Scythians and Sarmatians

The first people on the territory of our country, whose name we know, were the Cimmerians, who lived at the end of the Bronze Age. A vague mention of the Cimmerians dating back to no later than the 8th century BC. BC e., contain the Bible and the Odyssey. Information about the military campaigns of the Cimmerians is provided by cuneiform Assyro-Babylonian documents of the 8th-7th centuries. BC e. and others, later, but speaking of this time. The military activities of the Cimmerians covered a vast territory from Transcaucasia to the western part of Asia Minor. In the first half of the 7th c. BC e. the pressure of the Cimmerians shook Urartu, Assyria, Lydia and other states.

The names of three Cimmerian kings preserved in the sources allowed linguists to attribute the language of this people to the Iranian language group. The main habitat of the Cimmerians was the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region. Herodotus knew some toponyms related to the ethnonym "Cimmerians". For example, the modern Kerch Strait was then called the Cimmerian Bosporus. After a long search for the Cimmerians in the Northern Black Sea region, traces of their presence were found. Such monuments dating back to the 8th century BC. er, just a little. The prevailing point of view is that the Cimmerian culture has deep roots dating back to the late Srub period. Its range is a steppe strip from the lower reaches of the Danube and Northern Bulgaria to Volgograd.

The Cimmerians developed a large cavalry army, against which neither chariots nor heavily armed infantry could resist. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the success of the Cimmerians during their campaigns in Asia Minor. In their society, the role of military detachments and military leaders is increasing.

Cimmerian graves are typical burials of mounted warriors. Weapons are presented in them - arrows, spears, swords, horse harness (bits, cheek-pieces, harness decorations). The weapons were made of iron and bronze, the metal parts of the harness (bit and psalia) were made of bronze, and its decorations were made of bronze and bone. Glazed vessels are often found in the graves. Gold or bronze ribbons - diadems and earrings are sometimes found on the heads of the buried. On things the geometrical ornament is typical. An example is the inlet Cimmerian burial No. 5 in the ancient pit mound Vysoky Mohyla in the Zaporozhye region. In the grave pit there was a log cabin of one crown, plastered with clay from the inside and painted. In the log house, on its side, lay a crouched skeleton, on the skull of which there was a bronze ribbon rim and a gold temporal ring. At the belt lay a dagger with a horn handle, socketed bronze and bone arrows (probably from a quiver), a bronze knife, a whetstone, a bronze bit, and a leather pouch with a flint flint. In the corner of the log house, the bones of a ram were found, and on

149

Rice. 49. Inventory of the Cimmerian culture: 1 - a bit, 2 - a cheek-piece, 3-6 - arrowheads, 7 - an iron dagger, 8 - a stone stele, 9 - a vessel, 10-11 - jewelry

them - a wooden vessel with gold fittings around the edge. The other vessel was earthenware with white inlay. The log house is covered with a coast.

Ancient authors, primarily Herodotus, report that the Scythians expelled the Cimmerians from their lands. Part of the Cimmerians left, part was assimilated by the conquerors, which was facilitated by the proximity of the language. Some tribes moved north into the forest zone. It is assumed that they were the Iranian-speaking Gelons, whom Herodotus does not identify with the Scythians.

The emergence of a homogeneous Scythian culture throughout the steppe zone occurred in the 7th century. BC e. Tribes lived on the territory of Scythia, different in their origin, culture and language.

150

Rice. 50. The layout of the Iron Age cultures: 1 - Pyanobor culture, 2 - Finno-Ugric tribes, 3 - Gorodets culture, 4 - Dyakovo culture, 5 - Bosporan kingdom, 6 - culture of hatched ceramics, 7 - Zarubenets culture, 8 - Lipetsk culture , 9 - Baltic tribes, 10 - Oksyvian culture, 11 - Przeworsk culture

ku. According to a number of characteristics, they can be divided into two large groups.

