The Sites of the Early Nomads on the North-East Periphery of the Sarmatian World

The new data that have become available in the last two decades show that the Scythian Kingdom with its capital in Neapolis Scythica, which existed in the Crimea in the 2nd century BC, was much closer to Hellenistic states ruled by barbarian dynasties than to nomadic kingdom of the Scythians of the 4th century BC. At the same time, these data allow us to return in part to the old view formulated by Rostovtzeff about continuity between the Scythia of the 4th century BC and the Late Scythian Kingdom, which most researchers have rejected during the last thirty years. It turned out that this continuity existed at least at the ideological level, and the excavations at Ak-Kaya (Vishennoe) filled the chronological gap between the Scythian Kingdoms of the 4th and 2nd century BC. Apparently, Ak-Kaya became one of the political centres of the Scythians as early as the late 4th century BC, before the fall of “Great Scythia”, and the capital of the Crimean Scythians was located there before it was moved to Neapolis Scythica. In the formation of Late Scythian culture and the Late Scythian Kingdom with its capital first in Ak-Kaya and then in Neapolis Scythica, apart from the Scythian elements, sedentary Tauri took part, as well as probably the Greeks and the Hellenized population of the chorai of the Greek cities in north-western Crimea. A key role in changing the character of Scythian culture was apparently played by a change in its economic-cultural type and the transition from nomadic pastoralism to settled agriculture. This article proposes a new interpretation of the inscription on the mausoleum of Argotas, discovered in Neapolis Scythica in 1999. Argotas was probably not a Scythian, but a Greek, despite his Scythian name. This Bosporan aristocrat with Scythian family ties married the widowed Bosporan queen Kamasarya in the second quarter of the 2nd century BC and is mentioned as her husband in the inscription CIRB 75. He played an important role in governing the Bosporan Kingdom and in protecting it against attacks from the East. Then, most likely after the death of Kamasarya, he moved to the neighbouring kingdom of the Scythians, where he became one of the leading generals, the right-hand man of the king and the tutor to his children. After his death in ca. 130-125 BC, he received from King Skiluros unprecedented honours – a heroon in front of the facade of the royal palace was erected for him and, moreover, this was the only truly Greek building in Neapolis Scythica: it was built in accordance with the rules of the architectural order and decorated with Greek statues and reliefs, as well as a metric epitaph with numerous Homeric forms and expressions.

Purpose. The article is devoted to the characteristics of a double-edged iron sword, which can be attributed to the unique phenomena of the early Iron Age of the Minusinsk Basin. Results. According to its morphological characteristics, the sword is an increased technological modification of the traditional Tagar dagger. The total length of the sword is 59.5 cm; the width of the lenticular blade in cross-section is about 7 cm. The handle with a volute-like pommel is separated from the blade by a narrow butterfly-shaped crosshair. The length of the hilt is 8 cm, which corresponds to the size of the hilts of most Scythian swords. This is a very small size, since in men the average palm width is about 12 cm. Probably, the rounded outlines of the pommel and narrow crosshairs allow, due to their shape, to hold the short handle of a heavy sword more tightly. Conclusion. According to the classification of O. I. Kura, Scythian swords with a narrow butterfly-shaped crosshair and volute-like pommel are included in Group III, Type II A2 dating from the end of the 5th – 4th centuries BC, which corresponds to the boundary between the Podgorny and Saragashen stages of the Tagar culture. The earliest form of sword hilts with typologically similar forms of crosshairs (kidney-shaped, heart-shaped, butterfly-shaped) with bar-shaped pommels appeared in the North Caucasus in the first half of the 7th century BC. On the territory of the Minusinsk Basin, most morphologically similar daggers are usually dated to the 6th – 4th centuries BC. Before the discovery of the Krasnoyarsk sword, long-bladed iron weapons were not known there. At the same time, swords of the Scythian time were found in the nearest regions of Altai and Kazakhstan. The later appearance of the technology for processing iron in the Minusinsk Basin makes it possible to consider the Krasnoyarsk sword an import item. According to another hypothesis, it belongs to the period of the late 3rd – 2nd centuries BC, when local craftsmen mastered the processing of iron and began to make massive quantities of weapons and tools from low-carbon steel. In doing so, they copied traditional archaic forms.

