Two Trypillia settlements in Ternopil region added to UNESCO Tentative List

This was reported to Ukrinform by archaeologist and director of the Borshchiv Regional Museum of Local Lore, Mykhailo Sokhatskyi.

“The Verteba Cave is a unique monument of the Trypillia culture, as nowhere else has such a case been found where representatives of early agricultural communities used an underground cavity continuously for 750–800 years and left significant material remains there. The second site added to the UNESCO tentative list is the Trypillia settlement near the village of Hlybochok in the Chortkiv district, which I discovered in the early 1990s,” Sokhatskyi said.

He added that both settlements are over 5,000 years old and provide valuable insights into the lives of the first Trypillia settlers – how they lived, built homes, cultivated land, and developed their spiritual culture.

According to him, inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List is recognition of an ancient historical culture in a global context, as well as a special protection status and increased public attention to the sites.

The process of adding sites to the UNESCO Heritage List includes both documentation work and on-site inspections of the archaeological monuments.

As previously reported, the transnational cultural complex Precucuteni–Ariuşd–Cucuteni–Trypillia has also been included in the UNESCO Tentative List. The complex includes 15 archaeological sites in Ukraine, 36 in Romania, and 20 in Moldova.

Photo: Borshchiv Regional Museum of Local Lore