Middle Scythian period

The retreat of the <a href="/facts/Scythians/gWMVEnJs">Scythians</a> from <a href="/facts/Ciscaucasia/GpxBJatP">Ciscaucasia</a> and the arrival of the <a href="/facts/Sauromatian/peXYHqbc">Sauromatian</a> incomers into the <a href="/facts/Pontic_Steppe/KzRVR1WW">Pontic Steppe</a> in the late 6th century BC caused significant cultural changes in <a href="/facts/Scythia/eXXF7lPd">Scythia</a>, giving rise to the Middle Scythian period or Classical Scythian period, which itself was a hybrid culture originating from a combination of a continuation of the material culture reflected in the Ciscaucasian Scythian burials with Sauromatian elements.
Among the changes in Scythia in this period was a significant increase in the number of monumental burials: it was from the Middle Scythian period that the largest number of Scythian burials in the Pontic Steppe were made, with the Scythian upper classes starting to bury their dead within the Pontic Steppe itself largely in the region of the rapids of the Borysthenēs river (possibly the country of Gerrhos mentioned by Herodotus), although some aristocratic burials were also located in the forest steppes. These burials, which included horse sacrifices, were continuations of the Ciscaucasian burial traditions. Scythian burials from this period include:

<ul><li>some significant sites in the region of the Borysthenēs river rapids, such as the Hostra Tomakivska mohyla [uk], the 1st barrow of the Zavadska Mohyla, the 5th barrow of the Novohryhorivka mohyla [uk], Baby mohyla, and Rozkopana mohyla [uk];</li>
<li>some in the Tauric Chersonese, such as the Zoloty kurhan [uk] and Kulakivsky kurhan [uk].</li></ul>

Middle Scythian period open-in-new

Middle Scythian period