Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 45 (1) 2017   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2017.45.1.083-092

Annotation:  New Findings on the Middle Paleolithic of the Eastern Adriatic: The Earliest Settlement at Bioče, M Geomorphology and Quaternary Sediments at Archaeological Sites Near Anzhevka, Krasnoyarsk Territory Archaeological Sites as Markers of Hydrosystem Transformation in the Kurai and Chuya Basins, Southea Agricultural Practice on the Korean Peninsula Taking into Account the Origin of Rice Agriculture in Avtodrom 2—a Late Neolithic (Artyn Culture) Site in the Baraba Forest-Steppe, Western Siberia A Generalized Assessment of Cultural Changes at Stratified Sites: The Case of Chalcolithic Fortresse A Dugout from the Don River Exhibited at the State Historical Museum, Moscow: Discovery and Dating A House Model from Popudnya, Cucuteni-Tripolye Culture, Ukraine: A New Interpretation Old Turkic Statues from Apshiyakta, Central Altai: On Female Representations in Turkic Monumental Ar Early Medieval Armor from Southern Siberia Leather Artifacts from Tara, Western Siberia, Excavated in 2012–2014 The Morphology of Permanent Molars from the Paleolithic Layers of Denisova Cave An Anthropological Study of Mummified Remains from the Zeleny Yar Cemetery on the Lower Ob, Western Patterns of Growth and Development in Urban and Rural Children of the Northern Part of European Russ   

A House Model from Popudnya, Cucuteni-Tripolye Culture, Ukraine:
A New Interpretation

I.V. Palaguta¹ and E.G. Starkova²

¹Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design, Solyanoy per. 13, St. Petersburg, 191028, Russia

²The State Hermitage Museum, Dvortsovaya nab. 34, St. Petersburg, 190000, Russia

In 1911, during the excavation of a Cucuteni-Tripolye settlement near Popudnya, now Cherkasy Region, Ukraine, the Polish archaeologist Marian Himner discovered a unique house model reproducing the interior with two anthropomorphic characters. The model was repeatedly discussed in the archaeological literature. However, an analysis of the find, owned by the National Archaeological Museum in Warsaw, and its parallels, using archival photographs of the early 1900s, kindly provided by Polish colleagues, suggests a different interpretation. The model shows the interior of a typical Tripolye dwelling, similar to the interiors of buildings excavated at the settlements of Tripolye BII–CI stage in the Dnieper-Bug interfl uve. Contrary to a popular view, there is no “idol” inside. Rather, there are two naturalistically rendered characters, male and female. The woman is grinding grain, and the man is sitting in front of the stove, watching her. The closest three-dimensional “narrative” models come from the Sushkovka and Chichirkozovka settlements, related to the same Tomashovka-Sushkovka local group of sites as Popudnya. This group includes the famous Tripolye giant settlements 300–400 ha in area, with an estimated population of 5–8 thousand. The naturalism of the Popudnya model resembles the naturalistic style of anthropomorphic figurines from settlements of the same group. We suggest that the scene depicted by the model either refers to a specific folkloric or mythological motif or visualizes a benevolent formula relating to the foundations of a household.

Keywords: Cucuteni-Tripolye culture, house models, anthropomorphic figurines, Tomashovka-Sushkovka sites.