The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture, which has its beginnings around 5500 BCE, was initially named after the village of Cucuteni in Iasi County, Romania, where the first objects associated with it were discovered.

Members of this culture belonged to tribal social groups, scattered over an area of southeast Europe encompassing territories in present-day Romania, Moldova, and southwestern Ukraine.

The important physical features of the land were rolling plains, river valleys, the Black Sea, and the Carpathian Mountains, which were covered by a mixed forest in the west, which gave way to the open grasslands of the steppes in the east.

The climate during the time that this culture flourished has been named the Holocene climatic optimum, and featured cool, wet winters and warm, moist summers.

These conditions would have created a very favorable climate for agriculture in this region.