Introduction. In ancient mythology, the image of Hercules is one of the most popular, and his heroic cult is one of the most common. Having emerged from the “conglomerate of folk tales”, the image of Hercules was actively assimilated by the Greek and then Roman literary tradition. Hercules was a very popular hero among Greek tragic and especially comic poets. In Roman times, the final systematization of the image took place. The key role in this process was played by the works of Apollodorus “The Mythological Library” (2nd century BC), “Pictures” by Philostratus the Younger (2nd century BC) and “Description of Hellas” by Pausanias (2nd century BC). Within the framework of the classical tradition, the image of Hercules in Roman times was finally formed and unambiguous. Hercules is a hero, a demigod, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, who possessed amazing strength, who killed his children (and the children of his brother Iphicles) in an act of madness. He performed 12 labours at the request of Eurystheus. Hercules lived with the Lydian queen Omphale dressing in a woman’s dress. He was poisoned by his wife Deianira, burned at the stake on Mount Eta and ascended to Olympus, where he became the spouse of Hebe. Methods. The hermeneutic methodology, which ensured the correct understanding and interpretation of the text of the Suda dictionary and the ancient texts, on which this “antique” dictionary was based, is used in the article. The toolkit of the hermeneutic circle (pre-understanding and understanding of the text, interpretation of the whole based on knowledge of its parts) made it possible to highlight key elements (plots, signs and symbols) of the philosophical image of Hercules in the entries of the dictionary. Results. We can see a kind of “muscular Christianity”, when the strength of the body still corresponds to moral perfection and the withdrawal from the world does not contradict the active entry into the still polis institutions of urban life in Byzantine cities, among which the most important was the hippodrome and sports competitions. Christian authors actively used traditional sports metaphors and images of wrestling, but filled them with new Christian content. In the dictionary of the Suda, there is a kind of replacement of images that embody the samples of virtue. Hercules always loses to Job. It is indicative that the Christian rhetoric, relying on the philosophical symbolism of the apotheosis of Hercules, using the “sports” terminology of struggle, ignores the developed philosophical symbolism of Hercules, and fights against the mythological “fables” about Hercules. Using cynical and stoic terminology, Christian rhetoric opposes the comedic and dramatic image of Hercules, as Herodore of Heracles did in the 5th century BC. That is, the enemy is borrowed from Christian rhetoric along with philosophical symbols and terminology describing a difficult life full of trials as a virtue.

Purpose. The purpose of the work is to search for evidence of the “golden statue of a man for sacrifices to Heaven” existence in the material culture of the early Xiongnu for the subsequent interpretation of this phenomenon.Materials. To achieve this goal, the reports of Chinese historical records on the culture of the early Xiongnu, which contain references to the “golden statue of a person for sacrifices to Heaven” were analyzed. Information from the historical records was compared with archaeological materials of synchronous archaeological cultures with numerous gold items in the territory of Northern Eurasia. Basically, the comparison was made with the “golden culture” of the Sakas of Kazakhstan.Result. It has been established that the “golden statue of a person for sacrifices to Heaven” in the culture of the early Xiongnu did not imply a golden statue, similar to later statues of Buddha, but the tradition of the deceased rulers clothes decorating with gold implements in the process of the ritual exposure of the deceased body. This tradition is widely known from the materials of the Sakas culture of Kazakhstan as a rite of creating a “golden man”. It is suggested that this tradition was borrowed by the Xiongnu in the course of contacts with the Saka population of Kazakhstan in the 4th century BC and existed among the Xiongnu until the 2nd century BC. The contacts between the Xiongnu and the Scythian and Saka nomadic population of Central Asia are confirmed by the excavations materials from the Chikhertyn Zoo burial ground in Mongolia.Conclusion. As a result of the work carried out, it was possible to identify some material and spiritual culture features of the early Xiongnu (4th – 2nd centuries BC).

