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Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First...
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Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE

A special issue of Arts (ISSN 2076-0752).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (21 November 2023) | Viewed by 33476

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Caspar Meyer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Bard Graduate Center, New York, NY 10024, USA
Interests: archaeology of Eurasia and ancient Greece; nomadic material culture; ancient craft and technology; cross-cultural interaction and exchange

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The cultures and societies of ancient Eurasia are rarely given prominence in their own right in academic literature. All too often, the region is treated as a ‘crossroads’ of goods and ideas originating in the sedentary states—Chinese, Persian or Greek—to the south of the steppe. In many respects, the marginalization of Eurasia goes back to literary traditions penned by sedentary outsiders who described the diverse inhabitants of the steppe as stereotyped barbarian nomads, lacking the major achievements of city-based civilization. They were depicted as wagon dwellers incapable of building permanent structures, as eaters of flesh and milk unacquainted with the fruits of agriculture, as horse-borne archers who preyed on their neighbors as an economic strategy and way of life.

In this Special Issue, we aim to reevaluate the cultural dynamics of Eurasia in antiquity by exploring ritual and everyday practices beyond the purview of literary representation. To this end, we invite papers that are structured around the distinctive archaeological and artistic legacies of the grassland steppe in the first millennium BCE, extending from the permafrost tombs of the Altai mountains to the kurgans and hillfort sites of the northern Black Sea region. We are especially interested in discussions of primary materials and methodological frameworks that highlight the diverse forms of organization in the region, calling on evidence of cross-cultural interaction and the generative role of objects and non-human animals in social relations.

To propose an article for publication, please contact the Guest Editor with a provisional title and short abstract. Full manuscripts should be up to 8000 words long.

Prof. Dr. Caspar Meyer
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Arts is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Eurasian nomads
  • material culture
  • Scythians
  • Saka
  • Sarmatians
  • Northern Black Sea region
  • South Siberia

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Published Papers (14 papers)

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Editorial

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8 pages, 221 KiB  
Editorial
Nomadic Material Culture: Eurasian Archeology beyond Textual Traditions
by Caspar Meyer
Arts 2024, 13(4), 131; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13040131 - 2 Aug 2024
Viewed by 836
Abstract
The term nomadic material culture refers to the tools, equipment, and other tangible items associated with communities that are characterized by a high degree of residential mobility [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

