В один і той самий час культурні комплекси Яншао і Трипілля-Кукутень пройшли подібний шлях суспільного розвитку, неодмінними компонентами якого стали поява великих поселень, у тому числі й укріплених, з великого розміру громадськими спорудами, ці
поселення стають осередками ремісничого виробництва. Дослідники, по суті, однаково
визначають їх, як протоміста.
Різниця між Яншао та Трипіллям-Кукутень полягає в тому, що на Сході поступальний розвиток суспільства до створення міської цивілізації було продовжено, а на Заході – мав продовження на іншій території.
Almost a hundred years ago, Johan Andersson discovered Yangshao prehistoric
agricultural culture in China. Just in his first publication, he compared his findings of pottery
with known at that time cultures of painted pottery Trypillia in Ukraine and Anau in Central
Asia, believing that the culture of Yangshao originated from western influences. In our
opinion, the issue of social development and the historical fate of early agricultural societies,
the appearance of their first civilizations, is more relevant than the search for a common
ancestral home.
At the same time, the cultural complexes of Yangshao and Cucuteni-Trypillia have gone a
similar way of social development, the indispensable components of which are the
establishment of large settlements, among them, fortified ones, large public buildings, and
these settlements become the centers of handicraft production. The scholars define them as
some kind of proto-cities.
The difference between Yangshao and Cucuteni-Trypillia is that in the East, the progressive
development of society leading to the creation of urban civilization continues, while in the
West in Trypillia region, it stops for several millennia. If we consider this issue concerning
South-East and East Europe, then during the 3rd millennium BCE a similar transition takes
place in some regions, including the territory of Hellas.
A brief overview of the development of Yangshao and Cucuteni-Trypillia cultural
complexes clearly shows the importance and efficiency of the comparative method in the
study of early societies, including the early urbanization processes, which begin in cultural
complexes belonging to early agricultural societies of the 5th-4th millennia BCE in different
parts of the world. Their beginning depends primarily on the dynamics of the development of
the societies themselves, rather than on outside influences or borrowings. The development of
techniques (including painted pottery making) can only be adapted if certain prerequisites are
met.
