North Pontic Region Research Articles

Cranial surgery in the North Pontic region during the 3rd millennium BC.

This study examines the development of cranial surgery in the North Pontic region during the Early and Middle Bronze Age (late 4th and 3rd millennium BC according to the Eastern European chronology). 389 skulls from burials of this period were examined for evidence of surgical intervention. Twenty five such cases were identified and analysed for sex, age, temporal and spatial distribution, size and number of lesions, signs of healing, technique, motivation and complications of the surgery. The study indicates that cranial surgery was a well-developed medical practice in the North Pontic region during the period under consideration. Most of the cases are concentrated in the Dnipro steppe area, suggesting the possibility of outlining another centre of cranial surgery on the map of Europe. The predominant trepanation technique used here was scraping, although alternative methods were also practised. Treatment of traumatic injuries is considered to be one of the main reasons for cranial surgery in our sample. The percentage of individuals who underwent cranial intrusions increased significantly from 1.2% in the first half to 10.4% in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC, indicating a chronological shift in the distribution of cranial surgery. This trend is believed to be related to changes in weaponry during the Middle Bronze Age. The introduction of stone battle axes and maces as common weapons led to a significant increase in the occurrence of blunt force injuries, both depressed and penetrating. Trepanation may have been employed as an effective medical treatment for such traumas.

A Sarmatian necropolis discovered in the Răut river basin (Republic of Mol¬dova), through non-invasive research

Field research with non-invasive methods completes the database of archaeological sites in the Prut-Dniester interfluve. is also the case of a new discovery made in the Răut river basin, near the locality of Cașunca (Florești district), where as a result of magnetometric prospecting of a series of tumuli a flat necropolis from the Sarmatian period was discovered. The necropolis contains 23 square ritual structures and 63 circular and oval grave pits. It is worth mentioning that such works have never been done before in the Răut river basin and the new discovery completes the database with information on the presence of Sarmatian communities in the North Pontic region.

Connections of the Yamna Culture Population of the Black Sea Region According to Anthropological Data: An Intergroup Analysis of Male Series

The objective of this paper is to examine the population history of the North Pontic Yamna groups through an analysis of phenotypic variation in cranial morphology. To investigate this issue, an intergroup analysis of male craniological samples from Eastern, Central, South-Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Southern Siberia was carried out using the multidimensional scaling method. The analysis suggests that migrations were a significant factor in the formation of the Yamna culture phenomenon in the vast steppe areas of Eurasia. This can explain the anthropological continuity of Yamna-related groups and the central position of the Volga steppe region within it. While there is a variability in anthropological characteristics, most Yamna-related series share a number of common features. The morphological variability observed in Yamna populations can be attributed to the extensive geographical distribution of the Yamna horizon and its interaction with local and neighbouring tribes in various regions. The Yamna horizon likely originated from steppe Eneolithic groups, particularly those with morphological similarities to the Repin and Serednii Stih populations. The Maikop-Novosvobodnaia groups may have also played a role in the formation of the Yamna horizon. The origin of the broad-faced dolichomesocranial craniocomplex, found in Yamna material from the North Pontic region, can be linked to the eastern Yamna groups. A different leptene hyperdolichocranial craniocomplex can be associated with the later groups of the Ural and Cis-Caucasian regions, such as the Tamar-Utkul group and possibly the Novotitorovka culture. However, it can also be assumed that the North Pontic Yamna population was influenced by Central European groups (Funnelbeaker, Globular Amphora, Corded Ware cultures) as well as the Kemi-Oba population, whose origin can also be linked to the Central European cultural circle.