The southern tribes lived in the steppes from the Lower Danube to the Don. These were Iranian-speaking Scythian tribes. One of them, who lived in the Northern Sea of ​​Azov, called himself the royal Scythians and considered all the other Scythians to be his slaves. In the west, the Scythians were

151

the neighbors of the Thracian tribes, in the east - they bordered on the Savromats, who lived beyond the Seversky Donets and the Don up to the Urals. The steppe Crimea was also Scythian.

Meots, Sinds lived in the North Caucasus and in the Kuban region, Scythian tribes roamed there in the 7th-6th centuries. to i. e. The northern forest-steppe part of Scythia was inhabited by non-Scythian tribes.

The origin of the Scythians is not entirely clear. Herodotus wrote that under the onslaught of the Massagetae they crossed the Arak River and came to the land of the Cimmerians. Since massagets are mentioned in this message, Scythologists believe that it is not about the Caucasian Araks, but about the Amu Darya or the Volga. For 28 years, the Scythians dominated Asia Minor, and the reason for this campaign, contrary to the words of Herodotus, is considered not the persecution of the Cimmerians, but a military alliance with Assarhaddon. Only after being defeated by the Medes, the Scythians at the beginning of the 7th century. BC e. were forced to return to the Northern Black Sea region.

The story of Herodotus that the Scythians came from Asia does not contradict the currently widespread hypothesis, which considers the tribes of the Srubnaya culture, the initial territory of which lay beyond the Volga, to be the ancestors of the Scythians. According to linguists, the log houses were Iranian-speaking. To substantiate this opinion, they refer to the toponymy of the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Eastern Europe, where a number of Iranian toponyms have been preserved. They cannot be considered abandoned by the Scythians, although they were Iranian-speaking, but lived only in the steppes. The tribes of the Srubnaya culture settled more widely. The second wave of expansion of the territory of the tribes of the Srubna culture formed the substratum population of the steppe zone, on which the alien Scythians superimposed.

Herodotus wrote that the Scythians had neither cities nor fortified settlements, but took their houses with them. This, like most other ethnographic descriptions of Herodotus, is confirmed archaeologically. The wagon was the mobile home of the Scythians, and during the excavations a four-wheeled model was found. Only at the very end of the 5th c. BC e. Fortified settlements appear, among which stands out for its size (1200 hectares) Kamenskoe settlement, located in the steppe Scythia on the lower Dnieper near modern Nikopol. It developed rapidly and

4th century BC e. became an important craft and trade center. Its researchers suggest that there was the capital of Scythia. On the territory of the ancient settlement, the remains of metallurgical production are found everywhere: crucibles, lyachki, the remains of furnaces. This metallurgical center of steppe Scythia supplied a significant part of it with iron products. The Scythians have already fully mastered the production of ferrous metal. Other types of industries are also represented there: bone carving, pottery, weaving, but not all of them have reached the level of craft.

Some household crafts have developed into communal crafts that are compatible with the tribal system. Not only in the Kamensky settlement, but also in the forest-steppe settlements of the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. about

152

traced the processing of iron and bronze. Iron was obtained by raw-blowing, but there were already special furnaces for carburizing.

The set of blacksmith tools was only slightly inferior to the medieval one. There were hammers and hammers, tongs and spring tongs, chisels, punches, files. Saws were rare.

Bronze casting was also developed, and the scope of its application gradually changed: bronze was no longer used for manufacturing

Rice. 51. Things of the Scythians: 1 - a plow, 2 - a sickle, 3 - an axe, 4 - a saw, 5 - a chisel, 6 - a chisel, 7 - a punch for embossing shell scales, 8 - a knife with a bone handle, 9 - a whorl, 10 - 11 - needles, 12 - copper cauldron, 13 - cart model

153

for the production of weapons (with the exception of arrowheads), and for the production of jewelry and casting of boilers. There was no non-ferrous metal in Scythia, and it came there from various external sources.

There are two lines of fortifications on the Kamensky settlement: external and internal. Archaeologists call the inner part the acropolis, by analogy with the corresponding division of Greek cities. On the acropolis traced the remains of stone dwellings of the Scythian nobility. Ordinary dwellings were mainly ground houses of pillar construction, but there are also semi-dugouts.

