Среднедонские поселения скифской эпохи: финал с продолжением?
Middle Don Settlements of the Scythian Era: Finality and Continuity?

Summary/Abstract: This article addresses the understudied issue of ethnocultural continuity and interaction between settlement sites of the Scythian (6th—3rd centuries BC) and Sarmatian (1st—3rd centuries AD) periods in the forest-steppe region of the Don. Analysis of fortification remains does not support the prevailing theory of the complete destruction of local hillforts at the transition between the 4th—3rd centuries BC. Additionally, anthropological remains discovered at several settlements are most plausibly associated with funerary and cultic practices Nevertheless, the region experienced significant depopulation during the 2nd—1st centuries BC, a process likely accelerated by shifts in natural and climatic conditions. There is a paucity of archaeological evidence — such as artifacts and radiocarbon-dated defensive structures — indicating the persistence of settled societies during this period, which would have facilitated the transmission of cultural traditions across epochs. However, paleoeconomic patterns, architectural techniques, and ritual practices of the early AD population display notable continuities with earlier periods. The ethnocultural connection is particularly manifest in Sarmatian-period ceramic production, which broadly follows earlier, established pottery traditions.

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