TheSarmatians were a large Iranian steppe people who formed a coalition, dominated the related Scythians, and became masters of the Eurasian steppe from about 200 BCE to about 300 CE. Rustam Mudayev, a Russian farmer, recently discovered a burial mound after noticing a bronze cauldron while working on a farm northwest of the Caspian Sea. Mudayev reported the discovery to authorities, and the mound was excavated by an archaeological team from the Astrakhan State Museum, who identified it as a Sarmatian burial.
The Sarmatian burial mound, or kurgan, had been looted in antiquity. But the looters left behind three human skeletons in wooden coffins, a horse skull, a harness, weapons, gold jewelry, and a bronze cauldron.
Investigations of the remains indicate they died about 2,500 years ago. That is a little early for the Sarmatians. Their culture was believed to have coalesced by about 300 CE – two hundred years after this kurgan burial. This might help us better understand who the Sarmatians were before they became dominant and entered western historical records.
Generally thought of as fierce horse warriors, the Scythians were a multitude of Iron Age cultures who ruled the Eurasian steppe, playing a major role in Eurasian history. A new study published in Science Advances analyzes genome-wide data for 111 ancient individuals spanning the Central Asian Steppe from the first millennia BCE and CE. The results reveal new insights into the genetic events associated with the origins, development and decline of the steppe’s legendary Scythians.
Because of their interactions and conflicts with the major contemporaneous civilizations of Eurasia, the Scythians enjoy a legendary status in historiography and popular culture. The Scythians had major influences on the cultures of their powerful neighbors, spreading new technologies such as saddles and other improvements for horse riding. The ancient Greek, Roman, Persian and Chinese empires all left a multitude of sources describing, from their perspectives, the customs and practices of the feared horse warriors that came from the interior lands of Eurasia. Read more.
One of the three "Çertomlyk-Type" golden scabbard overlays for an Akinakes, a Eurasian sword-type, showing battle scenes, presumably Hoplites against Barbarians (Persians?). Eponym find from the huge kurgan of Çertomlyk, Ukraine. Whether the hilt really belonged to this scabbard is uncertain. 4th century BCE.