A Child Burial from Kerch: Mortuary Practices and Approaches to Child Mortality in the North Pontic Region between the 4th Century BCE and the 1st/2nd Century CE

This article discusses a poorly studied child elite burial discovered in 1953 at the necropolis of Panticapaeum, situated near the modern city of Kerch, Crimea. A reassessment of previous research is urgently needed since it did not offer an analysis of Bosporan society from the perspective of childhood studies in general and local approaches to child mortality in particular. This fresh approach sheds new light on social structures and transformations within the northern Black Sea region. A broad chronological and geographical perspective is provided in order to detect changing mortuary rituals regarding deceased children in relation to shifting socio-political situations among North Pontic Greek and non-Greek societies. A survey of current social interpretations concerning the (in)visibility of children in the mortuary customs, particularly between the 4th century BCE and the 1st/2nd century CE, is followed by a detailed description of the history of research in the Panticapaeum necropolis. A comprehensive analysis of the grave goods that accompanied the deceased child is also provided. The discussed material suggests that a new form of elite self-representation, expressed through mortuary rites, appeared around the turn of the first millennium. This included a different approach to deceased children, whose ascribed status and expected, yet unfulfilled, social roles were frequently displayed by the family through the funerary ceremony.

Оговорка папы, или О соблюдении соборных правил в средневековом Крыму

Introduction. In the papal bulls concerning the establishing of the bishopric of Cherson and the metropolis of Vosporo in 1333, a specific point is made on erecting these towns from the status of locus to that of civitas and metropolis, contravening their status in the hierarchy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Methods and materials. In order to understand what had formed the legal basis for establishing the Catholic hierarchy, documents of the Constantinople Patriarchate are attracted. Analysis. The Greek archbishoprics of Cherson and Vosporo are mentioned in the lists of bishoprics of Notitiae episcopatuum and in the acts of the Constantinople Patriarchate. However, by 1333, both of the archbishoprics suffered difficulties: an archbishop of Cherson had not been mentioned in the acts since 1280, as his archbishopric dropped out of the main list of the Notitiae episcopatuum under the reign of the emperor Andronicus II Palaiologos. The metropolis of Vosporo had not been mentioned in documents since the middle of the 13th century. Thus, Pope John XXII chose the right time to substitute vacant sees by Latin bishops. The pope, however, paid much attention to observing the canonical borders of the Patriarchate of Constantinople as set by Rule 28 of the Chalcedonian Council. Results. The attention paid by the Roman pontiffs to observing council rules helps us to correct the perception of parallel church hierarchies coexisting in the Black Sea Region in the 14th – 15th centuries. The presenting of bishops with the same titles, even of different confessions, was not considered normal and was understood as a schism to be overcome. Similar game rules may be traced to the examples of other sees of the North Pontic Region, as Sugdaia and Phoulloi, Solchat and Zichia.

NEW FIND OF THE SCYTHIAN SWORD NEAR MOTRONYNSKE HILLFORT

In spring 2023 two kilometers south-west of the well-known Motronynske hillfort of Scythian Age on a flat plateau the iron Scythian sword was found out by chance on a little depth. In the Steppe and Forest-Steppe of North Pontic region swords and daggers of this type date to the second half of 6th—5th cc. BC (rather by the first half of the latter century). Near Motronynske hillfort a few finds of Scythian swords and daggers are known but swords of similar type have not occurred before.
 The site was examined by the author. It is a flat plateau with small depressions, located near the road to Hruskivka and Kamianka villages. Nearby the kurgan burial ground was located, investigated in 2018 by an expedition headed by O. D. Mohylov.
 The sword was found at a depth of 0.5 m from the modern surface, in forest loam. No cultural layer can be traced here but to the south of the site there are remains of defensive structures in the form of an earthen rampart with a moat that covers the plateau spurs from the side of Hruskivka. Near this rampart in 2019, a bronze triangular arrowhead with a spike was found, which according to A. I. Meliukova’s classification belongs to type 1, group 1, division III.
 In recent years several more swords and daggers of the 7th—5th centuries BC have been accidentally found in this area of the Kholodnyi Yar tract. This sword has a simple antenna-shaped pommel and butterfly-shaped cross-bar, i. e., according to the well-known classification of A. I. Meliukova, it belongs to the edged weapons of the II department of the 2nd type, which was widespread in the 6th — first half of the 5th century BC. The sword is 61.3 cm long, double-bladed, with a blade tapering in the last third of its length, well preserved. It weighs 650 grams. Finds of the edged weapons of infighting near the largest settlement of the Scythian Age in the Tyasmin-river-basin, presumably, are the evidence of a military collision of it’s inhabitants with the representatives of the nomadic world of Steppe.

