Trypillia mega-sites of the Ukraine

After a trial season in 2009, in which we evaluated the functionality of an Anglo-Ukrainian partnership and our working methods, the Project defined seven objectives for investigation in 2012 - 2016: (1) the derivation of an accurate settlement plan of Nebelivka, using a combination of modern geophysical investigations of the entire site with satellite imagery from the 1960s onwards to reveal changes in site preservation (METHOD 2.1); (2) the production of an internal chronological sequence for Nebelivka: we cannot make progress in understanding a mega-site without an explicit estimate of the number of houses under coeval occupation (ALL YEARS, METHODS 2.3); (3) the setting of Nebelivka in a broader micro-regional settlement context through intensive, systematic fieldwalking (ALL YEARS); (4) the placing of the Nebelivka micro-region in a regional settlement context through the analysis of satellite imagery of all Trypillia sites over 10ha in size (METHOD 2.2); (5) the palaeo-environmental assessment of the human impacts of a mega-site by comparison of local alluvial sequences (streambeds) with the overall vegetational history provided by peat-coring in larger basins (METHOD 2.4); (6) the development of an interpretative understanding of the foundation, growth and decline of Nebelivka (ALL METHODS); and (7) the comparative study of the emergence of towns elsewhere in the world in order to locate the Trypillia case in a long-term, global picture of the onset and collapse of regional social complexities. An additional objective was added during the course of the fieldwork: (8) the experimental building and burning of two 2/3-size 'Trypillia houses - one single-storey and one two-storey - to investigate the methods of house-building and house-burning and to assess the physical remains of the experimental houses in comparison with excavated house remains (METHOD 2.5). All of these objectives have been fully met with the exception of AIM 2