4 ms·

Didn't find it in the article but is "scorched earth" a possible reason? I am guessing not as the article would have said so. And there were not large organized

by rdtsc 10y ago

Didn't find it in the article but is "scorched earth" a possible reason? I am guessing not as the article would have said so. And there were not large organized armies during that time...

3131s 10y ago
That's mentioned under the "Theories" section, #3 Aggression. It says it's unlikely because they haven't found burned remains inside the houses, or nearby remains that show signs of a violent death.
- rdtsc 10y ago
  That's different. I saw the "Aggression" paragraph. That implies burning happening during the battle with victims in the buildings? "Scorched Earth" means burning buildings, destroying crops, covering up wells ahead of time to deny invaders those facilities. Then presumably fleeing into the woods or mountains...
  - 3131s 10y ago
    It seems "scorched earth" can have two closely related definitions: "A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that targets anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area. [...] The practice can be carried out by the military in enemy territory, or in its own home territory." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorched_earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorched_earth Still though, the "Aggression" paragraph seems to imply that researchers believe that war was not common in these societies.
keeganjw 10y ago
Doesn't look likely. They were a peaceful culture. There is little evidence of them ever fighting on a larger scale. Until a warlike Proto-Indo-European culture invaded and ended theirs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucuteni-Trypillian_culture#Decline_and_end https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucuteni-Trypillian_culture#De...
restalis 10y ago
I thought about that too. The people around Carpathian Mountains had a habit of playing hide-n-seek with invaders all the time, it's too tempting to think that they somehow haven't learned to do this just recently. But then there was this Kurgan culture invasion that was very prominent, with clear signs of its occurrence (ending the Cucuteni–Trypillian culture, BTW), whereas the house burning were a recurring event long before that with no clues of a possible conflict. And it's also unlikely that after fleeing from an invasion they would return to the same place and just continuing their peaceful life, and this whole process happening over and over without mistakes.

by rdtsc 10y ago

Didn't find it in the article but is "scorched earth" a possible reason? I am guessing not as the article would have said so. And there were not large organized armies during that time...

3131s 10y ago

That's mentioned under the "Theories" section, #3 Aggression. It says it's unlikely because they haven't found burned remains inside the houses, or nearby remains that show signs of a violent death.

rdtsc 10y ago
That's different. I saw the "Aggression" paragraph. That implies burning happening during the battle with victims in the buildings? "Scorched Earth" means burning buildings, destroying crops, covering up wells ahead of time to deny invaders those facilities. Then presumably fleeing into the woods or mountains...
- 3131s 10y ago
  It seems "scorched earth" can have two closely related definitions: "A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that targets anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area. [...] The practice can be carried out by the military in enemy territory, or in its own home territory." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorched_earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorched_earth Still though, the "Aggression" paragraph seems to imply that researchers believe that war was not common in these societies.

keeganjw 10y ago

Doesn't look likely. They were a peaceful culture. There is little evidence of them ever fighting on a larger scale. Until a warlike Proto-Indo-European culture invaded and ended theirs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucuteni-Trypillian_culture#Decline_and_end https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucuteni-Trypillian_culture#De...

restalis 10y ago

I thought about that too. The people around Carpathian Mountains had a habit of playing hide-n-seek with invaders all the time, it's too tempting to think that they somehow haven't learned to do this just recently. But then there was this Kurgan culture invasion that was very prominent, with clear signs of its occurrence (ending the Cucuteni–Trypillian culture, BTW), whereas the house burning were a recurring event long before that with no clues of a possible conflict. And it's also unlikely that after fleeing from an invasion they would return to the same place and just continuing their peaceful life, and this whole process happening over and over without mistakes.