Kamenskoye settlement was not the only Scythian city. The centers of the urban type were also the Elizavetovskoye settlement, located in the Don delta, and the settlement near the Belozersky estuary near Kherson. They existed in the IV-III centuries. BC e.

The relatively late emergence of settlements among the Scythians is primarily due to the nomadic cattle breeding that dominated their economy. Huge herds required frequent change of pastures, so the Scythian camps were short. The herds were dominated by horses and sheep, there were also cows. In the Scythian burial mounds, there are individual bones of a horse - the remains of parting food. The Scythians did not keep pigs poorly adapted to migrations. The Scythians ate mainly horse meat, drank mare and sheep's milk. Their domestic crafts are also associated with cattle breeding: processing of leather, furs, bones, as well as processing of wood, from which many household items of nomads were made, primarily carts. The Scythians were excellent riders, and therefore paid great attention to the improvement of horse harness. Its forms changed rapidly, which facilitates archaeological dating. So, in the archaic period, the bits were bronze, and the cheek-pieces were fastened with the help of three holes in them. Later, the bits become iron, and cheek-pieces - two-hole. The saddle was primitive. There were no stirrups yet.

In addition to the royal Scythians, Herodotus names a number of Scythian steppe tribes, among which are the Scythian plowmen and Scythian farmers. It has recently been shown that the term by which Herodotus referred to the Scythian farmers has the opposite meaning, and it must be understood as a tribe of Scythians who "worship cattle." Thus, these were also nomadic pastoralists who lived in the steppe zone. As for the Scythian plowmen, monuments of a settled agricultural population have not yet been found in the steppe. Burials and settlements between the Southern Bug and the Dniester are associated with it. Their culture is rooted in the local pre-Scythian population and differs from the Scythian in terms of economy, the nature of settlements, dwellings, ceramics, features of the burial rite, etc. Therefore, one can think that they were not Scythians, but were a population subordinate to the Scythian kings.

154

The heyday of the Scythian culture in the steppes of the Black Sea falls on the 4th century. BC e., and it was studied mainly from mounds, which is understandable in the nomadic lifestyle of the Scythians. Under the mounds there are grave pits, often catacombs, in which the dead were laid out stretched out, on their backs. When buried, they find various household items, weapons, religious objects, jewelry. Tools of labor in the steppe mounds are rare. Of interest are large copper cauldrons on a high thin leg, in which the Scythians cooked meat. They also find a variety of wands and tops. The size of the burial structures, the funeral rite, the set and wealth of things laid with the deceased depended on the wealth and nobility of the buried. The noble deceased was accompanied to the afterlife by the murdered slaves and servants. Special chambers were arranged in the graves for things and dead horses. Sometimes even wagons were placed in the graves.

The ritual of the burial of the Scythian kings, described in detail by Herodotus, was especially magnificent. When the king died, his body was taken for a relatively long time to different Scythian tribes, and the Scythians had to express their sadness in every possible way over the death of the lord. Then the body of the king was brought to Gerra, which archaeologists place in the area of ​​​​the Dnieper rapids, they put the king in a grave pit along with his murdered wife, murdered servants, horses, and poured a huge mound over him, around which they placed "guards" - the dead soldiers on the dead, horses .

The most famous Scythian royal burial mounds are located in the area of ​​the Dnieper rapids. They find golden vessels, artistic products made of gold, expensive weapons. Most of these mounds were robbed in antiquity, and Scythologists believe that this was done by noble Scythians - it was more difficult to hide the sudden enrichment of ordinary community members.

The oldest Scythian burial mounds date back to the 6th century BC. BC e. They contain Assyrian and Urartian things brought from campaigns in Asia Minor. The archaic ones include the Melgunov barrow near Kirovograd. In it was found an iron sword in a golden scabbard, on which are depicted winged lions shooting from bows, and winged bulls with human faces. These images are typical of Assyrian art. Here, typical Assyrian rosettes are depicted on the scabbard. The inventory of this barrow also contains other artistic precious things.

