Essay on the Sarmatian Studies in Ukraine

Abstract

The steppe and part of the forest-steppe of modern Ukraine since the 2nd century BC till the 4th century AD were the place of residence of the numerous Sarmatian tribes. The Sarmatian studies are one of the actual research fields of Ukrainian and foreign archaeologists.
 The article analyses the study of Sarmatian culture of North Pontic region since the time of the first finds of Sarmatian sites untill the present. The author proposes to survey the development of Ukrainian Sarmatian studies in two directions: field exploration and the theoretical interpretation of archaeological material. The article presents the history of the finds of Sarmatian culture and the review of points of view of main scholars on the various problems of Sarmatian archeology.
 The history of Ukrainian Sarmatian studies is associated with the names of T. G. Obolduyeva, E. V. Makhno, M. I. Vyazmitina, A. V. Symonenko, M. B. Shchukin, V. I. Kostenko, O. M. Dzygovski, M. M. Fokeyev. The Sarmatians of Moldova were fundamentally studied by E. A. Rickman and V. I. Grosu.
 In total in the North Pontic region by the end of XX century 1256 burials and individual finds of Sarmatian culture were known. Among them the burials of the «kings» and «queens» near the villages of Pogory and Vesnyane, in the Sokolova Mohyla and Nohayichik barrows were excavated.
 The fundamental works of Prof. M. I. Rostovtsev were the first attempt to summarize the historical and archaeological sources of the Sarmatians of North Pontic region. The scholars of the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine SSR Drs. T. G. Obolduyiva in the fifties of the twentieth century and M. I. Vyazmitina — in the sixties — seventies were at the source of the Ukrainian Sarmatian studies. The Sarmatian culture of the North Pontic region became the latest subject of scientific studies by K. F. Smirnov.
 Since the beginning of the eighties the new generation of researchers was involved to the Sarmatian studies in Ukraine and Dr. A. V. Simonenko became the leader. He has reconstructed the ethnic and politic history of the Sarmatians of the North Pontic region, proposed the new chronology of the Sarmatian Age, the essay on the culture and art of the Sarmatians was written by him. In several monographs of Dr. Symonenko and their reprints the Roman imported products from the North Pontic Sarmatian graves were studied, and the armaments, horse equipment and the military affairs of the Sarmatians were analyzed.