(Muzeum Okręgowe w Rzeszowie, 2017) Burghardt, Marcin
The article discusses the issue regarding the reconstruction of social structure of the early Scythian populations from the forest-steppe area of the Dnieper river, in the period between the second half of 6th–4th/3rd century BC, on the basis of funeral materials. As a result of the analysis of the most important elements of burial rites implemented by the discussed population groups, and based on records of ancient authors (The Histories by Herodotus), it has been established that the most valuable sources are the size and complexity of the funerary structure and covering embankment as well as quantitative and qualitative diversity of included inventory. The classification developed on the basis of 198 burials, by means of statistical inference methods, has led to the separation of several classes of graves that can be combined with different social strata. These layers included nomadic higher spheres (leaders of local communities, leaders of “military teams” and tribal aristocracy) and elites of local settled tribes, average members of the population divided into its wealthy representatives and the so-called “simple Scythians” and lower layers of (“the poor”) and people with limited rights (domestic slaves?).
