Peoples of Crimea history. Ukrainian lands in III-I centuries
Crimea is one of amazing corners Earth. By virtue of its geographical location he was at the crossroads different peoples, stood in the way of their historical movements. The interests of many countries and entire civilizations collided in such a small area. The Crimean peninsula has repeatedly become an arena bloody wars and battles, was part of several states and empires.
A variety of natural conditions attracted peoples of various cultures and traditions to Crimea. For nomads, there were extensive pastures, for farmers - fertile lands, for hunters - forests with a lot of game, for sailors - convenient bays and bays, a lot of fish. Therefore, many peoples settled here, becoming part of the Crimean ethnic conglomerate and participants in all historical events on the peninsula. In the neighborhood lived people whose traditions, customs, religions, way of life were different. This led to misunderstandings and even bloody clashes. Civil strife stopped when it was understood that it was possible to live well and prosper only in peace, harmony and mutual respect.
Cimmerians, Taurians, Scythians
Judging by ancient written sources, at the beginning of the Iron Age, the Cimmerians lived in the Crimea (information about them is extremely scarce), as well as the Taurians and Scythians, about whom we know a little more. At the same time, the ancient Greeks appeared on the northern shores of the Black Sea. Finally, archaeological sources gave grounds to single out the Kizilkoba culture here (Fig. 20). The presence, on the one hand, of written sources, and on the other hand, of archaeological sources, confronts researchers difficult task: what group of archaeological materials should be associated with certain tribes mentioned by ancient authors? As a result of comprehensive research, Taurus and Scythian antiquities clearly stood out. The situation is worse with the Cimmerians, who were a legendary, mysterious people already in the time of Herodotus (V century BC).
The issue with the Kizilkobins is also complicated. If this is one of the peoples known to ancient authors, then which one? How can one connect with certainty the meager, often contradictory evidence of antiquity and the abundant archaeological material? Some researchers see Cimmerians in the Kizilkobins, others see them as early Taurians, and still others distinguish them as an independent culture. Let's leave aside the "Cimmerian version" for the time being, let's see what were the grounds for putting an equal sign between the Kizilkobins and the Taurians.
It turned out that along with the sites of the Kizil-Koba type in the same years and on the same territory (mountainous and foothill Crimea), Taurus burial grounds - "stone boxes" were studied. A certain similarity was traced between the Taurian and Kizilkobinsky materials. Proceeding from this, in 1926 G. A. Bonch-Osmolovsky suggested that the Kizilkoba culture belongs to the Taurians. He did not specifically study the Kizilkoba culture, limiting himself to only the most general considerations, but since then, researchers have been asserting the idea that the Kizilkoba culture should be understood as the early Taurians. IN post-war period works have appeared that contain data on the Kizilkobin culture and Taurians, discuss issues of periodization, etc., however, none of them aimed to fully substantiate the relationship between the Kyzylkobins and Taurians, taking into account new archaeological sources 27, 45 .
True, already in the 1930s and 1940s, some scientists (V. N. D'yakov 15, 16 , S. A. Semenov-Zuser 40) expressed doubts about the legitimacy of such conclusions. In 1962, after new research in the Kizilkobinsky tract (excavations were conducted by A. A. Shchepinsky and O. I. Dombrovsky), in the zone of the Simferopol reservoir (A. D. Stolyar, A. A. Shchepinsky and others), near the village Druzhny, in the Tash-Dzhargan tract and near Maryino near Simferopol, in the valley of the Kacha River and other places (A. A. Shchepinsky), the author of this book came to a similar judgment, supported by massive archaeological material. 8, 47. In April 1968, at a session of the Department of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences and a plenum of the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the author made a report "On the Kizilkobin culture and Tauris in the Crimea", in which he substantiated his point of view: Taurians and Kyzylkobins are representatives of different cultures of the Early Iron Age. The excavations of 1969, 1970 and subsequent years have clearly shown that the conclusion is correct: the Taurus and Kizilkoba sites do not belong to different stages of one culture, but to two independent cultures 48, 49 . This forced to reconsider their positions and some researchers who support the identification of the Taurians with the Kizilkobins 23, 24 .
new material gradually accumulated, excavations made it possible to clarify something, to doubt something. Therefore, in 1977, the author of this book again returned to the "Kizilkobinskaya theme" and published a detailed argumentation of the provisions he had made earlier: the Kizilkobins and Taurians are different tribes, although they lived in the same historical era, lived in the neighborhood, partly even on the same territory 50 .