The article is the first study of the finds of bronze bells from the territory of the Saka culture of the Tien Shan region. The key challenge in their research is that only a small part of them comes from archaeological sites, the rest being some accidental finds. Bells of the Saka period from this region can be divided into large, medium, and miniature in size. But, despite this, they are quite similar in their morphological features, except for a miniature bell from the Aksai (Akesai) burial ground in the upper stream of the Ili River. The main part of the bells from the Tien Shan region can be dated to the 7th—4th centuries BC, except for one bell from the Aksai (Akesai) burial ground, which dates to the 3rd— 2nd centuries BC. Large and medium-sized bells were used as an element of the ceremonial decoration of horses, which is confirmed by Persepolis reliefs, as well as several archaeological evidence from adjacent regions. However, miniature bells were apparently used as decorative details on clothing rather than as horse decorations. The genesis of bronze bells in the Tien Shan region can be associated with the territories of Urartu and Assyria, where the earliest prototypes are known, possessing several similar morphological and functional details.

The article analyses remains of the Baitovo Culture fortifications in the focus of archaeological research. These remains are dated back to the early Iron Agee and situated in the Transural forest-steppes. Previously determined stages of the culture development (early to late 7th – 6th century BC and late 5th – 3rd century BC) are relied on to analyse and restore the walls that used to fringe the settlements. The study reviews the shapes, depth and water levels in the moats at Maray5, Likhachevskoe and Borovushka2 hillforts. The research suggests that the settlements used to be fortified with a stakewall at the bottom of the moat. Likhachevskoe hillfort had its gate towers restored. The researched Baitovskoe, Staro-LybaevoII and Bochanetskoe hillforts allow to conclude that even later on the early Iron Age settlements preserved the tradition of erecting compact stakewalls or wattles at the bottom of moats. However, this as when the Baitovo culture people started to erect fortifications with deeper moats and higher walls (Bolshoy Imbiryay3, Maray1 hillforts). This is evident of increasingly more substantial defence of the settlements. The studied Sargat and Gorokhovo culture fortifications peaked in 3rd – 2nd century BC. The comparison reveals that on one hand people kept opting for simple stakewall structures or wattlers to fortify their settlements, but they tended to change the properties and made their moats and walls more substantial. On the other, they reinforced fortifications through gate towers, wooden supports for moat walls, log frameworks and cages on the walls. Such structures are typical for fortresses that bore the function of social and economic centers. It is concluded that the defense works the Baitovo people erected illustrate the early defensive architecture of the early Iron Age Transurals.

Historically, Chinas Xinjiang Region has been important in Chinese-Western cultural exchange. This investigation into the diet of human populations in the Xinjiang region provides substantial information on the interactions between China and the West. We report here on stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human bone collagen from the 12th century BC to the 2nd century AD at the Yanghai Tombs, Xinjiang. The results of this study indicate the consumption of significant amounts of C3-based animal protein throughout these periods. We argue that animal husbandry dominated the lifestyle of ancient Yanghai populations, while agricultural cultivation was less important. The diet of ancient Yanghai human populations clearly changed with time and is closely related to the fluctuation of human populations. More specifically, there were significant differences in food resources available to the Yanghai ancestors in the middle to late Bronze Age (12th Century BC - 8th Century BC), which may reflect the diversity of these populations. Subsequently, during the early Iron Age (7th Century BC - 3rd Century BC), after an extended period of adjustment and development, the diet of all individuals became more similar. However, during the Han Dynasty (2nd Century BC - 2nd Century AD), the human diet consisted of a larger proportion of animal protein than in earlier periods. This suggests that stockbreeding played a more important role in Yanghai during this time. Based on careful consideration of historical records and archaeological features we suggest that this was due to the arrival of the Huns.

