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Who built Europe’s first cities? Clues about the urban revolution emerge

Around 6,000 years ago, a group known as the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture developed egalitarian settlements north of the Black Sea and created the region’s earliest urban centres. Then, after two millennia, they vanished.
By
  1. Emma Marris

    1. Emma Marris is a writer in Portland, Oregon.

Semicircle of Cucuteni figurines made of terracotta.

A group of female statuettes found in Romania, dating to early in the history of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture. Credit: Constantin Preoteasa, Cucuteni Culture: Apogee of European Prehistoric Art. Exhibition Catalogue (C. Matasă Publishing House, 2023)

The vase is tan with abstract designs in black: curved triangles that swoop into circles, a motif with an elegant, organic flow. It looks contemporary, or perhaps like the work of a mid-century artist on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

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Nature 637, 262-265 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-04216-1

References

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