The origin of Scythian caldrons in the context of the late Bronze − Early Iron Age of Eurasia

Abstract

A detailed analysis of the historiography of the issue is presented, which takes into account works devoted to the antiquities of the early Iron Age. The authors come to the conclusion about the local production of Scythian metal boilers, seeing in this a very high level of development of metalworking of Scythian masters. With regard to the issue associated with the origin of the tradition of manufacturing these products, then in the historiography there were two theories: the Asian (L. N. Chlenova, S. V. Demidenko, V. S. Bochkarev, etc.) and native (O. A. Krivtsova-Grakova and others). In our opinion, the question of the origin of boilers should be considered taking into account the specific features of their morphology. Thus, open-shell boilers that dominate the archaic times (VII−VI centuries BC) are made taking into account the clearly formulated traditions and requirements for products of this category brought from the East to the Northern Black Sea Coast. Regarding the boilers with closed housing, which begin to appear in the VI century BC, we can say the following. Their production originates in the local traditions of the production of boilers, which were formed back in Cimmerian times (riveted boilers). But these traditions do not receive a direct line of development in Scythian time. We see rather complicated processes of formation of the Scythian center for the production of archaic cast caldrons in the Kuban region, where this tradition spreads throughout the Northern Black Sea Coast. In the course of this complex and multifaceted process, new syncretic traditions of the production of boilers are formed, combining the innovative method of production (casting) and the local traditions of perception of the shape of the caldron.