The Trypillia megasites
Settlements of ten thousand people appear in Ukraine — and are burned to the ground every few generations.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 1.5 thousand years
- Known to
- ± 200 years
- Era
- Neolithic, Holocene
The Cucuteni-Trypillia culture builds some of the largest settlements in the world at the time, with sites like Talianki and Maidanetske covering hundreds of hectares in concentric rings of houses, holding perhaps 10,000 to 15,000 people. They have no obvious palaces, temples or central authority. Every 60 to 80 years the entire settlement appears to have been deliberately burned and rebuilt. Whether these count as cities without states is a live debate.