«Cimmero-Scythian» antiquities from Central Anatolia

Abstract

Central Anatolia is one of the regions of Western Asia, where the most significant concentration of archaeological materials connected with the Eurasian nomads of the early Scythian time is recorded. The flat plains of Central Anatolia had good pastures and served as a space where different cultures communicated with each other since ancient times. In the 7th–6th centuries BC this territory was located between Western Anatolia with Lydia and the eastern Greek centers and Eastern Anatolia, which was the zone of interest of the Urartu and Assyria. Small local "principalities" were localized here. These principalities were probably controlled by well-armed and mobile nomads, who used this territory as a base for raids on neighboring as well as more distant regions. An important and most numerous category of nomad inventory coming from the region is constituted by bronze socketed arrowheads found in burials in the province of Amasya, Imirler, Gordion and on the local settlements (Boğazköy, Kaman-Kalehöyük, Kerkenez Dağ). The article introduces their typology and provides analogies coming from the Eurasian monuments of the 7th–6th centuries BC. The study of early nomadic complexes from Anatolia shows theirsyncretic nature, which is influenced by artifacts of the Cimmerian, Scythian, and Сentral Asian origin as well as the local Near Eastern items. It highlights the complex ethnic composition of the nomadic groups located here in the 7th–6th centuries BC that does not allow attributing all these materials to a single group, for example, the Cimmerians.