In recent years, on the territory of rural areas adjacent to the city of Armavir (Russian Federation), historically representing the Zakubanye (Trans-Kuban) region (i. e., the area of the left bank of the Kuban River), the number of bronze mirrors of Scythian and Sarmatian Ages have been found by chance. They entered the museums and museum corners of some cities and villages or were recorded in the private collections with subsequent fixation by local historians. The purpose of this paper is to publish the finds of this category which form a small but quite interesting and expressive series. The earliest of the presented specimens are finds from the village Uspenskоe. The first mirror from the Uspenskoe village (fig. 1: 1, 2) can be attributed to section I, type I, option 1 (mirrors with a central handle, round flat disc with a rim and segment loop) after T. M. Kuznetsova, and can be dated to the 7th—6th centuries BC. The second mirror from the village Uspenskoe (fig. 1: 3, 4) belongs to the 3rd variant of the indicated type, with a trapezoid loop. According to T. M. Kuznetsova, most of these mirrors are dated to the 6th century BC. Mirror 1 (fig. 2: 3, 4) from stanitsa Chamlykskaya can be considered to belong to type II, option 2 (according to I. I. Marchenko), which attributes the mirrors of this option to the 3rd—2nd centuries BC. The findings of modern Russian archaeologists make it possible to confirm the total dating of mirrors with scallops, similar to the published sample 2 from stanitsa Chamlykskaya (fig. 2: 1, 2) as 3rd—1st centuries BC.
 Mirrors 1, 3, 4 (fig. 2: 5, 6; 3: 3—6) from stanitsa Voznesenskaya and mirror 3 from the village Uspenskoe (fig. 1: 5, 6), in our opinion, can be included to the number of copies of type III, version 1 by I. I. Marchenko. The date of the mirrors of this version, according to this author, is the second half of the 4th—3rd centuries BC. Mirror 2 from stanitsa Voznesenskaya (fig. 3: 1, 2) belongs to type I, option 2 according to I. I. Marchenko. The archaeologist dates the finds of type I option 2 to the second half of the 4th — 2nd centuries BC. The mirrors presented in the publication complement the geography and characteristics of the early Iron Age mirrors found in the eastern part of the Trans-Kuban region.

This study concerns 580 bronze arrowheads from five burials of the Kichigino I cemetery (southern Trans-Urals), dated from the second half of the sixth to the second half of the fourth centuries BC. The main component in all arrowheads was copper with admixtures of arsenic, antimony, lead, tin and nickel. The research revealed that the Early nomads’ non-ferrous metal sources changed approximately in the middle of the fourth century BC. Initially, almost all metal came from Itkul metallurgy and metalworking center located in the southern Trans-Urals forest-steppe area. Pure copper without addition as well as alloys with additive of arsenic, occasionally with arsenic and antimony were overwhelmingly applied. In the next period, there are plenty of arrowheads made of copper alloys containing lead as a component; its sources are located to the southwest and west of the Trans-Urals. The transition to new metal sources was caused on the one hand by massive migrations of the Trans-Ural steppe nomadic population to the southern Cis-Urals, on the other, by gradual decline of the Itkul center of metallurgy during the fourth century BC and by the complete reserve depletion in the third century BC. Reuse of tin-alloyed bronze items from earlier times was caused by lack of the non-ferrous metal supplied by the Itkul metallurgists. Furthermore, results of metals analysis indicate that there is no relationship between the shape of the arrowheads and the composition of the metal in them. Arrowheads of the same shape could be made of different metal composition, and, by contrast, arrowheads of different shapes were made from the same metal.

