Correcting cherished beliefs:
One of Europe’s longest-lived civilisations, the so-called Cucuteni-Trypillia in central-eastern Europe, could live in cities consisting of up to 3,000 houses, all of the same size, style and layout, with no sign of social hierarchy. After more than 2,000 years of existence, the culture disappeared around 3400 BC. Scientists have not yet been able to determine the reason for the cities‘ demise. Various factors probably played a role: a climate shift towards lower temperatures had a negative impact on the sedentary and self-sufficient agrarian and possibly matriarchal society and made it vulnerable to invasion by nomadic and patriarchal peoples from the east. [1]
Scientist agree, however, that the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture must have enjoyed a long phase of egalitarian social life, a remarkable exception not only with regard to other highly developed civilisations at the same time, such as in Mesopotamia and Egypt, but also with regard to European history as a whole. The fact that this culture survived for two millennia can not only serve as an exception to the rule of master and servants, but also proves the fundamental ability of humans to organise themselves without domination.
For more, see also the ground-breaking book by David Graeber and David Wengrow [2].
Similarly, it is counterintuitively interesting to learn that the concept of untouched nature distracts from what we humans are supposed to be doing today. Sophie Yeo makes the point in her book [3] that humans and nature have been intertwined since the appearance of the first humans. Instead of dwelling on the idea of an untouched paradise in the beginning, we should study the harmony in which humans once lived in and with nature and what we can learn from this to change our behaviour today.
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Picture:
Reconstruction of a Cucuteni–Trypillia settlement of 320 hectares for about 22,000 people near Talianki, Ucraine, 3700 BC. (Credit: Kenny Arne Lang Antonsen / Wikimedia Commons.)
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Sources:
[1] Emma Marris, ‚Who built Europe’s first cities? Clues about the urban revolution emerge‘ – https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-04216-1
[2] David Graeber and David Wengrow, ‚The Dawn of Everything. A New History of Humanity‘. Allen Lane, London, 2021. 704 pages. ISBN 978-0-241-40242-9
[3] Sophie Yeo, ‚Nature’s Ghosts: The World We Lost and How to Bring It Back‘. HarperNorth, Glasgow, 2024. 320 pages. ISBN 978-0008474126.
Reviewed by Ian Carter here: https://www.britishwildlife.com/article/article-volume-36-number-1-page-76/