From the VI-V centuries. BC e. things from Scythian mounds reflect ties with the Greeks. There is no doubt that some things, moreover, the most beautiful, were made by the Greeks. The most famous burial mounds date back to the 4th century BC. However, most of the ordinary burials also belong to the same century: it was the heyday of the Scythian culture in the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region.

Kurgan Chertomlyk is located near Nikopol. The height of its earthen embankment with a stone plinth is 20 m. It hid a deep shaft with four chambers at the corners. Through one of these cameras

155

Rice. 52. Things from the royal Scythian barrows: 1 - a golden comb from the Solokha barrow, 2 - a silver vase from the Chertomlyk barrow, 3 - a golden earring from the Kul-Oba barrow

156

Rice. 53. Golden overlay for gorit (bow case) from the Chertomlyk mound

there was a passage to the burial of the king, robbed by the Scythians, but the gold lining of the bow case lying in the cache, which depicts scenes from the life of Achilles, slipped away from the robbers. Three more such linings were found - in a mound near the village of Ilintsy, near Melitopol and near Rostov-on-Don. All four copies were made on the same matrix (a shape with a deepened or convex ornament, with which a pattern was squeezed out on a metal plate), which suggests their North Black Sea origin. The burial of the king's concubine was not robbed. Her skeleton with gold decorations lay on the remains of a wooden hearse; a large silver basin was found nearby, next to which stood a wonderful silver vase about 1 m high. It was a vessel for wine and was equipped below with taps in the form of lion and horse heads. Plants and birds are depicted on the body of the vase, and Scythians taming horses are depicted above. All stages of taming are represented: the horse is caught, circled and, finally, bridled. The Scythians are bearded, in caps and caftans, belted, in long trousers. The images are made in the traditions of Greek art.

In the next chamber there was a burial of a "squire", with him there were expensive weapons and gold jewelry. At the entrance to one of the cells lay the skeleton of another servant. In total, 6 bones of servants and 11 bones of horses were found here.

The mound Tolstoy Grave was located 10 km from the mound Chertomlyk on the outskirts of the city of Ordzhonikidze, Dnepropetrovsk region. The barrow contained the richest burial with many gold items, despite the fact that it was also robbed in ancient times.

157

ness. The most noteworthy is a sword in a golden sheath and a pectoral (neck-pectoral decoration: in Latin pectoralis - chest). The scabbard depicts a cockfight, a griffin tearing apart a deer, a horse attacked by a lion and a griffin, a leopard attacking a deer, and a duel between a leopard and a lion. The picture is full of dynamics, the images are high-definition down to the smallest details. Researchers note the stylistic closeness of this drawing and drawings on some things from Chertomlyk, which seem to be made by one hand.

The most remarkable of all currently known works of Greek jewelry art is the pectoral discovered in the mound Tolstaya Mogila. It is massive, its weight is more than one kilogram, its diameter is 30 cm. It has three belts of images, separated by golden cords. In the upper (inner) belt - scenes of Scythian life. In the center, two naked men are sewing a fur garment, stretching it out by the sleeves. On the sides of them -

Rice. 54. Pectoral from Tolstoy Mogila

158

Rice. 55. Detail of a pectoral from Tolstoy Mogila

a horse with a foal and a cow with a calf, and flying birds along the edges of the composition. Each figure was cast separately, and then soldered between golden strands.

The middle tier is represented by a floral ornament made on a solid plate.

The bottom tier is filled with animal fighting. The figures decrease as they move away from the center of the composition. In terms of artistic performance and the number of images, the pectoral has no equal.

A man, a woman and a child, as well as servants and horses, are buried in the Tolstoy Grave. Twice as many servants were sacrificed here than during the burial in the Chertomlyk burial mound.

In the Solokha barrow, a magnificent golden comb was found with a two-sided image of a battle between an equestrian warrior and two Scythian foot soldiers. In terms of dynamism, balance of composition and technique of execution, the image is unique.