The Construction and Functional Technology of Scythian Greaves: A Recent Find from the Elite Kurgan 6 near the Village Vodoslavka, Southern Ukraine

In the North Pontic region, bronze greaves appeared among the Scythians and noble members of the tribal world of the eastern European steppe in the middle of the fifth century BC and were used until the end of the fourth. Both the “classic” full-length Greek greaves and greaves without knee pads were in use. Surviving greaves and fragments thereof from different Scythian burials allow for analysis of the peculiarities of their construction. A distinct feature of the greaves from the burial in Barrow 6 near the village Vodoslavka, Ukraine, is a series of large openings made on the inner side of both greaves, in the area where the muscles of the calves protrude most prominently. These holes are covered (both from the inside and from the outside) with sewn-on pads made of thick leather. Similar holes can also be seen on the greaves from Kerch in eastern Crimea and were likely cut to make these greaves more suited for horse riding. The greaves from Soboleva Mogyla were additionally modified for horse riding in that the parts that covered the knees were shortened and the side parts had deep cuts (more than a half-height) on the inside of the calf muscles. Thanks to this cut, the rider’s leg (around the medial gastrocnemius in particular) fitted snugly to the horse’s side.

Anthropological Composition of the Yamna Culture Population of the North Pontic Region: Intragroup Analysis of the Male Sample

The goals of this article are systematization of craniological database, craniometric characteristics and intragroup analysis of the Yamna culture male sample from the North Pontic region. General North Pontic specimens and samples of three local groups (North-West Pontic, Southern Buh and Lower Dnipro regions) were characterized. Intragroup analysis was held in two steps: 1) using principal component method and 2) using two indexes (cranial and upperfacial). According to the results of intragroup analysis the Yamna population of this territory was heterogeneous. Two craniocomplexes can be seen: 1) relatively broad-faced dolichomesocranial and 2) leptene hyperdolichocranial. The second craniocomplex is most visible in the North-West Pontic region. Both are equally represented in materials from Southern Buh and Lower Dnipro regions. There is also a connection between physical characteristics of the individual and the posture, in which he was buried. In majority of the cases, which form relatively broad-faced dolichomesocranial group, supine position was used for burial. While for those, which form leptene hyperdolichocranial group, the position on the side is more typical. These results support and illustrate well the ideas developed by Ukrainian anthropologist S. I. Kruts about the Yamna population of the region. While the broad-faced dolichomesocranial craniocomplex has broad analogies among the populations of the Yamna cultural circle in the Lower Don and Volga-Ural regions, the narrow-faced hyperdolichocranials are not typical for the eastern Yamna territories. Apparently, the second complex determines the uniqueness of the North Pontic steppe population compared to other groups of the Yamna cultural circle. Its origins will be discussed in the next article, which will cover the issue of intergroup analysis.

Двусторонние геммы-литики из погребения № 13 кургана № 1 могильника «Богомольные пески-I»

The article examines five double-sided glass gems found as elements of a bracelet on the left wrist of a child aged 2,5–3 years in the burial no. 13 of the kurgan no. 1 of the “Bogomol’nye peski-I” group near the village of Nikol’skoe, Enotaevskiy District, Astrakhan Region. The inventory of the burial gives grounds for its dating within a broad frame of the 1st – first half of the 2nd century AD. As in the Scythian burials of the Dnieper region, glass gems in the kurgan of the “Bogomol’nye peski-I” group were found in a child’s burial. They were considered by their owners as items of jewelry and amulets, and not as a means for imprinting images. It is worth noting that the images on the sides of the same gem are rarely semantically related to each other, but rather give the impression of a rather random choice of subjects. In many cases, the motives go back to gems of the late Classical and Hellenistic periods. Given the fact that the images on the glass gems were mechanically reproduced from intaglios, there is reason to suppose that these were works of glyptics from the late Hellenistic period, which could theoretically be used for making glass gems at a later period. The uniqueness of double-sided glass gems, on the one hand, and their distribution in the North Pontic region in the 6th–4th centuries BC, on the other hand, give grounds to suggest the possibility of the origin of finds originating from the Sarmatian burials of the Lower Volga region from the workshops of the North Black Sea region, possibly of the Bosporan Kingdom.