But, of course, there is a lot of controversy and unclear. How to correlate the data of archeology, in other words, the remains of material culture, with the information about the local Crimean tribes that is contained in the works of ancient authors? To answer this question, we will try to understand what is remarkable about each of these peoples (Cimmerians, Taurians, Scythians), what the ancient Greeks say about them, and what archaeological materials testify to (Fig. 20).
Cimmerians
For the south of the European part of the USSR, this ancient tribes which we know from ancient written sources. Information about the Cimmerians is contained in the "Odyssey" of Homer (IX - beginning of the VIII centuries BC), the Assyrian "Cuneiform" (VIII-VII centuries BC), in the "History" of Herodotus (V century BC). AD), from Strabo (I century BC - I century AD) and other ancient authors. From these reports it follows that the Cimmerians are the most ancient natives of the Northern Black Sea region and the North-Western Caucasus. They lived here even before the arrival of the Scythians. The boundaries of their settlement are the northern shores of the Black Sea and from the mouth of the Danube to Chisinau, Kyiv, Kharkov, Novocherkassk, Krasnodar and Novorossiysk. Later, these tribes appear in Asia Minor, and by the VI century. BC e. leave the historical arena.
According to a number of researchers, the name "Cimmerians" is a collective name. The Cimmerians are associated with many cultures of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages - the Catacomb and Srubna in the south of Ukraine, the Koban in the Caucasus, the Kizilkobin and Taurus in the Crimea, the Hallstatt in the Danube region and others. Crimea, in particular the Kerch Peninsula, occupies a special place in resolving this issue. It is with him that the most reliable and most common information about the Cimmerians is associated: "Cimmerian region", "Cimmerian Bosporus", "Kimmerik city", "Kimmerik mountain", etc.
material culture Cimmerians is characterized by archaeological sites of two main types - burials and settlements. Burials, as a rule, were made under small mounds in soil, often side-pit, graves. The burial rite is on the back in an extended position or with legs slightly bent at the knees. Settlements consisting of elevated stone buildings for residential and household purposes were located on elevated places near sources fresh water. Household utensils are mainly represented by molded vessels - bowls, bowls, pots, etc.
There are large flat-bottomed vessels for storing products with a high narrow neck, convex sides and a black or brownish-gray polished surface. The ornamentation of the vessels is characterized by a low relief roller or a simple carved geometric pattern. During excavations, bone and small bronze objects are found - awls, piercings, jewelry, and occasionally iron products - swords, knives, arrowheads. In Crimea, monuments of the Cimmerian time are known on the Kerch Peninsula, in the Sivash region, on Tarkhankut and in the foothill zone. In the area of the Main Ridge of the Crimean Mountains, including on the yayla and the southern coast of the characteristic Cimmerian monuments of the 10th-8th centuries. BC e. not detected. Apparently, this is due to the fact that at that time other tribes lived here - the Tauri.
Taurus
With regard to this people, the earliest and most complete information is given by the "father of history" Herodotus. He visited the northern shores of the Black Sea, including Taurica, 60-70 years after the campaign of the Persian king Darius I here, so you can rely on his evidence of that time. It follows from the message of Herodotus: when Darius I went to war against the Scythians, the latter, seeing that they alone could not cope with the enemies, turned to neighboring tribes, including the Taurians, for help. The Taurians replied: “If you had not previously offended the Persians and started a war with them, then we would have considered your request correct and would gladly help you. However, without our help, you invaded the land of the Persians and owned it as long as the deity allowed it. Now this deity is on their side, and the Persians want to take revenge on you in the same way. Even then, we did not offend these people in any way and now we will not be the first to be at enmity with them.
