Posted on 03/16/2021 9:14:38 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Scythian-era people lived across Eurasia from about 700 BCE to 200 BCE, and have long been considered highly mobile warriors who ranged widely across the steppe grasslands. Herodotus describes Scythian populations as living in wagons and engaging in raiding and warfare, and this view has persisted throughout history--supported by archeologists' observations of similar styles of horse harnesses, weapons, burial mounds and animal style motifs throughout what is now Ukraine.
Because of this, history has lumped the diverse cultures and periods of people in this region as a single "Scythian" identity, even calling it an "empire." But a study including University of Michigan research reveals what previously was considered one group was likely a set of diverse peoples with varied diets.
By analyzing human bone and tooth enamel, the international team of researchers found that, rather than being wide-ranging warriors, people in this region more likely lived in urban locales, growing millet and raising livestock in mixed economic systems...
Ventresca Miller, formerly of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, and her team took samples of bone and tooth enamel from 56 human skeletons at three burial sites--Bel'sk, Mamai-Gora and Medvin--in modern-day Ukraine.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
IOW, they lived in large mobile camps, just as described in Herodotus' account of the Persian attempted conquest of the Scythians, who, btw, also helped overthrow the Assyrian Empire and are the best candidates for the end of the Mycenaean era.
Some had to farm and ranch while others were warriors looking for greener pastures and raping and pillaging. Symbiotic?
“But a study including University of Michigan research reveals what previously was considered one group was likely a set of diverse peoples with varied diets.”
Give me a break. Anyone who actually read Herodotus would know that he was very clear that “Scythian” was a blanket name the Greeks gave to a group of many different tribes, similar to the word “barbarian”, except it also carried a geographic connotation as well. He also specifically singled out one group, the “Royal Scythians”, as a people with settled cities and a more developed culture that were the preeminent among the many “Scythian” tribes.
Well, I do know one Scythian who moved to Queensland.
I once read that ‘Scythian’ was an ancient term for ‘barbarian’ or anybody not from a ‘civilized’ part of the Greco-Roman world...................
BCE is based on the birth of the little baby Jesus. Why does the author want to draw attention to this fact. He must really be a devout Christian.
Sounds like the researchers were playing Civ6....
Colossians 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
I like how the author of the paper kept saying “urban locale”, as if that were something other than the region around a settlement.
Settlement.....that’s another word that historians like to throw around. To some, NYC is just another settlement.
Maybe he means “before the circumcision of Emmanuel” when he writes BCE.
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