Burning Down the House

[Nungali]

[ Okay, if you not an anthro nut like me (or at least interested in human make up history psychology      - 'know thyself'   , or archaeology , etc .) may as well not read this . ]

 

A little known culture and practice . The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture had the largest settlements in history up to their time.

 

 

This was a widespread and long-lasting tradition in what is now Southeastern and Eastern Europe, lasting from as early as 6500 BCE (the beginning of the Neolithic) to as late as 2000 BCE (the end of the Chalcolithic and the beginning of the Bronze Age).

 

There is a consensus in the study of Neolithic and Eneolithic Europe that the majority of burned houses were intentionally set alight.

 

Although the reasons behind why house burning was practiced are still debated, the evidence seems to support that it occurred in such a way as to indicate it was highly unlikely to have been as a result of accidental cause. If these regularly occurring burnings, in which the entire settlement is destroyed, were deliberate, then there has still been a debate about why this happened.

 

Cucuteni-Trypillian settlements were completely burned every 75–80 years .  There is evidence that every single settlement in this culture probably practiced house burning.   No real explanation has been offered,  various theories all seem to have holes in them.    The remains show food and goods were present in the burnings, bu no human remains. It seems deliberate as the remains are vitrified clay - like baked pottery.

 

Experiments  did not get the same results, unless they packed the  remade houses with hay and wood up against the walls to get the reqiured temperature for  vitrification ;

 

 

Recreation of a Cucuteni-Trypillian house burning; note the amount of extra fuel (straw and wood)

added to the outside of the clay walls to increase the temperature needed for ceramic vitrification.

 

Only one idea seems to hold up ;

 

Symbolic end of house: Some scholars have theorized that the buildings were burned ritually, regularly and deliberately in order to mark the end of the "life" of the house. The terms "Domicide" and "Domithanasia" have been coined to refer to this practice.

 

 Using this theory, objects belonging to the house (including food, containers, and ritual objects) could possibly have been viewed as sharing the same "spirit" as the house structure itself. In destroying the house, it would then also be necessary to destroy all of the various elements that made up the house, which would explain why these kinds of items have been found buried in the rubble of burned houses. The physical act of destroying the entire settlement by intentionally burning it to the ground would have required an organized joint-community effort, involving stacking huge amounts of fuel around the walls of the structures, and then torching the entire settlement. Such a systematic act of destruction would leave behind the kind of evidence that is to be found in the archeological sites .

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burned_house_horizon

 

 

 

[Marblehead]

Hadn't heard of that before.  It is my understanding that those societies were well organized.  It is likely that they had various rituals and ceremonies that dictated such burnings.  I guess that not as bad as human sacrifice.

 

 

[Lost in Translation]

Wow. While reading that article I felt a visceral sense of ... happiness - the sort of thing one might feel at a school graduation. I wonder if they were semi-nomadic peoples and burning the houses was an act of worship and appeasement to the gods for a safe passage to a new land?

[Nungali]

I cant imagine anyone but a very 'wealthy' society with 'resources to burn'  doing that .   Also it was the first great  settlement in Europe , rivalling anything in  Mesopotamia .... until 'urbanisation'  and 'cities' were developed .

 

 

[Lost in Translation]

Good point! I still feel a very happy sensation, so either I'm 1) crazy, 2) a burgeoning pyromaniac, or 3) they burned their houses as part of a joyous event. Hey, that was 5,000 years ago so I'm happy not knowing which is true. 

[Nungali]

You could try burning down your house  .... then come back and tell us how you feel  then .

 

Actually, it happened to me once , lost all possessions except motorcycle, clothes I had on, an overnight bag with a few toiletries, 2 books and my wallet.

 

I remember feeling  .......   shocked.

[Marblehead]

As the song goes:

 

Throw my bag out the window and let the burn down.

 

 

[Lost in Translation]

1 hour ago, Nungali said:

You could try burning down your house  .... then come back and tell us how you feel  then .

 

Um... Thank you, but I think I'll pass on this suggestion. 

[Nungali]

4 hours ago, Marblehead said:

As the song goes:

 

Throw my bag out the window and let the burn down.

 

 

 

 

Marblehead as a baby

 

 

 

[Nungali]

Some more interesting info about this culture ;

 

Comparison of Cucuteni-Trypillia  (old pre Indo-European  Europe / 'Old Europe Culture ' )  and Yamna cultures (Indo European 'horse people ) - the 'Patriarchy 'arrives in Europe .

Origins :

CT
Blending of the Boian culture, with some traces of the Hamangia culture (both originally from Anatolia), and the Musical note culture (also known as the Middle Linear Pottery culture, or "LBK"), from the northern Subcarpathian region of southeastern Poland and western Ukraine; all of which were Neolithic and non-Indo-European.

Y
An amalgam of Eneolithic Proto-Indo-European tribes from the southern region of the great Pontic steppe, mostly along river valleys, including (from west to east) the Dniester, the Bug, the Dnieper, the Donetz, the Don, West Manych, and the middle Volga rivers.

Agricultural model

CT
Sedentistic subsistence agriculture[6]

Y
Pastoral nomadism[2]

Social stratification

CT
Egalitarian acephalous society[6]

Y
Tribal chiefdom with social hierarchical levels[2]

Economic model

CT
Generalized reciprocity or gift economy[6] Traditional economy featuring trade bartering[2] Division of labour No occupational specialization, each household produced all necessary goods and services independently.[6]

Y
Many specialized occupations, including priests, warriors, healers, metalsmiths, traders, herders, and slaves.[2] Technological Sophistication Superior work in agricultural techniques, as well as in ceramics, compared to the Yamna. Cucuteni-Trypillia ceramics have been found in Yamna sites.[2] Superior work in copper metalworking than the Cucuteni-Trypillia during the Eneolithic. Later, the Yamna worked in brass, and some of their brass artifacts have been found in Cucuteni-Trypillia sites.

The Yamna also used domestic horses for travel, which the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture most likely did not have.[2]

Militarization

CT
Almost no artifacts have been found that would have been meant for defense against a human enemy. No skeletal remains have been found that would indicate the person had been killed with a weapon. Only at the end of their culture did they begin to build walls and ditches around their settlements, yet still no weapons have been found.[7]

Y
The Yamna perfected military weapons, rode domesticated horses, and probably conducted raids against other peoples regularly. Many weapons have been found in their grave sites.[2] In addition, they also constructed hill-top fortresses, similar to the Medieval Motte-and-bailey design.[8]

Religion

CT
The archaeological record indicates the worship of a female fertility goddess. There is also evidence to indicate that they used clay fetishes in various ritualistic purposes, ranging from fertility to sigils for protection against evil spirits or human enemies.[9]

Y
There is evidence to indicate that they probably participated in ritual human sacrifice of captured enemies. They worshipped a warlike male deity.[10]

Trade network

CT
Very rudimentary trade network involving only a handful of goods, the most important of which was salt. No indication of traders or merchants as a profession.[2] Some evidence does indicate the possible use of barter tokens as an early form of exchange.

Y
An extensive trade network spanning a large region from central and southeast Europe to modern-day Kazakhstan and Russia, involving many trade goods, and indication of a class of merchants and traders.[2] Encounters with each other Starting around 4500 BC, Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements began to appear in western Ukraine, where they encountered Yamna tribes. Some scholars hold that this is partly the cause for the creation of very large settlements in this region, to aid in defense against Yamna raids.[2] Also beginning around 4500 BC, the Yamna culture began to establish settlements as far west as Transylvania, which existed side-by-side with Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declin...pillia_culture

Edited May 3, 2018 by Nungali