Who are the Taurians and where did they live?
Herodotus draws the southern border of their country near the city of Kerkinitida (now Evpatoria). “From here,” he writes, “there is a mountainous country lying along the same sea. It protrudes into Pontus and is inhabited by Taurian tribes up to the so-called Rocky Chersonese.” The same localization of the possessions of the Tauris by Strabo, who lived in the 1st century. BC e .: the Taurus coast stretches from the Bay of Symbols (Balaklava) to Feodosia. Thus, according to ancient sources, the Taurians are the inhabitants of the mountainous Crimea and the southern coast.
The most striking monuments of the Taurians are their burial grounds made of stone boxes, usually located on hills. Often they are surrounded by cromlechs or rectangular fences. Burial mounds are not typical for them, but fillings or linings made of stone with earth are well known. Burials (single or collective) were made on the back (earlier) or on the side (later) with strongly pursed legs, with the head usually to the east, northeast, north.
The inventory of the Taurus burials is stucco ceramics, simple and polished, sometimes with embossed ridges, very rarely with a simple carved ornament. During excavations, artifacts made of stone, bone, bronze, and, more rarely, of iron are also found (Fig. 19).
Judging by archaeological excavations supported by written sources, the time of residence of this people is approximately from the 10th-9th centuries. BC e. according to the III century. BC e., and possibly later - before early medieval.
We divide the history of the Tauris into three periods.
Taurus of the early, pre-antique period (the end of the 10th - the first half of the 5th century BC). This stage of their history is characterized by the decomposition of the tribal system. The basis of the economy was cattle breeding and agriculture (obviously, mainly hoeing). All products obtained from these branches of the economy went to the internal needs of society. A comprehensive study of the known Taurus monuments, as well as numerous calculations on them, give reason to believe that the number of Taurians in this period hardly exceeded 5-6 thousand people.
Taurus of the developed, ancient period (second half of the 5th-3rd centuries BC). At this time, there is a transition from the tribe to class society. In addition to the widespread introduction of metal (bronze and iron), a significant increase in labor productivity, the establishment of close trade contacts (exchange) with the surrounding peoples - the Scythians and, especially, the Greeks, are also characteristic. Hence the abundance of imported items found during excavations. The basis of the economy of the developed period is the breeding of cattle and small cattle, and to a lesser extent agriculture (obviously, because part of the Tauris' possessions suitable for agriculture are occupied by the tribes of the Kizilkoba culture, driven from the north by the Scythians). The population of the Taurus in that period was 15-20 thousand people.
Taurus late period(II century BC - V century AD) are almost not studied archaeologically. It is known that in the 1st c. BC e. they, along with the Scythians, become allies of Mithridates in the fight against Rome. The turn and the first centuries of our era, apparently, should be considered as the agony of the Taurus world. Archaeological monuments of this period in the mountainous Crimea can be called Tauro-Scythian, and the population - Tauro-Scythians. After the early medieval invasion of the Goths, and then the Huns, the Taurians as an independent nation are no longer known.
Scythians
Under this name, ancient written sources report about them, but they themselves called themselves chipped. In the Northern Black Sea region, including the Crimea, these warlike nomadic tribes appeared in the 7th century. BC e. Having pressed the Cimmerians, the Scythians first penetrate the Kerch Peninsula and the plain Crimea, and then into its foothill part. In the second half of the 4th c. BC e. they seep into the original Taurus and Kizilkoba lands and, having switched to a settled way of life, create in the 3rd century. BC e. quite large public education with the capital Naples (now the territory of Simferopol).
The monuments of the Scythians are numerous and varied: settlements, shelters, settlements, burial structures (in the beginning barrows, later - extensive barrowless necropolises with earthen graves). Burials are characterized by an elongated burial rite. The accompanying inventory of mounds is molded undecorated vessels, weapons (bronze, iron or bone arrowheads, short swords - akinaki, spears, knives, scaly shells). Often there are bronze objects and decorations made in the so-called Scythian "animal style".