In the Kul-Oba mound on the outskirts of Panticapaeum (now Kerch), in a stone crypt with a stepped vault, there was a burial of a noble Scythian, with whom his wife and servant were buried. With the warrior lay an iron sword in a golden scabbard with images of animals, lining on a bow case, a golden diadem. On the head of the buried was a felt cap, decorated with gold plaques, one of which depicts two Scythians drinking from the same cup - a rite of twinning described by Herodotus.

At the female skeleton there were golden earrings of the finest workmanship, a golden hryvnia (neck band) with ends in the form of lying lions, two golden bracelets, and at the feet there was a small vessel made of electrified

159

ra (an alloy of gold and silver). It depicts seven Scythian warriors of the same appearance as on the vase from Chertomlyk. The manner of depiction is approximately the same, but here the Scythians are engaged in other everyday activities. One Scythian bandages another, obviously wounded leg; the third Scythian climbed into the mouth of the fourth with his fingers and gropes for what is probably a bad tooth (the patient has suffering written on his face, he grabbed his comrade's hand with his hand). Next, the talking Scythians are depicted and, finally, the Scythian, pulling the string of the bow. All these images are brilliant

Rice. 56. Jewelry from the Kul-Oba mound: 1 a - an electric vessel, 1b - images on this vessel, 2 - the ends of a golden hryvnia, 3 - a plaque depicting fraternal Scythians, 4 - an image of a deer

160

refurbished and expressive. Some archaeologists suggested that the Kulob vessel depicted scenes from the myth of Targitai (Hercules), who offered his sons various trials to determine which of them would become the ancestor and leader of the Scythians. Cult representations are undoubtedly reflected in the actual Scythian art and in the things they ordered from the Greeks.

Scythian art is known mainly from objects from burials. It is characterized by images of animals in certain poses, and much attention is paid to a number of details - eyes, paws, claws, horns, ears. Ungulates (deer, goat) were depicted with bent legs, predators of cat breeds - curled up in a ring. Strong or fast animals are represented, which corresponds to the desire of the Scythians - to overtake, to strike, to be always ready. It is noted that some images are associated with certain Scythian deities. The figures of these animals, as it were, protected their owners from trouble. But the style was not only sacred, but also decorative. The claws, tails and shoulder blades of predators were often shaped like the head of a bird of prey; sometimes full images of animals were placed on the shoulder blades. This artistic style was called the animal style in archeology.

A characteristically stylized image of a deer: branched horns are thrown over the back, the muzzle is extended forward, the legs are tucked in. This position of the legs of the animal caused different judgments. Some believe that the deer is depicted lying down. Others think that he is frozen in a flying gallop. The animal style is known over a vast territory: in the Kuban, in Central Asia, in Siberia, and everywhere it has its own local characteristics.

The Scythians, as Herodotus describes, worshiped a sword called akinak. They plunged him into a pile of brushwood, performed ritual actions near him and made sacrifices to him. Akinak is well known to us: iron, short, piercing.

Scythian arrows are socketed, made of bronze, which finally won its place in the manufacture of arrows. The oldest arrows are leaf-shaped, often with a spike on the sleeve. Classic ones resemble trihedral pyramids. Another, even more common type - similar pyramids, but with ribs protruding along the edges of the pyramids - blades, according to which these arrows are called three-bladed. Arrows were made in huge quantities. Casting molds for them were found in different places in Scythia, which indicates their local production. The Scythians were excellent archers, both on horseback and on foot.

Pottery was made without the help of a potter's wheel, although in the Greek colonies neighboring the Scythians, the wheel was widely used. Vessels are flat-bottomed, varied in shape.

If we consider the Scythian culture in the aggregate of all its elements, then it developed and existed only in the Northern Black Sea region. This set was not in the log cabin

161

Rice. 57. Scythian weapons: 1-3 - iron swords, 4-6 - iron spears, 7-10 - bronze arrows, 11 - iron helmet

culture, or in any other community. But some of its elements can be found in both local and Western Asian cultures.

The question of the time of the emergence of the Scythian statehood has not yet been resolved. Bearing in mind the Asiatic campaigns of the Scythians, it can be argued that already at that time they had a military democracy - the dawn of statehood. Therefore, some archaeologists attribute the emergence of the Scythian state to the VI century. BC e. Others believe that the Scythian tribes were united only by Atey, who, by the way, also began minting coins, which is an undoubted sign of the existence of statehood. This happened in the 4th century. BC e.

