Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

landscapes with people
Early Yamnaya culture
Extension of Yamnaya culture
Yamnaya migration route
Steppe and semi-desert
0 300 miles
0 300km
F O R A G E R S
Vistula
C O R D E D WA R E
Dnieper
F O R A G E R S
G L O B U L A R
Don
A M P H O R A E
Ural
Carpathian Mountains
Volga
Danube
Dniester
Bug
Danube
Kuban
N
Balkan Mts
Black Sea
Caucasus Mountains
Caspian
Sea
Kura
Araxes
3.4 By 3300–3000 bc pastoral nomads of the Yamnaya culture had established themselves throughout
the Pontic–Caspian steppe and between 3100 and 2600 bc groups had moved west along the Danube valley
and into the Carpathian Basin.
to provide fodder for animals through the winter, communities built large defended
villages that overlooked the river valleys, thereby creating a more sedentary base for
society and allowing hierarchies to emerge. In the Sintashta culture elite status was
displayed by the use of the chariot—a light platform carried on two spoked wheels
and pulled by a pair of horses. Such a construction involved the investment of much
skill, not only in carpentry but also in training horses to work as a pair. Some writers
have argued that the appearance of chariots and defended settlements imply an
increase in warfare. While this may be so, the chariots are probably more a reflection
of an elite who required a way to display their skills in competition and in the leisure
activity of the hunt. This does not, of course, exclude the possibility that the competitive
tendencies of the chariot teams may sometimes have led them into physical
conflict with neighbours.
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