This sounds absolutely fascinating! I saw it tonight at Art Daily and searched out the exhibition information at the website for the Royal Ontario Museum:
Mysteries of Ancient Ukraine: The Remarkable Trypilian Culture (5400-2700 BC)
November 29, 2008 to March 22, 2009
Who were the Trypillians? How were they able to build the largest settlements in Europe, well over five thousand years ago? And why did they burn them down? These and other questions are explored in this fascinating exhibition that uncovers the secrets surrounding this mysterious people.
Nestled in the forest steppes of modern-day Ukraine, the prehistoric Trypillian people lived and prospered between 5000 and 2750 BCE. Highly sophisticated, the Trypillians were both farmers and hunters. Their ability to adapt to different terrain led to their prosperity, and soon they had the largest population growth of any other Neolithic people. They built the largest settlements in Europe at that time, some with an estimated population of 10-15,000 people. Every 60 to 80 years, they burned some settlements to the ground and moved to settle another location.
In 1896, Ukraininan archaeologist Vikenty Khvoika discovered one of these settlements near the village of Trypillia. The artifacts he uncovered were instrumental in reconstructing the daily lives of this prehistoric civilization.
Ancient Ukraine presents household tools, evidence of clothing, spiritual artifacts and art, all of which help to build the story of how the Trypillians lived, flourished and then all but mysteriously disappeared.
This exhibition was organized by the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada and the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, Kyiv in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, The Archaeological Museum of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, The Odessa Archaeological Museum, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and The Vinnytsia Regional Museum, Ukraine.
More information at Art Daily. Extracted:
To place the Trypilian culture in context, The Neolithic Revolution examines the development of human societies in Europe from the end of the last Ice Age to the arrival of Copper Age cultures, including Trypilian. Other Neolithic cultures, such as the Halaf, from what is now known as northern Syria and south-eastern Turkey, and the Vinca from what is now known as modern Serbia, are juxtaposed, their artistic legacies having much in common. Here, visitors can study the earthenware portrait of a pensive male face, created by the Vinca approximately 7,500 years ago, and which bears striking similarity to the ‘realistic’ portraits of Trypilia.
Spirituality and Artistic Expression highlights various puzzling pieces of ceramic art made by the Trypilians - specifically anthropomorphic figurines (ranging from stylized to quasi-realistic) and containers decorated in various ways (incised, monochromatic, polychromatic). Found in many Neolithic cultures, the female figurines on display, with exaggerated feminine features, are believed by some scholars to represent a ‘great mother goddess’. Other ceramic objects, such as footed platforms, and enigmatic, hollow “binocular” pieces, attest to the spiritual and ritual life of the Trypilians.
A continuity/continguity of cultures and images of the great mother goddess - in this case, this is a "bird" goddess, a common iconic form throughout neolithic Europe and the Middle East. The photo is not specifically identified, it is from the ROM website with this under-tag: Photographs by Petro Hrycyk, from the exhibition "Ukraine -- Images from 5000 to 4000 BC: Treasures of the Trypillian Culture", The Ukrainian Museum, New York, 1993.
Friday, August 22, 2008
The Remarkable Trypilian Culture (5400-2700 BC)
This sounds absolutely fascinating! I saw it tonight at Art Daily and searched out the exhibition information at the website for the Royal Ontario Museum:
Mysteries of Ancient Ukraine: The Remarkable Trypilian Culture (5400-2700 BC)
November 29, 2008 to March 22, 2009
Who were the Trypillians? How were they able to build the largest settlements in Europe, well over five thousand years ago? And why did they burn them down? These and other questions are explored in this fascinating exhibition that uncovers the secrets surrounding this mysterious people.
Nestled in the forest steppes of modern-day Ukraine, the prehistoric Trypillian people lived and prospered between 5000 and 2750 BCE. Highly sophisticated, the Trypillians were both farmers and hunters. Their ability to adapt to different terrain led to their prosperity, and soon they had the largest population growth of any other Neolithic people. They built the largest settlements in Europe at that time, some with an estimated population of 10-15,000 people. Every 60 to 80 years, they burned some settlements to the ground and moved to settle another location.
In 1896, Ukraininan archaeologist Vikenty Khvoika discovered one of these settlements near the village of Trypillia. The artifacts he uncovered were instrumental in reconstructing the daily lives of this prehistoric civilization.
Ancient Ukraine presents household tools, evidence of clothing, spiritual artifacts and art, all of which help to build the story of how the Trypillians lived, flourished and then all but mysteriously disappeared.
This exhibition was organized by the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada and the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, Kyiv in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, The Archaeological Museum of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, The Odessa Archaeological Museum, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and The Vinnytsia Regional Museum, Ukraine.
More information at Art Daily. Extracted:
To place the Trypilian culture in context, The Neolithic Revolution examines the development of human societies in Europe from the end of the last Ice Age to the arrival of Copper Age cultures, including Trypilian. Other Neolithic cultures, such as the Halaf, from what is now known as northern Syria and south-eastern Turkey, and the Vinca from what is now known as modern Serbia, are juxtaposed, their artistic legacies having much in common. Here, visitors can study the earthenware portrait of a pensive male face, created by the Vinca approximately 7,500 years ago, and which bears striking similarity to the ‘realistic’ portraits of Trypilia.
Spirituality and Artistic Expression highlights various puzzling pieces of ceramic art made by the Trypilians - specifically anthropomorphic figurines (ranging from stylized to quasi-realistic) and containers decorated in various ways (incised, monochromatic, polychromatic). Found in many Neolithic cultures, the female figurines on display, with exaggerated feminine features, are believed by some scholars to represent a ‘great mother goddess’. Other ceramic objects, such as footed platforms, and enigmatic, hollow “binocular” pieces, attest to the spiritual and ritual life of the Trypilians.
A continuity/continguity of cultures and images of the great mother goddess - in this case, this is a "bird" goddess, a common iconic form throughout neolithic Europe and the Middle East. The photo is not specifically identified, it is from the ROM website with this under-tag: Photographs by Petro Hrycyk, from the exhibition "Ukraine -- Images from 5000 to 4000 BC: Treasures of the Trypillian Culture", The Ukrainian Museum, New York, 1993.
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