The culture of the forest-steppe tribes has significant differences from the Scythian, there are few matching signs. The forms of settlements and dwellings, burial structures and rituals are different, ceramics are different. These differences draw a sharp line between the Scythian and non-Scythian cultures. However, things of the Scythian culture are also common here - weapons, harness, tops, animal style. The Scythian triad (weapons, harness, animal style) creates an aberration in ideas about the area of ​​Scythian culture.

162

In written sources, the tribes of the forest-steppe act as independent, not subject to the Scythians. They developed property inequality; in the graves of the nobility, warriors and ordinary community members there are weapons, wands and finials - symbols of power. Horse harness is common, a lot of jewelry and imported things. Undoubtedly, the deep decomposition of the patriarchal clan system and the formation of the rudiments of statehood. Here, in parallel and synchronously, there was a process similar to the one that swept the Scythian society.

In the forest-steppe there were many well-fortified settlements, usually having earthen ramparts, sometimes even stone walls. The settlements are large, their area reaches 30 hectares, and some fortifications cover a gigantic area. For example, the Belskoe settlement on the Vorskla (above Poltava) occupies 4 thousand hectares, and the total length of its ramparts is almost 34 km. The location of the settlements gives reason to conclude that they protected the forest-steppe from the side of the steppe.

Both dugouts and ground houses with clay ovens or open hearths served as dwellings in such settlements. Outbuildings were located nearby: barns, grain pits, cellars, barns, workshops, etc. The sanctuaries with clay altars, sometimes covered with geometric ornaments, are interesting. Clay figurines of people and animals, images of bread cakes and miniature vessels are found close to them.

The forest-steppe tribes buried the dead in mounds, which sometimes form large cemeteries with several hundred mounds each.

Rice. 58. Pottery of the Scythians

163

The dead lie in pits covered with logs. There are corpses and cremations.

Ancient agricultural traditions existed in the forest-steppe. It remained the main agricultural territory in the Scythian time. Here, even in the Bronze Age, the earth was cultivated with a ral, as evidenced by the discovery of such a tool, dated by the radiocarbon method around 1380 BC. e. A clay model of a ral, which served a cult purpose, was also found at the Belsk settlement. In the Scythian time, iron nares were already known, although they were rarely used. When using ordinary rals, it is assumed that the land was worked with a cross-shaped plowing, and moreover, several times. Sometimes it was additionally loosened with horn, bone or iron hoes. The main crop was wheat, to a lesser extent - rye, millet and barley, there are buckwheat and oats, legumes, flax and hemp.

The grain economy was developed, and there was enough grain not only to meet the needs of local tribes, but also for export, which Herodotus wrote about, reporting on the so-called Scythian plowmen. The great importance of agriculture emphasizes the development of agricultural cults.

Shepherding also played a significant role. Cattle were raised, not only for meat, milk and skins, but also as draft animals. Sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, geese, ducks were also bred.

There were various household crafts: dressing of skins, spinning and weaving, processing of bone, horn and wood, etc. Clay vessels were still made without the help of a potter's wheel, but special pottery kilns were already used for their firing, one of which was found in the Belsky settlement.

Some home crafts have developed into crafts that are compatible with the tribal system. There are few such crafts, primarily metalworking. In forest-steppe settlements VII-

6th century BC e. traces of iron and bronze processing were found. Iron was obtained by the raw-blowing method, but there were already special furnaces for carburizing iron products. One of these forges was found at the Lyubotinsky settlement. There is no doubt that the use of various methods of forging technology, which gives the product the necessary properties for it, was deliberate.

