Department of Anthropology and Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America.
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeology, Stable Isotope Group, Jena, Germany.
PLoS One. 2021 Mar 10;16(3):e0245996. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245996. eCollection 2021.
The Scythians are frequently presented, in popular and academic thought alike, as highly mobile warrior nomads who posed a great economic risk to growing Mediterranean empires from the Iron Age into the Classical period. Archaeological studies provide evidence of first millennium BCE urbanism in the steppe while historical texts reference steppe agriculture, challenging traditional characterizations of Scythians as nomads. However, there have been few direct studies of the diet and mobility of populations living in the Pontic steppe and forest-steppe during the Scythian era. Here, we analyse strontium, oxygen, and carbon isotope data from human tooth enamel samples, as well as nitrogen and carbon isotope data of bone collagen, at several Iron Age sites across Ukraine commonly associated with 'Scythian' era communities. Our multi-isotopic approach demonstrates generally low levels of human mobility in the vicinity of urban locales, where populations engaged in agro-pastoralism focused primarily on millet agriculture. Some individuals show evidence for long-distance mobility, likely associated with significant inter-regional connections. We argue that this pattern supports economic diversity of urban locales and complex trading networks, rather than a homogeneous nomadic population.
斯基泰人在流行和学术思想中经常被描绘为高度流动的战士游牧民族，他们从铁器时代到古典时期对地中海地区不断增长的帝国构成了巨大的经济威胁。考古研究为公元前一千年草原上的城市化提供了证据，而历史文献则提到了草原农业，这挑战了斯基泰人作为游牧民族的传统特征。然而，对于生活在斯基泰时代的 Pontic 草原和森林草原地区的人口的饮食和流动性，很少有直接的研究。在这里，我们分析了乌克兰几个铁器时代遗址的人类牙釉质样本中的锶、氧和碳同位素数据，以及骨骼胶原蛋白中的氮和碳同位素数据，这些遗址通常与“斯基泰”时代的社区有关。我们的多同位素方法表明，在城市地区附近，人类的流动性通常较低，那里的人口从事以小米农业为重点的农牧业。一些人有长途流动的证据，可能与重要的区域间联系有关。我们认为，这种模式支持城市地区的经济多样性和复杂的贸易网络，而不是单一的游牧人口。