Between Cereal Agriculture and Animal Husbandry: Millet in the Early Economy of the North Pontic Region

Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) was first domesticated in China and dispersed westward via Central Asia in the 3rd millennium BC, reaching Europe in the 2nd millennium BC. North of the Black Sea, the North Pontic steppe and forest-steppe areas are key regions for understanding the westward dispersal of millet, as evidenced by the earliest direct radiocarbon dates on European millet grains, which we present here. Examining various lines of evidence relevant to crop cultivation, animal husbandry, contacts and lifestyles, we explore the regional dynamics of the adoption of millet, broadening knowledge about past subsistence strategies related to the ‘millet farmers/consumers’ who inhabited the northern Black Sea region during the Bronze and Iron Ages. Our re-evaluation of crop evidence contributes to ongoing discussions on the mobility of prehistoric communities in the Eurasian steppe and forest-steppe—for instance, on whether millet was linked to full-time mobile pastoralists, who occasionally grew or only consumed it, or whether it was linked to sedentary farmers and cattle herders who regularly cultivated millet, among other crops. From the Bronze Age to the Late Antique, this crop is attested under different socio-cultural conditions that suggest it was adaptable to stockbreeding and the natural environment and consumed since the mid 2nd millennium BC in the northern Black Sea region.

A SARMATIAN HORSE-RIDER AT THE COURT OF THE DACIAN KINGS. THE TYPOLOGY (I).

The proposed series of papers will focus on the reinterpretation of a cheek-piece discovered in the Dacian fortress of Costești-Cetățuie during the first systematic excavations undertaken there at the beginning of the XX th c. The iron cheek-piece discovered back then presents a specificity that has not been observed before, namely what seems to be a tamga sign engraved on the exterior of the piece (Fig. 1/1). For unknown reasons, the sign was not observed during the first publication. As such, the general purpose of this effort will be to assess the inherent meaning of this sign and its implications for the typology of such horse-bits. In the first paper I will approach the typology of such cheek-pieces in the Dacian milieu and in the neighbouring western areas. In the second article of the series I will focus on the question of such cheek-pieces in the North Pontic region, as well as the presence of tamga signs on objects from the Dacian and North Pontic areas. All this will be done in order to better understand the historical context that lead to the appearance of a tamga sign on a type VIII cheek-piece in the Dacian fortress at Costești-Cetățuie.

«THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN». THE SKYTHIAN GRAVE IN THE BARROW NEAR KUSTORIVKA VILLAGE

In 2013 near Kustorivka village of Krasnokutsky district, Kharkov region the Scythian burial mound (5th—4th centuries BC.) was excavated. The inserted burial of a beheaded man has been discovered there. Fragments of horse bones, horse harness, numerous arrowheads, the spearhead and knife were unearthed in the grave. Funeral inventory dates the burial to the 2nd half or the end of 5th — the early 4th century BC.
 The grave goods allowed us to suggest that the man was a horseman and possessed a bow with arrows, javelin or lance. These assumptions have been confirmed by anthropological studies of the development of muscles relief, injuries and specific skeletal markers. The skeleton showed clear signs of a horseman’ and archer’ osteological complexes.
 The man died at the age of 20—25. The skull, first and second cervical vertebrae were absent in the undisturbed burial. The upper part of the left intervertebral condyle of the 3rd vertebra was cut off by the hit from left behind and below. These signs are evidence of decapitation. In addition, numerous cut marks made with a sharp blade were found on the anterior and lateral surfaces of the 3rd and 4th cervical vertebrae, as well as on the left femur above the knee. Thus could be the signs of the body cleaning of waste tissue for its transportation or in course of the preparation for the burial.
 Studies of the horse’s remains showed that it has deceased at the age of 10—12 years. The horse was decapitated as well by the hit directed between first and second cervical vertebra. The head was also cut in half and only one part of it was present in the burial. There were also some bones of the animal’s skeleton, which do not belong to the edible parts of the body. The severed head of the horse was located above the place where the man’s head was supposed to be, thus the horse harness was situated on the level of the human skeleton.
 Traces of the possible preparation of the human body for burial and the location of the remains of a horse over a lost human head along with other changes in the skeleton indicate a certain funeral rite, direct analogies of which have not yet been found in the North Pontic region.

