EAST TRYPILLIA AND WEST TRYPILLIA CULTURES: MYTH OR REALITY?

Abstract

Problems of culturogenesis and structure of the cultural complex of Trypillia-Сucuteni become relevant in the last decades of the XXth century. The emergence of new sources and methods encourages researchers to understand the phenomenon of Trypillia-Сucuteni on a new level. There is a noticeable tendency to single out individual archaeological cultures instead of structural subdivisions of the cultural community at the turn of the XX—XXIth centuries. The binary scheme of the division of the Trypillia culture into the «East Trypillia» and «West Trypillia» cultures became popular in the national Trypillia studies. However, such an «innovation» is not sufficiently substantiated both at the level of methodological principles and analysis of specific materials. Elucidation of the real structure of the cultural complex of Trypillia-Сucuteni shows its versatility and proves the artificiality of its division into two archaeological cultures, which is proposed by O. V. Tsvek and S. M. Ryzhov.
 The division of the Trypillia-Сucuteni cultural complex into separate archeological cultures (two or more) is impossible until its final stage CII, because almost all its structural units are selected on the basis of ceramic traditions, and the other parameters (character of house-building, tools producing, sacred tradition) are more or less the same. All structural units combine a genetic link with the Precucuteni-Trypillya A times, which demonstrates all the features of the Trypillia-Сucuteni cultural complex as a whole, with the exception of ceramic traditions. These traditions are the most dynamic, act as an indicator of the cultural identity of certain groups of the population and reflect the structure of the cultural complex.
 The structure of the cultural complex Trypillia-Сucuteni is a spatio-temporal continuum, its complexity is due to dynamic and multifaceted processes of internal transformations of individual units of the structure, the interaction of traditions and innovations, constant contacts between them, the movement of specific groups, their interaction with surrounding cultural complexes. The binary concept of the «East Trypillia» and the «West Trypillia» cultures, which became too popular today, is an artificial construction and does not reflect the real structure of Trypillia Culture.