BETWEEN SEDENTISM AND NOMADISM: LIFEWAYS ON THE FOREST-STEPPE FRONTIER OF THE LEFT BANK OF DNIEPER IN SCYTHIAN TIME
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37445/adiu.2023.02.02Keywords:
forest-steppe region at the Left Bank of Dnieper, Scythian time, nomads, semi nomads, economic system.Abstract
The paper is devoted to the issue of reconstruction of the lifeways and economics of the part of tribes in the forest-steppe region of the Left Bank of Dnieper during the Scythian period. The question of the role of nomads and semi nomads in the ethnic and cultural history of the population is one of the most important, since the correct assessment of the interaction between the forest-steppe agricultural population and the different groups of nomads depends on the reconstruction of ethnic processes in the Left-bank forest-steppe during Scythian time. It can be assumed that the Dnieper Left-bank forest-steppe by its environment and convenient ways attracted both farmers and nomads. This led to the use of several ecological niches, which was reflected in the spread of the settlement structure of farmers in the areas that are most suitable for agriculture (chernozem soils of various types) and rich in resources for life, construction, etc. (access to water, forest areas). The nomadic population that has subjugated farmers has repeatedly penetrated the region several times. Nomads mostly used the steppe areas and floodplains of the region, leaving behind the main type of sites — the mounds, burial rites of which are fundamentally different from the settled agricultural population.
The study proposes the conditional use of the term «nomads» for groups of mobile pastoralists only at the time of their penetration into the region. In the new conditions, their lifeways significantly changed. The term reflects a transition to mobile stockbreeding within a limited territory of movement, permanent winter houses near the settlements and hillforts of the settled population of the region, prevailing transhumance, etc. At the moment, the term «semi nomads» is the most adequate for those groups of mobile pastoralists who remained in the forest-steppe region of the Left Bank of Dnieper during the Scythian time. Judging by the flat necropolis in Barvinkova Gora tract near Bilsk hillfort, a part of the migrants from the south turned to a sedentary way of life in the 4th century BC. In general, it can be assumed that the migration of nomads into the region significantly impacted lifeways of the local sedentary population.
References
Bessonova, S. S. 2000. Deiaki zakonomirnosti rozmishchennia pam’iatok skifskoho chasu v Ukrainskomu Livoberezhnomu Lisostepu. Arkheolohiia, 2, s. 116-131.
Borysov, A. V. 2019. Pechenihy u Porossi (terytoriia ta kilkist naselennia). Scientific Jornal Virtus, November, 38, s. 166-171.
Gavriliuk, N. A. 2013. Ekonomika Stepnoi Skifii VI—III vv. do n. e. Kyiv: O. Filiuk.
Hrakov, B. N. 1947. Skify. Kyiv: AN URSR.
Grakov, B. N., Meliukova, A. I. 1954. Ob etnicheskikh i kulturnykh razlichiiakh v steapnoi i lesostepnoi oblastiakh evropeiskoi chasti SSSR v skifskoe vremia. In: Merpert, M. Ia. (ed.). Voprosy skifo-sarmatskoi arkheologii. Moscow: AN SSSR, s. 51-62.
Hrechko, D. S. 2010. Naselennia skifskoho chasu na Siverskomu Dintsi. Kyiv: IA NAN Ukrainy.
Grechko, D. S. 2016. O kriteriiakh vydeleniia kochevnicheskikh zakhoronenii skifskogo vremeni v Lesostepi. In: Marina, Z. P. (ed.). Arkheolohiia ta etnolohiia pivdnia Skhidnoi Yevropy. Dnipro: Lira, s. 227-238.
Grechko, D. S. 2017. O formirovanii Klassicheskoi Skifii v V v. do n. e. Arkheolohiia i davnia istoriia Ukrainy, 2 (23), s. 78-106.
Hrechko, D. S. 2021a. Etnokulturna istoriia naselennia Dniprovskoho lisostepovoho Livoberezhzhia skifskoho chasu. Avtoreferat dysertatsii d-ra istor. nauk. Kyiv: IA NAN Ukrainy.
Hrechko, D. S. 2021b. Osnovni etapy istorii naselennia Dniprovskoho lisostepovoho Livoberezhzhia seredyny VII — pochatku III st. do n. e. Arkheolohiia i davnia istoriia Ukrainy, 4, s. 27-50.
Grechko, D. S., Shelekhan, O. V. 2012. Grishkovskii mogilnik skifov na Kharkovshchine. Kyiv: IA NAN Ukrainy.
Ilinskaia, V. A., Terenozhkin, A. I. 1983. Skifiia VII — IV vv. do n. e. Kyiv: Naukova dumka.
