Masters of the Steppe: The Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia: Proceedings of a conference held at the British Museum, 27-29 October 2017

Masters of the Steppe: the impact of the Scythians and later nomad societies of Eurasia consists of 45 papers presented at a major international conference held at the British Museum in 2017 on the occasion of the BP exhibition Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia, both conference and exhibition being jointly organised with the State Hermitage Museum. There are 58 contributors and co-authors from 16 countries, mostly from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, but also America, Britain, France, Germany, China and Mongolia. The papers range from new archaeological discoveries, results of scientific research and studies of museum collections to reconstructions of social elites, the phenomenon of monumental tomb construction, and ‘Animal Style’ art. Most results are presented for the first time in the English language and they throw a completely new light on a huge range of aspects of the lives of Scythians and other ancient nomads of Eurasia, their horses, rock art and the working of precious metals, textiles and other materials.

Table of Contents

Foreword – Hartwig Fischer

Foreword – Mikhail Piotrovsky

Preface and acknowledgements – Svetlana V. Pankova, St John Simpson

Introduction

The Sasanian and Gupta empires and their struggle against the Huns – T. Bakker

Supersize me: political aspects of monumental tomb building in early steppe empires – Thomas J. Barfield

Saka ‘Animal Style’: the ‘mysterious picture’ on a carved bone container from central Kazakhstan – Arman Z. Beisenov

A Scythian treasure in the lands of the Getae: considerations regarding the hoard of Stâncești – Alexandru Berzovan

Interactions between mobile pastoralists and settled agricultural societies in central Asia: examples from the work of the Eurasia Department of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) – Nikolaus Boroffka

The Arzhan-2 ‘royal’ funerary-commemorative complex: stages of function and internal chronology – Konstantin V. Chugunov

Scythian archers of the 4th century BC: a new archaeological study of excavated bows, arrows and quivers from the northern Black Sea region – Marina Daragan

Fabergé and the gold making tradition in Russia – Caroline de Guitaut, LVO

Scythians, Persians, Greeks and horses: reflections on art, culture, power and empires in the light of frozen burials and other excavations – Henri-Paul Francfort

Textiles, dyes and pigments of the European Scythians: preliminary analyses of materials from southern Ukraine – Margarita Gleba, Ina Vanden Berghe, Marina Daragan

Scythian gold from 19th century private collections in the Department of the Ancient World in the State Hermitage Museum – O. Gorskaya

Scientific study of the etching process used on ancient carnelian beads – Clément Holé, Aude Mongiatti, St John Simpson

Trade, community and labour in the Pontic Iron Age forest-steppe region, c. 700–200 BC – James A. Johnson

The predator scene in Scythian ‘Animal Style’ as a socio-political indicator – Vladimir A. Kisel

‘Animal Style’ art: influences and traditions in the nomadic world – Elena Korolkova

To accompany and honour the deceased: the horses from the graves of the Pazyryk culture – Sébastien Lepetz, K. Debue, D. Batsukh

The royal *gaunaka: dress, identity, status and ceremony in Achaemenid Iran – Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Scythian archery – Mike Loades

A priestly burial from the Taksai-1 cemetery – Yana Lukpanova

The Okunev culture: a unique Siberian civilisation and its links with Scythian and later cultures – Leonid S. Marsadolov

Scientific analyses of some glass beads from Scythian and later sites in southern Siberia – Andrew Meek, Nikolai N. Nikolaev, St John Simpson

Petroglyphs of the Scythian period in the Oglakhty mountains (Republic of Khakassia, Russia): new materials and problems of attribution – Elena Miklashevich

Scythian and Sarmatian weapons with gold decoration – Raphael S. Minasyan

Gold of Peter the Great: Scythian goldsmithing techniques – Aude Mongiatti, Elena Korolkova

Life and death in th