The Nomadic World of the South of Eastern Europe in the 2nd - 1st Centuries BC (Eastern Innovations, Facts, Causes and Consequences)

Abstract

Introduction. In the process of developing the chronology of early Sarmatian culture we have allocated the monuments dated by the 2nd - 1st centuries BC and characterized by their specificity both in the material culture and in burial rites. Methods and materials. This article is devoted to the series of items from the Sarmatian burials of the 2nd - 1st centuries BC from the south of Eastern Europe having close analogies in the sites of Central Asia. The items are represented with different types of swords, bronze openwork belt buckles, latticed and gigantic belt buckles, clay cubic censers, miniature copies of boilers and quivers with bows. Analysis. New features have been marked in the funeral rites. Burials in the decks got popularity, which had resemblance with the decks used in the burial practice of Tuva’s population of the last centuries BC. The percentage of northern orientation of the buried was significantly increased in some areas of the Volga and the Don regions. The analysis of the historical situation testifies to the migration of a number of nomadic groups away from China’s northwestern borders due to the aggressive policy of Xiongnu. This event caused the changes in ethnopolitical situation in Central Asia, the Greco-Bactrian kingdom ceased to exist due to nomadic attacks. The nomadic population of this region with the eastern elements in their culture had significantly increased. Great changes occured in the South Ural, the Volga-Don region and in the Northern Black Sea Coast, where the groups of nomads appeared which had not been mentioned in written sources before: Aorses, Siraki, Roksolans, Satarkhi. The occurred changes found reflection in written works of ancient authors. Results. Thus, the events that took place on the northern borders of China, associated with the formation of the Hunnish nomadic empire, led to a significant change in the ethnopolitical situation up to the Northern Black Sea Coast region.