Some parts of modern Europe were quite populated during the Stone Age. Archaeological evidence shows that settlements in present-day Ukraine may have housed 10,000 to 15,000 people. Now a new bioarchaeological analysis has been carried out on the remains of some of these Neolithic Europeans from an archaeological site near Kosenivka, Ukraine. The people who lived here more than 5,600 years ago mainly ate plants, cultivated them, and some may have died in an accidental fire. The first findings of their kind are detailed in a study published on December 11 in the open access journal PLOS ONE.
The residents of this settlement are associated with the Cucuteni-Trypilla culture. This group is best known for their pottery and lived from approximately 5500 to 2750 BC. in what is now Eastern Europe. Archaeologists label some of their settlements as ‘mega-sites’, where as many as 15,000 people lived.
‘The Trypilla associations were the first successful farmers in this area’ Katharina Fuchssays co-author of the study and biological anthropologist and archaeologist from the University of Kiel in Germany Popular science. “They knew how to cultivate the environment, grow grains and legumes, exploit the forests and raise their livestock. They are also known for their beautiful pottery, which they produced in large quantities. Moreover, the settlement structures suggest early, quite complex socio-political systems for organizing life in such megasites.”
Despite the numerous artifacts In the Trypillia that remained, archaeologists have not found many human remains. Without this skeletal data, many facets of their lives remain undiscovered, including the way they treated their dead.
In this new studyFuchs and an interdisciplinary team of researchers studied a settlement near Kosenivka, Ukraine 50 human bone and tooth fragments have been recovered. The bones were found among the remains of a house and appear to belong to at least seven individuals of different ages and genders who may have been residents of the house. Four of the individuals also have heavily charred remains and the team investigated the possible causes of these burns.
The burned pieces of bone were mainly found in the middle of the house. Previous studies of these bones suggested that the residents died in a house fire. Examining the pieces closely under a microscope, the team concluded that the burning likely occurred soon after their deaths and was an accident. The researchers believe some people may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning even if they managed to leave the house.
[ Related: Europe’s oldest human-made megastructure may be at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. ]
According to additional radiocarbon datingone of the individuals about 100 years later, and the team was unable to link this individual’s death to the fire. Two other people had unhealed injuries to the skull, raising questions about whether violence played a role in their deaths.
The chemical analysis of bone and tooth fragments also revealed more about how they may have lived. The teeth found at the site show signs of wear indicating that grains and other plant fibers were chewed to clean them.
“These Trypillian societies relied primarily on a plant-based diet, and livestock farming was not for meat production, but for milk production and to fertilize the fields,” says Fuchs.
According to Fuchs, parts of this site were first excavated decades ago and were not “directly destroyed by military offensives” in Ukraine. However, the work of archaeologists and other experts working on cultural heritage sites such as Kosenivka has severely affected due to the war, with damage reported to several buildings, including museums and churches. Since the start of the invasion in 2022, archaeologists from the University of Kiel have been committed to this strengthening cooperation with Ukrainian colleagues in light of the crisis and this study is part of that effort.
“Exploring our deep history has never been as important as it is now: our behavior in and with the environment and of course with each other,” says Fuchs. “Boats are not an abstract thing, but the biological and chemical archive of a human life. Even the smallest bone fragments can help us see ourselves in the mirror of the past and thus develop a different view of the present, but also of the future.”
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