21 pages, 16051 KiB  
Article
Royal Tamga Signs and Their Significance for the Epigraphic Culture of the Bosporan Kingdom
by Michał Halamus
Arts 2024, 13(3), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13030095 - 27 May 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1254
Abstract
This article examines the phenomenon of the so-called royal tamga signs issued on stone stelae in the Bosporan Kingdom in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. Tamgas were symbols commonly used by Eurasian nomads throughout the first millennium BCE. The appearance of tamgas [...] Read more.
This article examines the phenomenon of the so-called royal tamga signs issued on stone stelae in the Bosporan Kingdom in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. Tamgas were symbols commonly used by Eurasian nomads throughout the first millennium BCE. The appearance of tamgas in the northern shores of the Black Sea in the 2nd/1st BCE, followed by their adoption into the Greek epigraphic culture of the kingdom, represents an intriguing example of symbolic integration and another step in the formation of Bosporan culture. Research on cultural interactions between the inhabitants of the Bosporus has rarely focused on epigraphic material in its own right. Analyzing a small group of public stone slabs that feature tamgas, this article contributes to existing studies on numerous private funerary reliefs. Furthermore, the current work aims to incorporate several examples of stelae with royal tamga signs into the growing interest in syncretism, which is occurring in other epigraphic cultures of the Greco-Roman world. The case of the Bosporan Kingdom shows that such processes can also occur in places where no literate culture had previously been firmly established. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE)
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25 pages, 13923 KiB  
Article
The Spacetimes of the Scythian Dead: Rethinking Burial Mounds, Visibility, and Social Action in the Eurasian Iron Age and Beyond
by James A. Johnson
Arts 2024, 13(3), 87; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13030087 - 14 May 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1720
Abstract
The Eurasian Iron Age Scythians, in all their regional iterations, are known for their lavish burials found in various kinds of tumuli. These tumuli, of varying sizes, are located throughout the Eurasian steppe. Based, at least partially, on the amounts and types of [...] Read more.
The Eurasian Iron Age Scythians, in all their regional iterations, are known for their lavish burials found in various kinds of tumuli. These tumuli, of varying sizes, are located throughout the Eurasian steppe. Based, at least partially, on the amounts and types of grave goods found within these mounds, the Scythians are usually modeled as militant, patriarchal mobile pastoralists, with rigid social structures. Yet, such interpretations are also due to accounts of Scythian lifeways provided by “classical” societies from the Greeks to the Persians, who saw the Scythians largely as barbarians, much like their neighbors to the north of the Greeks, the “Celts”. Despite recent interrogations of the barbarian trope, and the opportunity to dissect the classic formula of large mounds = elevated status, I contend that many studies on Scythian mortuary practices remain monolithic and under-theorized, especially by Western scholars. Drawing upon different conceptual and methodological frameworks, I present alternative, multi-scalar understandings of Scythian mortuary landscapes. Utilizing a spacetime-oriented, dialogical approach supplemented with geographic information systems, I interrogate how and why various meanings and experiences may have intersected in these protean Scythian landscapes of the dead, rather than reducing them to monolithic symbolic proxies of ideological status. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE)
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16 pages, 7947 KiB  
Article
Scythian Jewelry Meshes and the Problem of Their Interpretation
by Oksana Lifantii
Arts 2024, 13(3), 85; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13030085 - 9 May 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1501
Abstract
This article explores the phenomenon of a specific type of personal adornment worn by members of the Scythian elite in the North Black Sea region in the second half of the 5th century and throughout the 4th century BCE. The discussion juxtaposes the [...] Read more.
This article explores the phenomenon of a specific type of personal adornment worn by members of the Scythian elite in the North Black Sea region in the second half of the 5th century and throughout the 4th century BCE. The discussion juxtaposes the records from 19th-century and early 20th-century excavations with contextual analyses of very recent discoveries from Ukraine, which shed significant new light on the appearance, production, and meaning of Scythian jewelry. The reconstruction of the shape of the jewelry type in question is greatly complicated by two factors: the lack of relevant depictions in the contemporary corpus of Scythian and Greco-Scythian figure scenes and misleading scholarly references to supposed analogies in a Roman-era mosaic, which became the chief reason for the misinterpretations of the ornament’s appearance. Composed of numerous gold or gilded silver tubes; beads; pendants; and, sometimes, “buttons,” this jewelry type is reconstructed in two gender-specific variants in this article: one mesh-like and the other with a cross-chest form. For over a hundred years, scholars have considered only the mesh variant to be the correct reconstruction. As a result, many costume reconstructions of this jewelry form in specialist research and museum displays alike are still proposed without a sufficient evidentiary base. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE)
