Ohlrau Rene. Trypillia Mega-Sites: Neither Urban nor Low-Density?

Journal of Urban Archaeology. — 2022. — 5. — pp. 81–100.At the end of the fifth millennium BC, some of the largest settlements of the time emerged on the Pontic forest steppe. Some scholars proposed to include these mega-sites into the concept of low-density urbanism. These characterizations were, however, limited by a single-site perspective. Now, with ongoing surveys and radiocarbon-based internal settlement chronologies it was possible for the first time to trace the trajectory of the whole range of Trypillia mega-sites. It was found that they did not follow a low-density trajectory. Instead, they show a high volatility and appear to bounce off the low-density threshold. While the crossing of the 100 ha threshold on the Interaction-Communication Matrix suggests a potential urban status of these sites, no evidence for a functional rural–urban divide was found.