The proposed study concerns the Alakul Culture whose sites are located in the forest-steppe and steppe zone of the Southern Trans-Urals and are dated to the 18th–17th cc. cal BC. The work is based on the materials of the published burial grounds: Urefty I, Кulevchi VI, Stepnoye VII, Тasty-Butak 1, Lisakovsky I, Alakul, and Tashla 1. One of the most remarkable features of the Alakul cemeteries is that children constitute between 50 % and 80 % of all the interred. In this work, 212 burial pits (242 individuals) were analysed. The aim was the reconstruction and interpretation of children’s age groups of the Alakul population in the Southern Trans-Urals by means of the analysis of the specifics of the children’s burial rites and grave goods. The children’s burials were divided into three groups in accordance to the age-at-death: infants (0–2 years old), children (2–10 years old), and adolescents (10–15 years old). Next, the grave goods of children from the different groups were studied; specif-ics of the deposition of grave goods for the different age groups were analysed. Comparing the variations in the children’s burial rite, it can be concluded that the place of children in the social structure of the Alakul society was quite important, despite the differences in the structure of the burial pits and the content of the grave goods. First of all, this is evidenced by the number of children's burials at the sites, which exceeds the number of the adult’s burials, and secondly, by the presence of the children's buri-als performed in accordance with the ‘adult’ version of the rite, including the position in the grave pit and the sets of jewellery. The youngest age group (infants, from the birth to two years old) was the most numerous. Sixty one individuals (69.3 %) from this group were buried only accompanied by pottery or with gender-neutral grave goods. In the older children's age group (2–10 years old), a third of the individuals were buried with a large amount of jewellery, a third without grave goods, and the rest with astragali or with gender-neutral grave goods. The adolescents (10–15 years old) is a relatively small category in terms of the number of the interred; their funeral rite, judging by the few well-preserved burials, was identical to that of the adults (for example, the Alakul burial ground, mound 13, pit 9). We can conclude that by the age of 13–15 adolescents were reaching the full social adulthood.

A Scythian cemetery, located near Glinoe village on the left bank of the Lower Dniester region, was studied by the Dniester archaeological expedition of T. G. Shevchenko Pridnestrovian State University during 1995-2012. Eighteen years of work on this cemetery brought the following results: 113 burial mounds have been studied, including 181 Scythian burials. Analysis of chronological indicators from burials of the Glinoe cemetery allow us to set its lower (turn of 4th – 3rd centuries BC) and upper (last quarter of the 2nd century BC) dates. Currently, there is no doubt that the Scythian steppe culture in the Lower Dniester littoral, not only does not extinguish at the end of the first or third quarter of the 3rd century BC, but also continues to develop until the end of the 2nd century BC, at least. Grave goods on the Glinoe cemetery are represented by all categories – weapons, horse harness, tools, household items, wares, decorations, details and accessories of costume, fancies and cult items. Materials from the Glinoe cemetery allow us to fix, quite surely, the Greek, Thracian and La-Tène elements, expressed in the funerary practice and material culture of the Lower Dniester Scythians. The elements of the material culture of the Central and Eastern European tribes are rarely found in adornments, costume accessories, horse harness and weapons. The emergence of the majority of hooks-clasps and all of the fibulae found on the cemetery however, should be attributed not only to the influence of the East European La-Tène cultures on the steppe Scythians of the North-West Black Sea littoral, but also to the penetration of their carriers directly into the Lower Dniester region. In addition, a belt buckle (2009), a pendant in the form of a sphere (2015, near Ternovka village) and two fibulae (2016, near Slobodzeya town and near Tokmazeya village) of the La-Tène construction were found on the settlements of the Lower Dniester region. But the most informative are items of the La-Tène type which were discovered in the Scythian graves of the last quarter of the 4th – the first half of the 3rd century BC, excavated in 2017 in the barrow groups "Sluiceway" and "Garden", as well as in the barrow 116 of the cemetery near Glinoe. These are torque, two rings and a bracelet, two belt plaques and three fibulae. Analysis of these findings in relation to the items from the Scythian cemetery of the 3rd – 2nd centuries BC near Glinoe village (excavations 1995-2012) shows that from the last quarter of the 4th century BC the material culture of the Scythians of the North-Western Black Sea Region is beginning to be influenced by the La-Tène and La-Tène type cultures of Eastern Europe. In the 3rd – 2nd centuries BC this influence increased and became especially noticeable in the costume complex.

