Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

bending the bow
But warfare is endemic in human society and can break out when communities
come under strain, imposed by factors like population growth or climatic change
which upset the holding capacity of the land, causing social stress. At such times
raids on neighbours, to acquire their livestock or simply to appropriate their pastures,
provides some relief. The raid, which builds upon the skills and camaraderie
of the hunt and competitive sport, can soon escalate into more confrontational hostilities.
These episodes of warfare create the conditions in which war leaders emerge,
new hierarchies form, and clans reformulate their identity. Once the imminent threat
has been dealt with, status gained by military prowess is not easy to suppress. The
band, gathered around a successful military leader, will look for further adventures
and the anticipation of action will draw in new members. The crucial moment of
change comes when a cohort of fighters is able to detach itself for long periods from
the productive base of the community and become a fully fledged predatory horde,
leaving the young, the old, and the women to look after the animals and the home
base during the summer months while they are away.
There are many different factors which excite aggressive behaviour. Ecological
stress is certainly one but, so too, is its antithesis, climate amelioration. In times of
lush growth brought about by warmer, damper weather the life of the nomadic pastoralists
becomes easier. Energies once bound up in caring for the livestock can now
be invested in further, more extensive raiding leading to the discovery of new fertile
pastures beyond the traditional grazing grounds. This, in turn, encourages mobility
on an increasing scale. These dynamics are prone to escalation. It was processes
such as these that initiated the successive waves of nomadic movement that flowed
westwards from the Altai–Sayan region and the eastern Kazakh steppe in the ninth
and eighth centuries bc.
The sparse archaeological evidence does not allow us to model the subtleties of
these movements. At one level warrior hoards may have spearheaded migrations
with their dependants and livestock following in their wake. But there are many other
scenarios. Young men, eager to gain fame through adventure, may have gone off on
raids with the intention of eventually returning home. Such a group, caught up in
the turmoil in Asia Minor, were away 28 years, if Herodotus is to be believed. Other
cohorts may simply have left for good, intent on taking land, flocks, and wives when
chance allowed. Mobility ruled the day and the mobile hoard was all-powerful.
Learning from the Other
The fighting methods of nomads in the steppe environment focused around the
rapid cavalry attack using simple weapons, principally the bow, while protecting
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