These are the main, leading signs of the Cimmerian, Taurus and Scythian tribes who lived in the Crimea simultaneously with the tribes of the Kizilkoba culture, the existence of which is known to us from archaeological sources.
Now let's compare the data. Let's start with the Kizilkobins and Taurians, first of all with their dishes, the most typical and widespread inventory. archaeological sites this time. Comparison (see Fig. 18 and Fig. 19) eloquently indicates that the Kizilkoba utensils are significantly different from the Taurus. In the first case, it is often decorated with an ornament, typical for this culture, of carved or grooved lines, combined with impressions; in the second, it is usually not ornamented.
This indisputable archaeological fact until the mid-60s seemed unconvincing. More evidence was needed. In addition, very important links were missing in the scientific material. Indeed, the irony of fate: the source of knowledge about the Taurians is burial grounds (there are no settlements!), And about the Kizilkobins - settlements (there are no burial grounds!). The excavations of the last fifteen years have clarified the picture in many ways. It was found, for example, that in the foothills, mountainous Crimea and on the southern coast there are many settlements where stucco unornamented ceramics of the 8th-3rd centuries were found. BC e., completely similar to ceramics from the Taurus stone boxes.
It was also possible to solve another puzzling issue - about the Kizilkoba burials. Excavations in the valley of the Salgir River, first in 1954 in the zone of the Simferopol reservoir (under the direction of P. N. Schultz and A. D. Stolyar), and then in the Simferopol suburbs of Maryino and Ukrainka, in the upper reaches of the Small Salgir, in the middle reaches of the Alma and others places (under the leadership of A. A. Shchepinsky. - Ed.) showed that the Kizilkobins buried the dead in small mounds - earthen or made of small stone. The graves are known as the main and repeated (inlet), often they are side-pit - with stone side mortgages. In terms of the grave, it is elongated-oval, sometimes with a slight expansion in the head area. Burials - single or in pairs - were made in an elongated (occasionally slightly crouched) position on the back, with arms along the body. The predominant orientation is western. Funeral inventory - stucco ornamented pots, bowls, goblets of the Kizilkoba look, bronze arrowheads, iron swords, knives, as well as various decorations, lead spindle whorls, bronze mirrors, etc. Most of these types of burials date back to VII-V and IV - the beginning 3rd century BC e., and their range is quite wide: the mountainous and foothill part of the peninsula, the northern, northwestern and southwestern Crimea, the Kerch Peninsula.
An interesting touch: Kizilkoba ceramics are also found during excavations of the ancient settlements of Nymphea, Panticapaeum, Tiritaki, Mirmekia. This is on the Kerch Peninsula. The same picture is at the opposite end of the Crimea - on the Tarkhankut Peninsula: Kizilkobinskaya ceramics was discovered during excavations of the settlements of ancient times "Seagull", Kerkinitida, Chegoltai (Masliny), near the village of Chernomorsky, near the villages of Severnoye and Popovka.
What are the conclusions from all this? Firstly, the geometric ornament of ceramics - the most expressive feature of the Kizilkoba culture - is clearly not Taurian. Secondly, in the Crimea there are burials made in the "Taurian time", which, according to all the leading signs (type of structure, construction of the grave, funeral rite, orientation of the buried, ceramics) differ from the burials in the Taurus stone cists. Thirdly, the distribution area of settlements and burials goes far beyond the original Taurica - the possessions of the Taurians. And, finally, in the same area where the Taurus stone boxes were found, there are now known settlements with similar ceramics, Taurus in appearance.
In a word, all the arguments and conclusions can be reduced to one thing: the Kizilkobins and the Taurians are not the same thing, and there is no reason to bring them closer (and even more so to put an equal sign between them).
The hypothesis that the kurgan burials with Kizilkoba ceramics belong to the early Scythians is also not confirmed. In the Crimea, the earliest Scythian burials appear, judging by the excavations, at the end of the 7th century. BC e. on the Kerch Peninsula, and in the foothills of the Crimea - only two or three centuries later. Their inventory is also specific, especially items in the "animal style" characteristic of the Scythians. Back in 1954, the archaeologist T.N. Troitskaya perspicaciously noted that in the early Scythian time "on the territory of the foothill, mountainous and, probably, the steppe part of Crimea, the main population were local tribes, carriers of the Kizilkoba culture."