In the II century. BC e. The Scythians were forced out by the Sarmatians to the Crimea. On the Western coast of the Northern Black Sea region, the Scythians retained only a small territory, including the Lower Dnieper to Nikopol. In the III century. BC e. they founded a city in the Crimea, which archaeologists now call Naples-on-Salgir. It became the new Scythian capital. Naples is located on the outskirts of Simferopol. The excavations revealed a powerful defensive wall made of large stones and a gate protected by two towers. A number of houses were found within the fortifications: large public and private buildings, often built along the Elli-

164

Rice. 59. Sarmatian things: 1-2 - swords, 3 - dagger, 4 - arrow, 5 - remains of arrow shafts, 6 - remains of a bow with bone lining, 7 - buckle, 8 - fibula, 9 - bronze cauldron, 10 - hook for extraction of meat from the boiler, 11 - incense burner, 12-15 - ceramics

165

nistic samples. Grain pits are usually found not only in the courtyards of houses, but also on the streets, and even in the squares of the city. It is believed that there was a public granary in the square and at the gate to supply the troops.

At the outer facade of the fortress wall, a crypt was found - the mausoleum of the Scythian nobility. There, in a stone tomb, the king was first buried, and around, in wooden sarcophagi, another 71 people were buried. Four horse skeletons were also found here. In the graves, gold and silver items and weapons are found in abundance.

In addition to this wall-mounted crypt-mausoleum, crypts carved into the rock were found. All of them, apparently, contained gold things and were robbed in antiquity. The painting preserved inside the crypts is interesting. One of them depicts a carpet with a pattern resembling a chessboard, as well as a bearded Scythian in a high hat and a wide-brimmed caftan with folding sleeves; Scythian plays the lyre. In the same crypt, on one of the walls, a hunting scene is painted: an equestrian Scythian with red and black dogs poisoning a wild boar.

In the economy of the Crimean Scythians, cattle breeding was combined with agriculture. Grains of wheat, barley and rye were found in pits near the houses. Animal bones speak of cattle breeding, especially horse breeding. At this time, the potter's wheel appears, apparently, the pottery craft begins to separate.

During the Crimean period of the life of the Scythians, their economic and cultural development continued.

The eastern neighbors of the Scythians were the Sauromat tribes (VII-IV centuries BC), who lived in the Volga-Ural steppes. Herodotus called them female-ruled, which is also evidenced by archaeological evidence: the graves of wealthy women are accompanied by weapons, horse equipment and priestly attributes (stone altars). Often in mounds, the central burial is a woman's. Of course, it was mostly men who fought, but the armament of women can be traced right up to the emergence of a class society. By the 2nd century BC e. these surviving phenomena disappear. The tribal system of the Sauromatians was stronger than that of the Scythians, but undoubtedly was at the stage of decomposition, as evidenced by the strong property differentiation traced through the barrows.

The Savromats buried their dead in grave pits covered with brushwood or logs, and a mound was poured on top. The grave goods are close to those of the Scythians, they include akanaks, arrows, bits, cheek-pieces, bronze mirrors, things decorated in the animal style, and rough pottery made without the help of a potter's wheel. The bones of sacrificial animals are common - lo-

166

Rice. 60. Golden diadem from the Sarmatian burial mound Khokhlach

children, sheep and cows. The basis of the economy was nomadic cattle breeding.

In the IV-III centuries. BC e. the Savromats formed new tribal unions, which also included tribes related to the Savromats who came from the east. These new formations entered the historical arena under the name of the Sarmatians (III century BC - IV century AD). Starting from the IV century. BC. separate groups of Sarmatians appear in the Right-bank Podolia, which was due to the weakening of Scythia after the defeat in the war with Philip of Macedon. By the 2nd century BC e. the bulk of the Sarmatians crossed the Don and invaded Scythia, slowly but steadily occupying the Scythian camps. At the same time, most of Scythia was turned into a desert, the population was completely exterminated. Where the Scythians survived, they mixed with the Sarmatians. Thus, the Sarmatians replaced the Scythians, and their territory extended from the Tobol River to the Danube.

Written sources mention the names of only a few Sarmatian tribes (or unions of tribes, according to a number of historians). These unions were headed by the tribes of Alans, Roxalans, Siraks, etc.

