Houses in the Archaeology of the Tripillia—Cucuteni Groups

Abstract

The excavation of burnt, and occasionally unburnt, houses forms a key element of the story of Tripillia–Cucuteni archaeological excavations, since the domestic zone in these groups was much more developed than the mortuary domain. In the 2,000-year period of development across a wide area from the Carpathians to the Dnieper valley, there were considerable changes in the ways that houses were designed and built and, especially, in the agglomerations which they formed. There is also much evidence for the transformations of structures originally designed as domestic dwellings into workshops, ritual centres and places with specialised storage facilities. Nonetheless, these changes were nothing but variations on a dominant theme of household and house continuity, which forms the principal embodiment of principles and practices in the longue durée for these groups.