Bucket-shaped pendants from the Sarmatae environment. A few notes on the origin, dating and use of these amulets in the Barbarian world

Bucket-shaped pendants were broadly diffused in various cultural environments from the area comprised between the north-east of the Black Sea and Central Europe. This study attempts, without aiming at being exhaustive, to analyse the objects of this type within the Sarmatian environment. The author examines these pendants from the Sarmatian environment compared to that of other cultural settings, within a broader context and concludes that in the Sarmatian environment, bucket-shaped pendants come mainly from either richly and poorly furnished children and women graves. The author notes that earliest specimens of such pendants are found in the north-Pontic area and originate in features that date to the 2nd – 1st century BC, which suggests that their origin, beside other pendant types, lies in the north-Pontic region. In the 1st century BC, these pendants are present with the late Scythians and the Sarmatians from the north and north-west of the Black Sea, but also in the Geto-Dacian and Germanic milieu (the Poieneşti-Lucășeuca culture). Once with the 1st century AD, the number of the bucket-shaped pendants increases significantly in the late Scythian, Sarmatian, Geto-Dacian environments but also in the cemeteries of the towns and settlements from the north-Pontic area. Still in this period, they start to be recorded in the Przeworsk culture area, as well. Subsequent to the analysis of bucket-shaped pendant finds from the Sarmatian environment, it was concluded they were not extensively used by the Sarmatians, like in the case of other pendant types. The author notes that the majority of bucket-shaped pendants from the Sarmatian environment of the north and north-west Pontic area come from graves dating to the chronological interval comprised between mid 1st century AD – early/first decades of the 2nd century AD. Furthermore, these artefacts are rare in second half of the 2nd century – first half of the 3rd century AD Sarmatian graves and are missing from the second stage of the late Sarmatian period (the second half of the 3rd century – 4th century AD). Following the analysis of the Sarmatian funerary features of the Great Hungarian Plain in which bucket-shaped pendants were discovered, it is concluded that the custom of wearing such pendants by women and children was carried to this area in the second half of the 1st century AD by the first groups of Sarmatians that settled the region. Last but not least, it was noted that in the Sarmatian environment of this geographical area these artefacts were used, to a more or less extent, on the entire duration of their inhabitancy of this area. In the end it is concluded that the massive use of bucket-shaped pendants in the 2nd – 4th century AD in various cultural environments of the area comprised between the north of the Black Sea and Central Europe evidences they became “supranational” artefacts, being produced and used by different populations from this geographical area

