Economy of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture
It is suggested that the large number of people living in these mega-sites changed the landscape, moving from woodlands and forests to grasslands and steppes.
In between these two economic models (the hunter gatherer tribes and Bronze Age civilizations) we find the later Neolithic and Eneolithic societies such as the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture, where the first indications of social stratification begin to be found.
The most significant shift in crop patterns occurred after the mega-sites collapsed, when communities transitioned to smaller, scattered settlements, though overall cereal diversity remained stable.
Increased earthworm activity and the spread of Stipa grass suggest that cultivation practices encouraged soil enrichment.
[1] Tripyllia agriculture was large-scale, utilizing fertile soils reachable by sledge, as well as intensive, with garden-like plots within settlements enriched by animal dung.
Some settlements did have a central communal building that was designated as a sanctuary or shrine, but there is no indication yet whether or not a separate group or individual would have been supported by the community as a full-time priest or priestess.
These settlements did indeed grow and divide; during its existence the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture's geographical region expanded immensely as the population increased and new communities were established.
In the case of the settlement at Târgu Frumos, over 7% of the chipped stone artifacts were made of a type of flint found only in the Dobruja region over 300 km to the south.
There were also certain rare mineral resources that, because of limitations due to distance and prevalence, were also moved along these rudimentary trade networks that towards the end of the culture would begin to become more and more important to the survival of the members of this society.
These minerals were used to create the black pigment that decorated the beautiful ceramic pottery of this culture, and came from two sources: 1) Iacobeni, Suceava County, Romania for the iron magnetite ore, and 2) Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine for the manganese Jacobsite ore, located in the farthest eastern periphery of the Cucuteni-Trypillia geographical region, along the Dnieper River.
[11] However, no traces of the manganese Jacobsite ore have been found in pigments used on artifacts from the western settlements on the opposite end of the region.
This was a transitional period, as it was of a relatively short duration lasting less than 300 years before being replaced by the Bronze Age that was probably introduced by Proto-Indo-European tribes that came into this region from the east.
[14] These Proto-Indo-Europeans were nomadic pastoralists, who rode domesticated horses, and ranged over a wide region stretching from the Balkans to Kazakhstan.
The Proto-Indo-Europeans traded their copper and bronze tools and jewelry with the Cucuteni-Trypillias for their elaborately designed and finely crafted pottery.
[5] Still, remarkably, almost no actual weapons have been found in any Cucuteni-Trypillia sites, neither have there been skeletal remains discovered that would indicate the person had died violently (arrowheads lodged in the bones, crushed skulls, etc.).
The large Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements, which relied entirely on subsistence agriculture for support, would have faced very nasty Dust Bowl conditions, making it impossible to continue their way of life.
Or, rather, it was supplanted by another more advanced trade network as the Proto-Indo-Europeans moved in to take the land, and to bring with them an entirely new society with division of labor, a ruling and religious elite, social stratification, and, in a word, civilization.
