Trypillia

In 1897 Vikentiy Khvoyka excavated near this village and found the remains of a Neolithic and Copper Age farming culture that built settlements of thousands of people, burned them down every few generations and rebuilt, and made painted pottery of a quality that still startles. The culture took the village's name. A museum here holds pottery, figurines and models of the settlements, and the Dnipro hills around are the landscape it grew in.

What you actually see

• The painted pottery - spiral and meander designs on Copper Age vessels.
• The figurines - the small clay figures found across Trypillian sites.
• The settlement models - reconstructions of the burned-and-rebuilt towns.
• The Dnipro hills - the country the culture farmed, above the river.

When to go

April to October is the comfortable season. The museum keeps set hours and closes on some weekdays. The riverside is pleasant in summer.

Honest expectations

The museum is small and the major Trypillian finds are in Kyiv. There is no excavated site to walk at the village itself. Labelling is in Ukrainian.

Nearby

Kyiv is north, and Kaniv is south down the Dnipro.