SCYTHIANS AND THE POPULATION OF THE LATE BRONZE— EARLY IRON AGE OF UKRAINE (Based on Craniological Materials)

The issue of a possible anthropological link between the populations of the Scythian period and the Bronze Age on the territory of Ukraine in the light of new anthropological data is examined in the paper. The population of Ukraine during the Scythian period, both in the steppe and forest-steppe zones, was anthropologically heterogeneous. The populations had different directions of the links with chronologically close series, as well as with groups from the territory of Ukraine from earlier periods. Most of the steppe Scythian groups were morphologically and statistically distant from the population of Ukraine in the Bronze Age (with the Multi-band pottery culture, Zrubna and Bilozerska cultures), as well as from the population of pre-Scythian Ukraine, represented by the Chornogorivka culture which is associated with the historical Cimmerians. Most of the steppe population of Scythia, both male and female, should be considered as later migrants from the East. Some steppe Scythian groups show parallels with Zrubna culture of the eastern region (Volga and Ural regions) which could also be linked to later migrations from eastern lands. Among the female series of steppe Scythians there are those that show the similarities with the series of the Multi-band pottery culture of Ukraine and Moldova on one hand, and with Zrubna culture of Ukraine on the other. In the forest-steppe groups of the Scythian period the dominant anthropological links are directed to the western regions of Ukraine (Volhynia) from the Late Bronze Age. There are also anthropological analogies, although less pronounced, with the population of the Bilozerska culture, the Chornogoriv culture, and Zrubna cultures of both Ukraine and more easterly territories. Some forest-steppe groups have no analogies with earlier populations of Ukraine, and they can be linked to migrants from the Scythian period.