So, in the Early Iron Age (V-III centuries BC), three main cultures were widespread in the Crimea - Taurus, Kizilkoba and Scythian (Fig. 21). Each of them has its own pronounced cultural and historical features, its own type of settlements, burials, ceramics, etc.
The question of the origin and formation of the Taurus and Kizilkoba cultures also deserves attention. Some researchers believe that the basis of the Taurian culture is the culture of the late bronze age Central and North Caucasus, in particular, the so-called Koban; according to others, the culture of the Taurians has one of the material sources of the buried stone boxes of the Bronze Age, which are now commonly associated with the Kemioba culture. One way or another, the roots of the Taurus, as well as the Kizilkoba, come from the depths of the Bronze Age. But if in the Kemiobins one can see the ancestors of the Taurians, pushed back by the steppe aliens to the mountainous regions of Crimea, then the Kizilkobins most likely descend from the carriers of the late Catacomb culture (named after the type of burials - catacombs). In the first half of the II millennium BC. e. these tribes begin to penetrate into the foothills and mountainous Crimea and to the southern coast; in them, many researchers see the ancient Cimmerians.
Both researchers and readers always strive to get to the bottom of the primary sources: what happened before? and how is this confirmed? Therefore, we will tell about the problem of ethnogenesis, i.e., the origin of tribes, in more detail - with the disclosure of all the difficulties that stand in the way of the truth.
The reader already knows: the distant ancestors of the Taurians are most likely the Kemiobins, pushed back by the steppe newcomers to the mountainous regions of the Crimea. The proof is the signs that are common to both cultures, Kemiobin and Taurus. Let's call these features:
megalithic tradition, in other words - the presence of massive stone structures (cromlechs, fences, menhirs, mortgages, "stone boxes");
construction of burial structures: "stone boxes", often trapezoidal in longitudinal and transverse section, pebble bedding, etc.;
burial rite: on the back or on the side with legs bent at the knees;
orientation of the buried according to the cardinal points: east or northeast prevails;
collective, obviously, ancestral tombs and cremations;
the nature of the ceramics: stucco, polished, unornamented, sometimes with embossed ridges (Fig. 22).
Who were those steppe aliens who pushed the Kemiobians into the mountains? Most likely, the tribes of the Catacomb culture. However, it must be borne in mind that this culture is far from homogeneous. According to the burial rite and inventory, three types of burials are clearly distinguished in it - on the back with legs bent at the knees, on the back in an extended position, and on the side in a strongly crouched position. All of them were made under mounds, in the so-called catacombs. Burials of the first type with bent legs are accompanied by unornamented or weakly ornamented vessels, the second - elongated type - on the contrary, richly ornamented, and the third - crouched type - coarse vessels or completely devoid of grave goods.
Catacomb elements are best preserved in elongated burials, which can be traced to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. In them, obviously, one must see the proto-Cimmerians - the ancestors of the Kizilkobins.
The fact that late Catacomb tribes took the most active part in the formation of the Kizilkobin tribes can be judged by the following signs common to the Catacombs and Kizilkobins:
the presence of burial mounds and burial mounds;
construction of catacomb graves for catacombs and catacomb linings for the Kyzylkobins;
rite of burial in an extended position on the back;
close forms of stucco vessels;
the presence of ceramics with a similar ornamental motif;
the similarity of tools - diamond-shaped stone hammers (Fig. 23).
In this historical reconstruction There is one shortcoming: between the Kemiobins and Tauris, on the one hand, and the tribes of the Catacomb and Kizilkobin cultures, on the other, there is a time gap of about 300-500 years. Of course, there can be neither breaks nor interruptions in history; there is a lack of knowledge here.
