David Wengrow and Eyal Weizman with Forensic Architecture and Nebelivka project

A revolution is taking place in our understanding of cities, arising from the laboratory of the past. Using new techniques, archaeologists discover traces of urban landscapes lost to memory. Such evidence is not ‘unearthed’ from the ground. It is inseparable from the soil.
The Nebelivka Hypothesis explores a case in point. Below agricultural fields in Ukraine, geophysical survey reveals 6,000-year-old settlements, similar in scale to the early cities of Mesopotamia. But no trace is found of temples, palaces, administration, or a ruling class.
Studies of the ancient environment reveal a surprisingly light ecological footprint around these sites. It has even been argued that their foundation accelerated the formation of chernozem, hyper-fertile black soils, for which this region is famous.
If these ancient Ukrainian sites are cities, then our concept of ‘the city’ as rooted in a history of extraction, predation and hierarchy must also change. This is The Nebelivka Hypothesis.

Authorial collaborators
Forensic Architecture, The Nebelivka Project and The Center for Spatial Technologies
Team
Forensic Architecture: Davide Piscitelli (Project Coordinator); Agata Nguyen Chuong (Research); Natalia Sliwinska (Video Editing); Mark Nieto (Sound Design); Sarah Nankivell, Elizabeth Breiner, Andra Pop-Jurj (Project Support)
Extended Team: Rosie Emery (3D Modelling), Matteo Zamagni (3D Animation), Riccardo Badano (Editor), Ewa Domaradzka (Narrator), Hanna Rullmann (Graphic Designer)
The Nebelivka Project: Bisserka Gaydarska, John Chapman, Marco Nebbia, Manuel Arroyo-Kalin, Duncan Hale, James Innes, Bruce Albert, Brian Buchanan, Mikhailo Videiko, Aleksandr Diachenko, Valentin Sobchuk
The Center for Spatial Technologies: Maksym Rokmaniko, Andrew Onyshchenko, Daryna Vilkhova, Mykola Holovko, Natasha Pereverzina
Extended Team: Sergey Revenko, Oleksiy Makulskiy
External collaborator: Kris Lockyear (University College London), Nicholas Donald (Goldsmiths), Mr. Bobko (Mayor of Nebelivka)
With the additional support of
The Richard and Peggy Greenfield Foundation