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27 pages, 17194 KiB  
Article
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
by Joanna Porucznik and Evgenia Velychko
Arts 2024, 13(2), 71; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13020071 - 10 Apr 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1495
Abstract
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 [...] Read more.
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. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE)
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44 pages, 40410 KiB  
Article
Violent Raiding, Systematic Slaving, and Sweeping Depopulation? Re-Evaluating the Scythian Impact on Central Europe through the Lens of the Witaszkowo/Vettersfelde Hoard
by Louis D. Nebelsick
Arts 2024, 13(2), 57; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13020057 - 14 Mar 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2509
Abstract
In 1882, the lavishly decorated golden regalia of a steppe nomad warrior prince, which was crafted in the late sixth century BCE in a “bilingual” Scythian–Milesian workshop on the Black Sea coast, was found on the edge of a Lusatian swamp 120 km [...] Read more.
In 1882, the lavishly decorated golden regalia of a steppe nomad warrior prince, which was crafted in the late sixth century BCE in a “bilingual” Scythian–Milesian workshop on the Black Sea coast, was found on the edge of a Lusatian swamp 120 km southeast of Berlin. Its discovery and the ongoing findings of steppe nomad armaments—arrows, battle axes, and swords—in central Europe have led to a lively debate about the nature of Scythian–Indigenous interaction in the Early Iron Age, ranging from benign visions of long-term acculturation to violent scenarios of short-term raiding. In this article, I argue that an analysis of the iconography of the Witaszkowo hoard and new information from excavations at its find spot make it likely that it was sent as a diplomatic gift by Scythian elites to an indigenous leader and deposited by the local community as a votive hoard. An affirmation of the compact chronological range of Scythian artefacts found in the west, growing evidence for the destruction of indigenous strongholds by horse-borne archers, and concurrent evidence for the drastic depopulation of vast landscapes in the second half of the sixth century BCE allow us to envisage the gifting of this hoard as an episode of a fierce and destructive altercation. It is posited that this onslaught was a facet of the western thrust of the Lydian and Persian Empires, and that its extirpative impact was the result of systematic, commercially driven slaving triggered by the concurrent monetisation of the economies of the Black Sea coast. The effects of these raids on Eastern Central Europe’s later prehistoric communities are made manifest by analogies to the disastrous ramifications of the transatlantic slave trade on societies of 16th-to-18th-century West Africa. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE)
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51 pages, 23187 KiB  
Article
Golden Swords of the Early Nomads of Eurasia: A New Classification and Chronology
by Denis Topal
Arts 2024, 13(2), 48; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13020048 - 27 Feb 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3048
Abstract
The “ceremonial” forms of swords and daggers—that is, bladed weapons decorated with precious metals—occupy a special place in the culture of the early nomads. For the Scythian period, we know at least 76 ceremonial objects from 61 sites, corresponding to 3.5% of the [...] Read more.
The “ceremonial” forms of swords and daggers—that is, bladed weapons decorated with precious metals—occupy a special place in the culture of the early nomads. For the Scythian period, we know at least 76 ceremonial objects from 61 sites, corresponding to 3.5% of the total sample. More than half of the finds come from the northern Black Sea region (mainly Ukraine). Ceremonial forms are represented in all morphological categories (from daggers to extra-long swords), but their distribution is slightly different. Most akinakai belong to the average and long swords. Most Scythian akinakai in Eurasia belong to the dagger and short sword groups. Although most Scythian swords and daggers fall into the Middle Scythian period, most ceremonial forms belong to the last phase of Classical Scythian culture. This period is a veritable “golden autumn” of Scythia with its huge royal burial mounds and abundance of gold, perfectly illustrating our argument that conspicuous consumption coincides with periods of political and social instability. After the peak of the proliferation of ceremonial akinakai in the third quarter of the 4th century BC, we observe a generation later the complete disappearance of Classical Scythian culture, along with its characteristic weapons, horse harnesses, and animal style. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE)
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42 pages, 32437 KiB  
Article
Gold Artifacts from the Early Scythian Princely Tomb Arzhan 2, Tuva—Aesthetics, Function, and Technology
by Barbara Armbruster and Caspar Meyer
Arts 2024, 13(2), 46; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13020046 - 27 Feb 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2730
Abstract
This article explores the extraordinarily rich gold finds from the Early Scythian princely tomb Arzhan 2 in the Republic of Tuva, southern Siberia (late 7th to early 6th centuries BCE), through the methodological framework of the chaîne opératoire (operational sequence), in order to [...] Read more.