Archaeologically, the Sarmatians have been studied mainly from burials, which is typical for a nomadic people. Under mound mounds, usually grave pits and pits of the side-catacomb type are opened, sometimes pits with "shoulders", i.e., ledges on which the kurgan rested. The burials of the Sarmatian kings are not much inferior to those of the Scythians in terms of wealth. In the burial mound Khokhlach (I-II centuries AD) in the city of Novocherkassk, a burial of a woman, a royal wife or concubine, was discovered. With her were imported vessels, silver objects, artistic bronze and gold

167

products - necklace, cups, bottles, bracelets. Many of them are ornamented in animal style. A golden diadem deserves special mention, along the upper edge of which goats, deer, trees are depicted, and in the center - a Greek-made image of a female head made of chalcedony. The richness of the burial is also evidenced by the many gold plaques that were once sewn onto clothes.

The property stratification and a number of other features allow us to conclude that the Sarmatians were in the process of the emergence of state power.

Sarmatian pottery was still made without the help of a potter's wheel, although circular antique pottery is not uncommon in burial mounds; the potter's wheel was not borrowed. Sedentary forest-steppe neighbors worked for the Sarmatian tribes, who made blacksmith, bronze casting, leather and wooden things.

Bronze cauldrons on a high leg are also characteristic of the Sarmatians.

The weapons of the Sarmatians differed from the Scythian. Their swords are long, adapted for cutting from a horse. The Sarmatians fought more often on horseback, although they had infantry, both light and heavily armed. The hilts of Sarmatian swords are often not preserved, which is why there are interesting cases when traces of a belt wrapping are found on the stalks for the hilts. Sarmatian daggers were tied with straps to the right leg.

Arrows, like those of the Scythians, are three-bladed, but larger and, almost from the beginning of the Sarmatian era, iron and stalked. It was easier to forge the petiole than the sleeve.

The Sarmatians used metal armor, it was plate or chain mail. Chain mail, that is, shirts made of iron rings, did not hamper the movements of the soldiers and were comfortable in battle. Chain mail could come to the Sarmatians from the Roman troops or through Asia Minor. (Chain armor appeared as early as the 8th century BC in Assyria.) There are well-known cases of the Sarmatians using weapons that came to them through the Black Sea cities. Thus, a rich set of weapons was found in the mound near the village of Vozdvizhenskaya: iron chain mail, armor, arrows, a sword with a ring-shaped pommel, horse bits and a Roman pilum spear (see below). A golden buckle inlaid with carnelian, iron buckles with the image of a coiled animal, imported vessels, etc. were also found there. For the Sarmatian culture from the end of the 2nd century. BC e. the polychrome style is characteristic, according to which clothes, shoes, metal products with the image of animals were decorated with colored beads, stone inserts, colored enamel. By the 4th century this style reaches a special splendor, but its artistry falls. Images of animals are replaced by geometric ornaments.

In the Sarmatian mounds of the Volga, Kuban and Black Sea regions, there are Roman products - brooches, artistic bronze utensils, red-glazed ceramics.

168

The population of the Greek cities of the Northern Black Sea region is strongly Sarmatized. The Bosporan kingdom turned into a Greco-Sarmatian state. In Tanais on the Lower Don, the Sarmatians made up the bulk of the population. Sarmatian agricultural settlements existed in the vicinity of this city and in the Kuban region. In the painted panticapaeum crypts there are images of Sarmatians. A noble Sarmatian wore a short shirt, a belt, soft boots and a cloak.

Around the 2nd century n. e. the name of the Sarmatians is supplanted by the name of one of the Sarmatian tribes - the Alans.

In the IV century. n. e. The Sarmatians were defeated by the Huns. Part of the Sarmatians, together with the Goths and Huns, participated in the great migration of peoples, part mixed with other peoples, especially with the Turkic-speaking ones. The Alanian language formed the basis of the Ossetian language.

Prepared by edition:

Avdusin D. A.
Fundamentals of archeology: Proc. for universities, according to special "Story". - M.: Higher. school, 1989. - 335 p.: ill.
ISBN 5-06-000015-X
© Publishing House "Higher School", 1989