Horse Teeth Shed Light on Seasonality in Scythian Mound Burials in Southern Russia

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Scythian archaeological culture is a component of the Scythian-Siberian community of equestrian nomadic pastoralists located in the northern Black Sea region and Ciscaucasia. This paper explores whether the Scythians were present in the central Pre-Caucasus all year round or only during a part of the year and were migrating seasonally. Since Scythian settlements are not known in this region, a possible clue may come from determining the season of the year in which the Scythians buried their deceased tribesmen and performed memorial events. In this paper, we determine the seasonality of the burials and memorial events at the mound burial ground Novozavedennoye-III (southern Russia), dated to 430–300 b.c., by applying cementum increment analysis to horse teeth. This analysis has shown that the studied horses died during May–October. This result indicates that the Scythians were present in the central Pre-Caucasus foothills during some part of the warm season.