Research project “Early urbanism in prehistoric Europe: the case of the Trypillian mega-sites” in 2013)

In 2013, the Ukrainian-British expedition under the scientific research project "The Tripillian Mega-Sites Project (Early urbanism in prehistoric Europe: the case of the Tripillian mega-sites)" continued research on the settlement at Nebelevka. The Project successfully completed a five-week summer season, running from 15th July to 17th August 2013. The principal objectives of the 2013 seasons were defined before the season, as follows: geophysical prospecting of a further 160 ha of the mega-site, the excavation of several Trypillian features: a pit near a Trypillian house and sections across linear features on geophysical plots identified in the 2012. The Ukrainian side excavated a house-and-pit complex near the 2012 mega-structure trench (tr. 3), Bisserka Gaydarska and Toni Stoilka Ignatova began the excavation of a large pit (tr. 4). Excavations confirmed the existence of cultural layer around dwellings. There were investigated several pits, originally served for the extraction of clay. Later at this pits there were deposited artifacts, related to everyday life and sacral life of the nearest households. There were provided the mechanical coring and test-pitting of 50 burnt structures to recover samples for AMS dating, on-site soil micromorphological investigations; finished intensive, systematic field walking of a further 20 km2 of the Nebelivka hinterland; conducted palaeo-environmental investigations of further sites near to Nebelivka and within a 30 km radius; completed plan of site, based on magnetic survey, checked few types of the new kinds of archaeological objects found by geophysicists.