“Ethnicity” of the Scythians: Problems in the Aspects of Ontology and Gnoseology

Abstract

The work is devoted to the problem of the archaeological definition of the ethnos in connection with the range of questions of the genesis of the Scythians and their anthropological composition in connection with the eastern migration impulses. The objective is to study the development of this set of problems, as well as to consider the possibilities of further research in the aspect of competing hypotheses by systematizing and interpreting the data of history, archeology and physical anthropology. The reason for the unresolved issue of the origin of the Scythians is the lack of a generally accepted content of the concepts of “Scythian” and “Scythian culture”, as well as “Scythian archaeological culture”, due to the blurring of the boundaries of the areas of distribution of monuments of the “Scythian type culture”. The reason for the diversity of opinions about the physical appearance of the Scythians is the lack of a sufficient amount of anthropological material and the difference in interpretations of morphological relationships and lines of development. We consider the study of the genesis of the Scythians and the development of the Scythian culture from the perspective of migrations within the framework of the Srubna-Andronovo cultural and historical community to be a promising direction. It is necessary to define both multi-vector pulsating migrations and the “Scythian area” as a vast material and cultural (“ethnic, cultural and historical”) landscape and the environment within which they occurred. It is extremely important to single out compact typological variants and their cultural and chronological boundaries within the framework of the cultural community of the Scythians in the south of Eastern Europe, Sauromatians and Saks. In terms of establishing the Scythian area and identifying ethnic and cultural components, it is necessary to carefully localize the settled zones on its borders, study trans-boundary zones, the localization of which is confined to isolated physical and geographical structures and zones of integration of material production, and identify the patterns and specifics of the course of ethnic and cultural processes within and on the borders of large trans-zonal territories.