ON THE HISTORY OF SCYTHIAN POLE-TOPS STUDY

Metal pole-tops of the 7th—4th centuries BC is one of the most wander materials associated with the tribes of the Eastern and Central Europe of the Scythian Age. However, opinions on their function are diverse. Now the pole-tops have a rather general name reflecting the purpose of these objects only approximately. Nevertheless, the study of these artifacts allow us to distinguish three periods: the first (1850—1940s), the second (1950—1980s) and the third (from the 1990s to the present).
 The first period (1950—1980s) begins with the excavations by I. E. Zabelin of steppe aristocratic barrows. In such barrows as Krasnokutsky, Slonovskaya Bliznitsa, Chertomlyk, a lot of Scythian pole-tops have been discovered. Thanks to localization of the finds in the burials I. E. Zabelin was able to suggest the function of these objects. He believed that the pole-tops could be the decoration of carts, nomadic tents on a chariot.
 The period is associated with the works of A. S. Lappo-Danilevsky, E. Minns, I. I. Tolstoy and N. P. Kondakov, J. Hampel, P. Reinicke, L. Marton et al. The result was summed up in the research of M. I. Rostovtsev. He supports the idea of a funerary vehicle and connects the origin of the finds with Hittite and Assyrian art, Transcaucasian tombs.
 In the second period (1950—1980s) there is a noticeable intensity of research on Scythian pole-tops, systematization of artifacts and the use of new approaches to the study. The typology proposed at this time is still used in research now. Almost all finds known at the end of the 70s were systematized in the paper by E. V. Perevodchikova. Different approaches were used in order to interpret the meaning of the pole-tops: as a part of the drawbar of a chariot (V. V. Shleev), shamanic musical instruments (K. Bakai), as the embodiment of the idea of a world tree which marks the ritual space (E. V. Perevodchikova, D. S. Raevsky). V. A. Ilyinskaya considered these artifacts to be multifunctional. The study of the chemical composition of the metal by T. B. Bartseva is important, since it demonstrates the existence of several production centers and sheds light on the origin of the finds.
 In the third period (from the 1990s to the present) the issue of the functional purpose and origin of the Scythian pole-tops was clarified. The scholars consider them the indicators, marking the arrival of Scythians in North Caucasus and North Pontic region (V. I. Klochko, V. Yu. Murzin, A. Yu. Alekseev, S. A. Skory, D. S. Grechko). T. V. Ryabkova connects the origin of the spherical pole-tops with the eastern territories considering these finds to be purely nomadic. N. L. Chlenova, M. M. Pogrebova, M. Castelluccia, R. Dan lead the line of origin of Scythian pole-tops from the rattles of Iran and Transcaucasia.
 The study of the technology of making bronze finds and their designs shows that they were cast on a lost wax model or in bivalve molds. In the interpretation of the function of Scythian pole-tops in the period of the 1990s—2010s the researchers depending on the context of discovery correlate these objects from burials with carts (Yu. V. Boltryk) or wooden poles that limited the ritual space for sacrifices (A. R. Kantorovich, V. R. Erlikh). H. Parzinger and S. Hasanov associate their use with shamanism.
 Thus, the history of the study of Scythian pole-tops made it possible to highlight topical issues. These are the origin and function, improvement of typology using new methods, clarification of chronology, correlation of the distribution of finds with key events in history in Eastern and Central Europe during the Scythian Age.

THE MAIN STAGES OF THE HISTORY OF POPULATION OF THE FOREST-STEPPE OF DNIEPER LEFT-BANK AREA IN THE MID-7th — EARLY 3rd CENTURY BC

THE MAIN STAGES OF THE HISTORY OF POPULATION OF THE FOREST-STEPPE OF DNIEPER LEFT-BANK AREA IN THE MID-7th — EARLY 3rd CENTURY BC

К хронологии «кладов» конского снаряжения раннесарматского времени

In 2017, a ritual deposit was found accidentally near Malynivka village in Petrovo district of Kirovohrad region. It belongs to the category of sites known in the literature as “odd” assemblages (M. B. Shchukin), the votive or ritual “hoards”. The find consists of Roman provincial bronze vessels (Bargfeld type situla and Aylesford type pan), silver and lead bridle roundels, five pairs of iron bits and cheek-pieces, five frontlets with a hook, and ten iron socketed arrowheads. Parallels to these items are dated to the 2nd—1st centuries BC. The Aylesford pan, which was first found in the North Pontic region, specifies the date of the assemblages to the first half of the 1st century BC. The topography of the parallels makes it possible to associate this find with the Northwestern Caucasus or Kuban region and determine its cultural affiliation as Sarmatian. The date and cultural attribution of the assemblage does not exclude the connection of this and similar “odd” assemblages (Marievka, Bădragii Noi, Vesela Dolyna, Hordashivka, etc.) with the raids of the Sarmatians and Maeotians from Kuban region.

On the Iconography of the Potnia Theron in the North Pontic Region

Abstract The article discusses one of the variants of the image of the tendril goddess (Rankenfrau) with the mask of a satyr recorded in depictions on plates found in Chersonesos Taurica, in the funerary complex within the Kul-Oba burial-mound and also in a burial-mound near the village of Ivanovskaya (Fig. 1–3). Examination of the context for each of the finds and also their comparison allows the assumption that they were all used to decorate apparel – the head-dress of a priestess. The image of the goddess depicted on these plates can be traced back to the iconographic type of the Potnia Theron. The combination of images of the winged goddess and a satyr mask in a single item is probably linked with the cult of Artemis Orphia.

