed] there was no dramatic change of government for the whole region, as is the case when modern nations go to war and are defeated.

The Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements existed independently from each other, so each experienced its own separate fate as the end of their culture swept over them, making the transition to the Bronze Age a complex and gradual process, rather than as a result of a single event.

Although there were many other Neolithic and Eneolithic cultures in eastern Europe during this time, the Cucuteni-Trypillia was probably the most advanced and influential, due to its robust settlements, highly refined ceramic art, and location.

In the 1950s, as a result of the cultural renaissance that was part of the Khrushchev Thaw that took place after Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, a massive program of archaeological excavations was sponsored by the Soviet Union, which included Cucuteni-Trypillia sites that are located in the now-independent nations of Ukraine and Moldova.

This matched the archaeological evidence that showed that the Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements (some of which were the largest in the world at the time), were all abandoned by 2750 BC, marking the end of the culture.

Moreover, the other image of the warlike, patriarchal Indo-European invaders who brought death and destruction to a peaceful, egalitarian people resonated as well with the members of these movements, during a time when the U.S. was involved in an unpopular war in Vietnam.

So strongly did these theories affect some people, that they provided much of the foundation for the creation of the Neopagan religious movement, that still views the writings of Gimbutas and Campbell with high regard.

The Kurgan tribes - as Gimbutas had empirically shown, see above - shared basic cultural features, such as horseriding, authoritarian philosophy, hierarchical, a paternalistic social structure including patrilinearity, elite architectural structures, women and children with lower status, a religion around a sun-god instead of understanding nature as a basic fundamental gestalt, warfare, especially from a horse, which necessitated the same set of weapons adapted over time in order to keep being ahead in military effectiveness relative to their opponents: spear, axe, long knife, bow, and arrows.

The sudden disappearance of the gigantic Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements is seen as a switch from an extensive agricultural and mixed economy to one placing more emphasis on herding the livestock, particularly cattle.

This must have had a tremendous effect on the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture, which relied entirely on subsistence farming to feed the enormous populations in their massive settlements.