ABSTRACT
This chapter on time and history is concerned with answering Yi-Fu Tuan’s stimulating question: “What time is this place?” in two different settlement contexts. A basic contrast can be drawn between the planning principles used to underpin Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlements in the study area of ‘Old Europe’. The grid plan is exemplified in many tell settlements of the East Balkans, while the concentric principle is enshrined in many ‘flat’ sites in Moldavia, Moldova and Ukraine. Examples of the social practices on each site type are drawn from the completely excavated 5 ha tell of Ovcharovo, North-East Bulgaria, dated 4800–4450 bce, and the partially excavated 238 ha Trypillia mega-site of Nebelivka, dated 3950–3800 bce.
Snapshots of Ovcharovo are presented to characterize the way that dwelling was framed on this small site. Bailey’s recognition of the practice of house super-positioning is discussed with relation to House 96 at Ovcharovo. This discussion leads to the characterization of the place-value of tell dwelling as part of a historical ideology of dwelling.
At Nebelivka, where there were no examples of house super-positioning, a basic question concerns how many of the 1,445 houses were occupied coevally. Recently, converging lines of evidence have supported a mega-site settlement model of shorter-term or seasonal settlement than is usually proposed for the mega-sites. Nonetheless, the fundamental unit of analysis at mega-sites remains the individual house, with its biography of construction (birth), use (life) and often deliberate burning (death). Social time was routinely materialized in quotidian Trypillia practices. A comparison of these events and mega-site biographies will provide insights into the way that local histories were nested within more global Trypillia histories. These conclusions will be compared to findings on the life and times of Chalcolithic tells.