This article explores the extraordinarily rich gold finds from the Early Scythian princely tomb Arzhan 2 in the Republic of Tuva, southern Siberia (late 7th to early 6th centuries BCE), through the methodological framework of the chaîne opératoire (operational sequence), in order to reconstruct the objects’ processes of manufacture. Through an interdisciplinary study of the finds at the State Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, the principal author analyzed tool marks and surface morphologies, which allow for the comprehensive identification and documentation of the numerous techniques employed in the creation of the often very elaborate jewelry, decorated weapons, and other personal ornaments. The production of both individual pieces and extensive series of thousands of identical trimmings attests to the existence of complex craft processes and workshop organizations. The technological aspects of the gold finds impress through their diversity and outstanding quality, both artistically and in terms of their craftsmanship. As this article will demonstrate, the objects present the earliest evidence for a highly specialized goldsmith artform in southern Siberia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE)
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19 pages, 5988 KiB  
Article
A Distinct Form of Socio-Political and Economic Organization in the Pazyryk Culture
by Karen S. Rubinson and Katheryn M. Linduff
Arts 2024, 13(1), 36; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13010036 - 17 Feb 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1834
Abstract
The Pazyryk Culture, situated in the Altai Mountains of Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China, flourished for a relatively short period: 5th–3rd centuries BCE. A series of burial grounds from the later phase, 4th–mid-3rd centuries BCE, to be studied here reveal the remains of [...] Read more.
The Pazyryk Culture, situated in the Altai Mountains of Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China, flourished for a relatively short period: 5th–3rd centuries BCE. A series of burial grounds from the later phase, 4th–mid-3rd centuries BCE, to be studied here reveal the remains of three groups of individuals of high, mid, and lower status. Within the limiting topographical and environmental confines of the local region, in contrast to the vast grasslands of the steppe and the deserts and oases of Central Asia, it is possible via the analysis of material culture and with reference to ethnographic studies to see nuances of interaction among these three groups and the regions immediately adjacent during this short period. Aided by modern scientific techniques, including DNA and isotopic analysis, together with analysis of excavated and often frozen remains, it is also possible to map out a heterarchical set of relationships within the hierarchical framework. The model developed in this unique landscape might be tested elsewhere in Eurasia as it extends the application of the notion of nonuniform socio-political organization among pastoralists noted for Bronze Age societies in the Eurasian steppe to the late Iron Age. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE)
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27 pages, 8284 KiB  
Article
Jewelry, Accessories, and Decorative Elements of Women’s Funeral Costume of the First Half of the 6th Century BCE in the Territory of Forest-Steppe Scythia
by Iryna Shramko
Arts 2024, 13(1), 35; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13010035 - 15 Feb 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1946
Abstract
Among the antiquities of the archaic period of Forest-Steppe Scythia, a group of elite burials of women, possibly endowed with priestly functions during their lifetime, stands out. Until recently, only two unrobbed burial complexes were known to contain the main burials of women [...] Read more.
Among the antiquities of the archaic period of Forest-Steppe Scythia, a group of elite burials of women, possibly endowed with priestly functions during their lifetime, stands out. Until recently, only two unrobbed burial complexes were known to contain the main burials of women of high social rank, in whose graves golden costume elements were found—primarily expressive details of headdresses. The barrows (kurgans) were discovered at the end of the 19th century when amateur excavations were actively carried out on the right bank of the Dnipro. As a result of research conducted by the author at the Skorobir necropolis (in the area of the Bilsk fortified settlement, on the left bank of the Dnipro), two similar graves were recently discovered, which provided new material that significantly expanded the known geographical distribution of this phenomenon. The materials are closely analogous to the previously discovered elite female burials of the Middle Dnipro (barrow 100 near the village of Syniavka, barrow 35 near the village of Bobrytsa) and allow us to highlight a number of stable elements of the funeral costume of noble women and the sets of objects that complemented them. In this article, we consider the social and cultural significance of female attire in elite burials and delimit the chronological framework of this previously understudied phenomenon within the first half of the 6th century BCE. The new finds offer unprecedented insight into the form and meaning of one type of female headdress which researchers have tried to reconstruct for over a century. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE)
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14 pages, 2113 KiB  
