Talianki

Talianki was a Neolithic site located in present day Ukraine and was the largest known Neolithic settlement in Europe. It was part of what is called the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, which spanned Eastern Europe. Talianki was home to anywhere between 20,000 and 46,000 people. The original inhabitants (around 5800 BCE) raised pigs, sheep, and goats and grew wheat, rye, and peas. The population grew considerably, and settlement pushed out around the Dnieper River. 

Cattle were most important as animal domestication became more important than hunting, and some scholars believe the people of Eastern Europe might have domesticated horses around this time. Men hunted, herded livestock, and made tools and weapons from flint, bone, and stone. Women made pottery, textiles and garments, and played a leading role in community life. Archaeologists discovered a collection of female figurines they named "The Council of the Goddesses."         

Homes were circular or oval and made of clay or logs. There were clay ovens/hearths at the center of the homes, and some were two stories. The walls and ceilings were decorated with red and black designs. Homes were linked together into clusters, built in a circular pattern around a central structure. They were often purposefully burned down and rebuilt every 60 years or so. Many homes contained ovens and kilns, and the region has become famous for its pottery. Most homes also contained vases and figurines made of organic materials. The dead were often buried under the floors, sometimes after being purposefully burned in a form of cremation. It was mostly women and children who were buried in this manner, perhaps because women and children were associated with hearth and home and would therefore be buried beneath it as an act of connecting their bodies to the home. Researchers have found numerous instances of sacrificial burials of animals, sometimes under the floor of a house.