The Sarmatians: The Creation of Archaeological Evidence

Summary According to the general modern view the steppes of the northern B lack S ea region, from the D anube to the U ral valleys, in the period from the third century BC to the mid‐third century AD , were inhabited by S armatian tribes using a burial mound rite. Several consecutive waves of S armatian peoples came to this territory from the E ast, conquering the local population. This view is based on the paradigmatic explanatory model, which has its roots in the history of the R ussian E mpire. However, the archaeological culture of the V olga– D on and U ral steppes, known as the ‘ S armatian M otherland’, is apparently not related to the S armatians of the written sources. In addition, the culture of the northern B lack S ea region features various kinds of archaeological monuments (settlements, votive depositions, kurgans, flat necropolises), which are characteristic of different cultural‐economic types. This demonstrates the complexity and diversity of the culture in the region, which could be influenced by many factors: the presence of G reek settlers on the northern shore of the B lack S ea, the expansion of the R oman E mpire, the pressure of nomadic tribes from the E ast, the advance of the C eltic – T hracian peoples from the W est, changing environmental conditions, etc.