Article
Looking at the Evidence of Local Jewelry Production in Scythia
by Oksana Lifantii
Arts 2023, 12(4), 151; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12040151 - 11 Jul 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2241
Abstract
This article considers finds from the Scythian monuments of the North Black Sea area that can be connected to local jewelry production from the 7th century to the end of the 4th century BCE. I wish to draw attention to the problem of [...] Read more.
This article considers finds from the Scythian monuments of the North Black Sea area that can be connected to local jewelry production from the 7th century to the end of the 4th century BCE. I wish to draw attention to the problem of prolonged bias in this area of study. The prominence of the famous masterpieces by West Asian artisans (Lyta Mohyla and Kelermes Kurgans) and of the Greco-Scythian goldwork from the North Pontic kurgans (Chortomlyk, Solokha, Tovsta Mohyla, etc.) invited the view that the vast majority of the gold objects that the Scythians used during their lifetime and later took into their graves were imported rather than locally produced. Instead of trying to consider all artifacts that could potentially be Scythian-made, my goal in this article is to review the direct archaeological evidence of local jewelry production in the form of punches, matrices, and recorded cases of workshops at Scythian settlements. Gathering this evidence, as I will argue, gives us compelling insight into the high level of Scythian goldsmithing from the beginning of Scythian culture in the 7th century BCE and its improvement and adaptation of new techniques in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, probably in the context of intensified cultural exchanges between Scythians and Greeks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE)
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21 pages, 7802 KiB  
Article
The Pectoral of Tovsta Mohyla: Understanding the Gold Insignia of Ancient Scythia
by Leonid Babenko
Arts 2023, 12(4), 136; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12040136 - 1 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3800
Abstract
The gold pectoral from Tovsta Mohyla is a masterpiece of Greco-Scythian metalwork, the most prominent and esteemed of all the finds uncovered in 260 years of excavating the Scythian kurgans. After the pectoral was discovered on 21 June 1971 by B. Mozolevsky, dozens [...] Read more.
The gold pectoral from Tovsta Mohyla is a masterpiece of Greco-Scythian metalwork, the most prominent and esteemed of all the finds uncovered in 260 years of excavating the Scythian kurgans. After the pectoral was discovered on 21 June 1971 by B. Mozolevsky, dozens of other scientists joined him in studying it. The researchers have raised a wide range of interesting questions revolving around the origin of the pectoral, the technology involved in its production, its stylistic features, and the interpretation of its depictions. However, so far, none of these questions has been answered definitively. This article provides an overview of the author’s recent interdisciplinary research on the Tovsta Mohyla pectoral. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE)
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47 pages, 22906 KiB  
Article
Axes in the Funerary Ceremonies of the Northern Pontic Scythians
by Marina Daragan and Sergei Polin
Arts 2023, 12(3), 124; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12030124 - 20 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2600
Abstract
Axes were rare among the Scythians but are occasionally found in Scythian kurgans. Like other weapons, axes had practical as well as social and religious roles. The Scythians not only placed axes in burials as burial gifts, but also used them at various [...] Read more.
Axes were rare among the Scythians but are occasionally found in Scythian kurgans. Like other weapons, axes had practical as well as social and religious roles. The Scythians not only placed axes in burials as burial gifts, but also used them at various stages of the funeral ritual. This article considers several hitherto unknown, highly unusual archaeological contexts featuring axes. These contexts show that axes were used in the ritual preceding the excavation of the grave; they completed the ritual before the filling of the grave; and they were included in the final sealing of the burial. In addition to the ritual implications of Scythian axes found in kurgan burials, this article considers the meaning of the representations of related artifacts on Scythian metalwork, as well as on the coins of Kerkinitis and Olbia. A bronze votive axe similar to the one from L’vovo Kurgan 18, Burial 2 is shown on Olbian Borysthenes coins, indicating a permanent relationship between the city and the Scythians, perhaps in the form of paying tribute (“gifts”) to the Scythians. The dating of Olbian Borysthenes coinage is also discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE)
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27 pages, 15564 KiB  
Article
The Construction and Functional Technology of Scythian Greaves: A Recent Find from the Elite Kurgan 6 near the Village Vodoslavka, Southern Ukraine
by Sergei Polin and Marina Daragan
Arts 2023, 12(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12010018 - 18 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2934
Abstract
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” [...] Read more.
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. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Nomadic Material Culture in the First Millennium BCE)
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