Considering the “silent period” (this is the second half of the 2nd millennium BC), it is permissible to assume that archaeologists make the age of the latest Kemiobinsky and Catacomb monuments somewhat older, while individual Taurus and Kizilkoba, on the contrary, rejuvenate. Special studies have shown that those materials that are archaeologically dated to the 9th-6th centuries. BC e., according to the radiocarbon method are defined as the XII-VIII centuries. BC e., i.e., 200-300 years older. It should also be taken into account that it was in the second half of the II millennium BC. e. in the burial mounds of the Crimea, as well as the whole south of Ukraine, small stone boxes appear, similar in design and inventory, on the one hand, to Kemiobinsky, and on the other, to Early Taurus. It is possible that they fill in the missing link.
Finally, with the same “silent period” in Crimea, several archaeological cultures- the so-called multi-roll ceramics (1600-1400 BC), early-carving (1500-1400 BC) and late-carcass, in the materials of which the monuments of Sabatinovsky (1400-1150 BC) are distinguished .) and Belozersky (1150-900 BC) types. In our opinion, the most convincing is the point of view of those researchers who believe that the Sabatinovskaya culture is formed on the basis of the culture of multi-rolled ceramics and that its bearers were part of the Cimmerian tribal union.
It is difficult to talk about that distant time with complete certainty: it was like this or like that. I have to add: perhaps, apparently. In any case, the formation and development of the Kizilkoba and Taurus cultures followed (apparently!) two parallel paths. One of them supposedly ran along the line "Kemiobins - Taurians", the other - along the line "Late Catacomb culture - Cimmerians - Kizilkobins".
As the reader already knows, at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. Cimmerians inhabited the flat Crimea and, for the most part, the Kerch Peninsula. Taurians lived in the foothills, mountains and on the southern coast at that time. However, in the 7th century BC e. the situation has changed - Scythian nomads appear in the Crimean steppes, and the number of Kizilkobins increases in the southern and mountainous parts of the peninsula. These are the archaeological data. They are quite consistent with the legend transmitted by Herodotus: "The nomadic tribes of the Scythians lived in Asia. When the Massagetae (also nomads - Ed.) ousted them from there by military force, the Scythians crossed the Araks and arrived in the Cimmerian land (the country now inhabited by the Scythians, as they say , belonged to the Cimmerians since ancient times). With the approach of the Scythians, the Cimmerians began to hold the Council, what to do in the face of a large enemy army. Opinions were divided - the people were for the retreat, the kings considered it necessary to protect the land from the invaders. Having made such a decision (or rather, two opposite decisions. - Ed.), the Cimmerians divided into two equal parts and began to fight among themselves. The Cimmerians buried all those who died in the fratricidal war near the Tirsa River. After that, the Cimmerians left their land, and the Scythians who came took possession of the deserted country. "
It is quite possible that some of these Cimmerians who "left their land" moved to the mountainous Crimea and settled among the Taurus tribes, laying the foundation for a culture that we conventionally call "Kizilkobin". Perhaps it was this migration of the late Cimmerians that was reflected in Strabo, in his message that in mountain country Taurians have Mount Table and Mount Kimmerik. Be that as it may, but there is such a point of view, shared by many researchers: the Kizilkobins are the late Cimmerians. Or, according to another assumption (in our opinion, more correct), the Kizilkobins are one of the local groups of the late Cimmerians.
It would seem that this can be put an end to. But it's too early. As Academician B. A. Rybakov noted back in 1952: “None of the historical events in the Crimea cannot be considered in isolation, without connection with the fate of not only the Northern Black Sea region, but also the whole of Eastern Europe. The history of Crimea is an integral and important part of the history of Eastern Europe" 37, 33.
The traces of the Kizilkobin tribes are not limited to the Crimea either. Studies have shown that similar monuments, but with their own local features, are known outside the Crimea. Typical Kizilkobinskaya ceramics on the territory of mainland Ukraine was found in the oldest layer of Olbia, on the island of Berezan, near the village of Bolshaya Chernomorka in the Nikolaev region, in the Scythian settlement of Kamensky in the Lower Dnieper region.
