Maydanets
Майданецьке · Maidanetske · Maydanetske · Maidanets'ke
Chalcolithic Trypillia B2 (c.3800–3600 BCE)·Cucuteni-Trypillia (Western Trypillia)·🇺🇦 Cherkasy Oblast, Zvenyhorodka Raion, Talne hromada, Maydanetske village on Talyanka River (Southern Bug–Dnieper interfluve), Ukraine
About
About Maydanets
Maydanets (Maidanetske) — giant Cucuteni-Trypillia B2 mega-settlement (c.3800–3600 BCE, 200–260 ha, ~1,575–2,900 houses, 9,000–46,000 estimates) on Talyanka River, Cherkasy. Second-largest SBDI megasite after Talianki (340 ha). Planned concentric elliptical rings, radial streets, ditch, nine mega-structures. British-Ukrainian Nebelivka–Maydanetske project (Chapman/Gaydarska/Müller) showed burnt houses, painted vessels, S-shaped figurines, and quarter modules 50–150 houses around mega-structure — proto-urban without palace. Abandoned c.3600 BCE.
Why it mattersSecond-largest European Chalcolithic town — tests urbanism without centralized power
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Population — 9k vs 46k and seasonal?
- 02Quarter system — clan or craft?
Theories
- 01Chapman: mega-site as seasonal pilgrimage assembly
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.3800–3700 BCE (Trypillia B2, Tomashivka?)
- Period
- Chalcolithic Trypillia B2 (c.3800–3600 BCE)
- Culture
- Cucuteni-Trypillia (Western Trypillia)
- Builders
- Trypillia B2 agro-pastoral community (Tomashivka–Kosenivka circle)
- Purpose
- Concentric ring mega-town — planned proto-city with mega-structures as quarter foci
- Abandoned
- c.3650–3600 BCE
- Rediscovered
- Aerial 1960s Shyshkin; magnetometry 1970s Dudkin, 2010s Müller/Chapman
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
3800 BCE
Concentric ring foundation on Talyanka
1970s
Dudkin magnetometry 1,500 houses
2010s
Chapman–Müller British-Ukrainian project
On the ground
Structures & features
48.8100° N · 30.7003° E · 180 m · 3 mapped features
Northern Mega-structure Quarter
mega structureQuarter focus building 50–150 houses cluster with painted vessels, analog Nebelivka
48.8110° N · 30.7005° EConcentric House Rings
house ring3–4 elliptical rings of burnt houses 1.5×1.0 km, radial streets
48.8100° N · 30.6990° ETalyanka River Terrace Edge
earthworkRiver scarp ditch and terrace edge enclosing settlement
48.8090° N · 30.7020° E