Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

landscapes with people
The steppe zone, then, is the creation of latitude but it is moderated by another
less obvious factor: proximity to the Atlantic. The wind system and currents of the
ocean create a predominantly east-moving air stream, damp and mild enough to
ameliorate the climate of the European peninsula that creates conditions in which
the deciduous forest will thrive. The moderating effect of the Atlantic system extends
eastwards about as far as the Volga River, allowing deciduous forests to extend this
far in place of taiga. It also means that the western steppe and forest steppe are moister
and warmer than comparable regions further east, their pastures accordingly being
lusher. This creates what is known as the steppe gradient. As one travels from the
east to the west the climate changes from cold and dry to warm and damp. It was a
reality well understood by those who inhabited these regions and provided an everpresent
incentive to migrate. A community living in the cold high steppe of Mongolia
subjected to cycles of intense cold had three options to improve its life: to move south
into China, to move south-west into India, or to move due west towards Europe. All
three options were taken at different times throughout history but the first and second
meant crossing into different ecological zones. By choosing to move westwards
along the steppe corridor the migrants had the great advantage of staying within an
environment with which they were familiar, and one that facilitated fast movement.
It was for this reason that the history of Eurasia was dominated by constant flows
of people from east to west along the steppe and why so many of them, from the
Yamnaya culture of the early third millennium bc to the Mongols of the thirteenth
century ad, ended their travels at the most westerly extremity of the steppe zone: the
Great Hungarian Plain.
For the most part the steppe corridor is gently undulating land broken only by the
great rivers flowing across it, some northwards into the Arctic Ocean, others southwards
into the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. But at two points mountain ranges
hinder east–west progress. The greatest obstacle is offered by the Altai Mountains
separating the eastern, or Mongolian, steppe from the Kazakh steppe to the west, but
lush valleys and passes provide ways through. The other intrusion is the south end of
the Ural Mountains. It was less of a barrier but it caused the zone of grassland steppe
to narrow between the forest steppe flanking the end of the mountain range and the
desert steppe fringing the Caspian and Aral seas. To the east of the Urals lies the Central,
or Kazakh, steppe while to the west is the Western, or Pontic–Caspian steppe,
which extends along the Danube valley to the puszta of Hungary.
Although, on the map, the distances along the steppe corridor look formidable
in terms of ancient travel, the relatively level, open land facilitated speed. In the thirteenth
century ad it is claimed that a Mongol dispatch rider, setting out from Karakorum
in the Mongolian steppe, changing horses whenever necessary, could reach
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