EAA 2023: Abstract

Though funerary customs are considered to be a rather conservative aspect of culture, the dynamics of their change often correlate with the agency the burials possess. The political significance of Scythian kurgans and their "ancestors" is well-illustrated in Herodotus' description of the Persian invasion, but most importantly, has been explored archaeologically through the complexity of the mortuary practice. A particular example is the series of major events in the Scythian burial rite between 500 and 300 BC that are mainly associated with the emergence of “Princely” barrows in the Pontic Steppe region. This research aims to contribute to the question of whether their funerary display of power reflected the corresponding change in wealth distribution.
It primarily focuses on the two neighboring groups of kurgans in the Northern Azov sea region: the basins of Molochna and Kalmius rivers, where several necropoleis functioned during the entire Classical period. To examine the interaction between the sites and measure the impact of centralization on the regional kinship difference the social network analysis along with the traditional grave wealth indices are used.
The dataset for the study consists of funerary assemblages that contributed to the organization of the burial space, with the body of the deceased as its literal and metaphorical center.
Grounded in decades of field research, this study suggests a relatively small-scale perspective on the Scythian burial rite before its eventual downfall.

Scythians, burials, inequality, network analysis

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Alisa Demina¹