Το ιερό του Ερμή και της Αφροδίτης στη Σύμη Βιάννου

Maize takes the leading place in yield and is one of the most common crops in the world. Selection of the optimal seeding application rate and time is among the central issues in maize cultivation technology and is highly relevant. The research made in 2018–2020 aimed at improving the maize technology block for grain (seeding application rate and sowing time, southern forest-steppe, the Republic of Bashkortostan). For this purpose, a field experiment was launched in a fourfold replication. The experimental design included hybrids: Nur, Mashuk 171, Baikal and Mashuk 220 with a planting density of 60 (control), 70, 80, and 90 thousand pcs/ha. The experiment revealed a high correlation dependence of the yield of green mass and grain on the sowing time (r = 0.876–0.915 and r = 0.951–0.963). In the conditions of the Republic of Bashkortostan’s southern forest-steppe, Baikal and Mashuk 171 hybrids are recommended to be used for animals and poultry diets and the planning of maize cultivation technological schemes at early sowing time (May 10) and a seeding application rate of 80 thousand pcs/ha. The results of the research apply to the formation of agricultural feeding diets.

The purpose of this article is to examine the establishment of Mahan and its basic culture. The Mahan establishment period is a period that includes the process prior to its complete formulation. I wanted to search for the period between the 5th century BC and the 2nd century BC, where Attached-rim pottery culture, Korean-style bronze dagger culture, and Songguk-ri type culture coexisted. The 5th century BC was the inflow period of the Attached-rim pottery culture and was understood as a period of adaptation and transformation for indigenization. The 4th~early 2nd century BC was understood as a period of indigenization while maintaining friendly relations with local powers. In particular, the 4th century BC is representative of heteromorphic(異形) bronze ware such as dagger sheath-shaped bronze ware and rough-patterned bronze mirrors, while the 3rd century BC is representative of fine-patterned bronze mirrors and bronze bells. In this process of indigenization, the Attached-rim pottery culture and the Songguk-ri type culture formed a friendly and convergent complex relationship. In addition, the Korean- style bronze ware culture was established and developed. And various burial cultures were formed based on relationships with local groups and external cultures. Beliefs and rituals also became indigenous. Since the reign of King Jun in the early 2nd century BC, the Mahan’s iron ware culture has become widespread. This shows the development of several or many Mahan societies distributed regionally. We can assume a territorial war, internal alliance network between various Mahans, and a check on the King Jun’s power group. It is believed that this background led to the extinction of King Jun’s power.

In the beginning of the I Millennium BC on the territory of ancient Central Asia a special ethnopolitical union of nomadic people was formed, known in ancient Persian sources as the Saka haumavarga. They are most often referred to as Sakas, who worshiped or prepared the sacred drink of haoma. This article systematically investigates the process of formation and historical development of the ethno-political union of the Saka haumavarga as one of the most powerful associations of ancient nomads in Central Asia. Special attention is also paid to the issue of various features which formed this group of nomads. In addition, the aim of the study was to examine the influence of external factors on the integration of pastoral populations in isolated mountainous areas of PamirAlay as this phenomenon is poorly understood. The process of formation of ethno-political education of the Saka haumavarga was rather lengthy - supposedly having been completed at the turn of the 7th – 6th centuries BC. In the second half of the 6th century BC the Saka haumavarga are occupied by the Achaemenid Empire and forced to pay taxes and supply military contingents of the Persian kings. Around the turn of the 5th and 4th centuries BC they are freed of their subordination. After the conquest of Central Asia by Alexander the Great, they establish a variety of relations with the Hellenistic states. Despite cool relations with the Greco-Bactria, there is evidence of the presence of mercenaries from the Saka haumavarga within the troops of this Hellenistic kingdom. At the turn of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC as a result of military activity of the Greco-Bactrian kings, a reduction of territory of this Saka haumavarga union commences its gradual decline. The final collapse of this ethno-political group occurs towards the end of the 2nd century BC, as small independent tribes of local nomads are known to be the only inhabitants of the Pamir-Alay territory at this point in time.