Komar, A. V. 2004. Kutrigury i utigury v Severnom Prichernomore. Sugdeiskii sbornik, І, s. 169-200.
Komar, A.V. 2007. Chto takoe «pastyrskaia kultura»? In: Problemi na prabielgarskata istoriia i kultura, 4, s. 35-52.
Medvedev, A. P. 1999. Rannii zheleznyi vek Lesostepnogo Podonia. Arkheologiia i etnokulturnaia istoriia І tysiacheletiia do n. e. Moscow: Nauka.
Moruzhenko, A. A. 1989. Istoriko-kulturnaia obshchnost lesostepnykh plemen mezhdurechia Dnepra i Dona v skifskoe vremia. Sovetskaia arkheologiia, 4, s. 25-40.
Olkhovskii, V. S. 1991. Pogrebalno-pominalnaia obriadnost naseleniia stepnoi Skifii (VII—ІІІ vv. do n. e.). Moscow: Nauka.
Pletneva, S. A. 1991. Otnosheniia vostochno-evropeiskikh kochevnikov s Vizantiei i arkheologicheskie istochniki. Sovetskaia arkheologiia, 3, s. 98-107.
Raevskii, D. S 1995. Rannie skify: sreda obitaniia i khoziaistvenno-kulturnyi tip. Vestnik drevnei istorii, 4, s. 87-96.
Skoryi, S. A. 1987. Pro skifskyi etnokulturnyi komponent u naselennia Dniprovskoho Lisostepovoho Pravoberezhzhia. Arkheolohiia, 60, s. 36-49.
Skoryi, S. A. 1997. Steblev: skifskii mogilnik v Porose. Kyiv: Naukova dumka.
Skoryi, S. A. 2003. Skify v Dneprovskoi Pravoberezhnoi Lesostepi (problema vydeleniia iranskogo etnokulturnogo elementa). Kyiv: IA NAN Ukrainy.
Suprunenko, O., Sherstiuk, V. 2019. Rozkopky kurhannoho mohylnyka skifskoho chasu bilia s. Pokrovska Bahachka. Arkheolohichni doslidzhennia v Ukraini 2017 r., s. 206-208.
Tairov, A. D. 2015. Khoziaistvo bashkir lesostepi Iuzhnogo Zauralia XVIII—XIX vekov kak model khoziaistva lesostepnogo zauralskogo naseleniia rannego zheleznogo veka. In: Tomilov, N. A. (ed.). Integratsiia arkheologicheskikh i etnograficheskikh issledovanii. Omsk: Nauka, s. 291-294.
Terenozhkin, A. I. 1971. Skifskaia kultura. Problemy skifskoi arkheologii. Moscow: Nauka.
Fialko, E. E. 2011. Dva pogrebeniia amazonok iz Severskodonetskoi Lesostepi. In: Posokhov, S. I. (ed.). Drevnosti Vostochnoi Evropy. Kharkov: Kursor, s. 304-315.
Fialko, O. Ye. 2019. Pokhovannia amazonok Lisostepovoho Prydniprov’ia. Arkheolohiia i davnia istoriia Ukrainy, 4 (33), s. 80-96.
Khazanov, A. M. 1975. Sotsialnaia istoriia skifov. Moscow: Nauka.
Shramko, B. A 1971. K voprosu o znachenii kulturno-khoziaistvennykh osobennostei stepnoi i lesostepnoi Skifii. In: Liberov, P. D., Guliaev, V. I. (eds.). Problemy skifskoi arkheologii. Moscow: Nauka, s. 92-102.
Shramko, B. A. 1987. Belskoe gorodishche skifskoi epokhi (gorod Gelon). Kyiv: Naukova dumka.
Shramko, B. A. 1990. Byla li Lesostep zavoevana skifami. In: Suprunenko, O. B. (ed.). Okhorona i doslidzhennia pam’iatok arkheolohii Poltavshchyny. Poltava, s. 124-126.
Shramko, I. B., Zadnikov, S. A. 2021. Novi doslidzhennia kurhannoho mohylnyka Skorobir (ur. 6-te pole). Arkheolohichni doslidzhennia Bilskoho horodyshcha 2020, s. 7-15.
Grechko, D. 2021. How far did the nomads go to the West around the middle of the VIth century BC? Śląskie sprawozdania archeologiczne, 63, p. 15-24.
Ventresca, Miller, A. R., Johnson, J. A., Makhortykh, S, Litvinova, L., Taylor, T., Rolle, R., Makarewicz, C. A. 2019. Mobility and diet in the Iron Age Pontic Forest-Steppe: a multi-isotopic study of urban population at Bel’sk. Archaeometry, 61, 6, p. 1399-1416.