MEDITERRANEAN AND NORTH PONTIC GREEK IMPORTS IN THE NOMADIC BURIALS OF THE LOWER VOLGA REGION AND FOOTHILLS OF SOUTH URALS OF THE 4th — FIRST THIRD OF THE 3rd CENTURY BC

In the Archaic period, Mediterranean and Greek North Pontic imports, rather well represented in Early Scythian burials on the Lower Don, are practically unknown in the burials of the nomads in the Lower Volga and South Urals regions.
 The analysis of archaeological sources shows that in the second half of the 4th century BC imported beads and pendants made of glass, frit and amber reach the nomads of the Lower Volga and South Urals, and a little later, at the turn of the 4th and in the first third of the 3rd century BC — in addition, Greek pottery and possibly vessels made of precious metals, alabaster and onyx. Olbian bronze «borystheni» of the late 4th—3rd centuries BC also were found into the Lower Volga region.
 If for the 5th and most part of the 4th century BC. imports that entered the South Urals were mainly represented by products of the Achaemenid circle, then after the fall of the Achaemenid state and the resulting geopolitical changes in the Lower Volga region and the South Urals imports began to be distributed from (via) the North Pontic region. It is worth noting that in the burials on the Manych river and in the Lower Volga region, finds of transport amphorae were combined with similar black-glazed echinus bowls, and the find of another such bowl in the South Urals suggests that they enjoyed particular popularity among the nomads, even if they did not penetrate Sarmatia within the same batch.
 The above discussed observations rather convincingly support the hypothesis put forward by D. B. Shelov and I. B. Brashinskii. There are grounds reason to suggest that beads and pendants, as well as amphoras, black-glazed pottery and coins could have reached the nomads of the Lower Volga and South Urals precisely via the Elizavetovskoe settlement at the mouth of the Don: probably, beads and pendants — even through the Scythian settlement, on which various industrial complexes and shops existed, allegedly destroyed in the 340s BC, whereas amphoras, black-glazed pottery and coins — already through the so-called Bosporan colony, founded on the site of a settlement in the last quarter of the 4th century BC, which existed until the mid-70s of the 3rd century BC.

The Region of Caucasus and Central European-Carpathian Territory in the Final Eneolithic and the Bronze Age (a Contribution to the Transfer of Technologies and Knowledge)

This article shows that the cultures in the Middle Danube/Carpathian territory were not just peripheral cultures of the developed Aegean-West Asian cultures, but also the western periphery of the Eurasian steppe region. From this aspect, the cultural-historical development in this area was influenced and associated with the cultural-historical development in the Caucasian and Northern Pontic regions as well. This is confirmed by several artifacts of the Caucasian character in the territory of Central Europe. First of all, we can mention single-edged copper axes, whose oldest exemplars in Europe come from the North Caucasus (the Maykop and Novosvobodnaya cultures). With the arrival of the Yamnaya culture, technology of their production emerged in the Northern Balkans and Central Europe along the Danube, through the Northern Pontic region. Their oldest exemplars in this territory are the Baniabic type axes. There are also weapons or tools; and jewellery which is represented by earrings of the so-called of Transylvania type associated mainly with the Únětice, Košťany and Otomani cultures in the Carpathian-middle Danube region. Their prototypes can be found in the North Pontic region — Yamnaya culture. The remaining cultural contacts between Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Bronze Age are confirmed by the dagger of the Srubnaya type from Sklabiňa in Central Slovakia. The existence of contacts between the Caucasian region and the territory of Central Europe as late as the final Bronze Age is proved by the finds of Cimmerian character. As a pars pro toto example, a dagger of the Kabardino-Pyatigorsk type from Malý Cetín in southwest Slovakia can be mentioned.

Golden Face Covers from the North Pontic Region: Analysis of the Archaeological Material

Golden Face Covers from the North Pontic Region: Analysis of the Archaeological Material