There are also burials of the Kizilkoba type. One of them was found in a barrow near the village of Chaplynki in the south of the Kherson region, the other - in a barrow near the village of Pervokonstantinovka in the same region. Special interest causes the fact that in the North-Western Black Sea region there are burials of the 8th - early 7th centuries. BC e. (and there are quite a lot of them), similar to those of Kizilkoba: catacombs and ground graves, burials in an elongated position with a predominantly western orientation, ceramics with carved geometric ornaments.
Cimmerian burials in catacombs and side-chamber burial structures, completely similar to those of Kizilkobin, are now known in the vast territory of the south of our country - in Odessa, Nikolaev, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Volgograd regions, in the Stavropol Territory, as well as in Astrakhan and Saratov regions. The territory of distribution of monuments of this kind coincides with the distribution area of the Catacomb culture. There are numerous analogues of Kizilkoba ceramics in the North Caucasus. These are finds from the upper layer of the Alkhasta settlement in the Assinsky gorge, from the Aivazovsky settlement on the Sushka River, and especially from the Serpent settlement. Similar pottery is found in the North Caucasian cemeteries. Consequently, as P. N. Shults wrote in 1952, the Kizilkoba culture is not an isolated phenomenon, it has close analogues in a number of elements both in the North Caucasus and in the south of mainland Ukraine (Fig. 24).
One should not be embarrassed by the fact that in some manifestations of the Kizilkoba culture there are early Scythian or Taurian elements, or, on the contrary, in the latter - Kizilkoba. This is explained by the surrounding historical situation, in which contacts with the tribes of neighboring cultures are inevitable - the Scythians, Savromats, Taurians, Greeks. There are a number of cases where the Kyzylkoba and Taurus sites are located in close proximity to each other. Several such monuments are located in the area of the Red Caves, including a large settlement in the Golden Yarmo tract on Dolgorukovskaya Yaila. Here, on a small area in one layer (thickness 15 cm), there are archaeological materials of the Neolithic, Taurus and Kizilkoba appearance; nearby are the "stone boxes" of the Taurians, and the Kizilkobin burial ground. Such richness of this part of the yayla with early Iron Age monuments leaves no doubt that at a certain stage the Kizilkoba and Taurus tribes coexisted.
A complex archaeological complex of the Early Iron Age was discovered in 1950 and studied by us in the Tash-Dzhargan tract near Simferopol. And again the same picture - the Taurus and Kizilkoba settlements are nearby. The first of them adjoins a burial ground from Taurus "stone boxes", near the second there was once a burial ground from small mounds, burials under them were accompanied by Kizilkoba ceramics.
Close proximity can easily explain the case when certain elements typical of the Kizilkoba culture are found on the Taurus sites, and vice versa. This may also indicate something else - about peaceful relations between the tribes.
Outside the Northern Black Sea region, the Savromats of the Don and Trans-Volga regions are closest to the Kizilkobins: a similar construction of the grave, the same western orientation of the buried, a similar type of ornamentation of dishes. Most likely, there are some connections between the Sauromatians and the Cimmerians.
The material from the Red Caves and numerous analogues outside them confirm the opinion of those researchers who consider the Cimmerians as a complex phenomenon - a kind of conglomerate of many local pre-Scythian tribes. Obviously, at the dawn of the Early Iron Age, these tribes - the natives of the Northern Black Sea region - constituted a single Cimmerian cultural and historical region.
In conditions Crimean peninsula, with its certain geographical isolation, the Cimmerians preserved their traditions longer than in other regions of the Northern Black Sea region. True, in different parts of the Crimea their fate was different. In the steppe regions, the remnants of the disunited Cimmerian tribes (i.e., the Kizilkobins) were forced to enter into close contacts with the Scythians and ancient Greek settlers. In their environment, they soon assimilated, which is confirmed by the materials of the ancient settlements of Tarkhankut and the Kerch Peninsula.
The late Cimmerian (Kizilkoba) tribes of the mountainous Crimea have a different fate. The Scythians, these typical steppe dwellers, were not attracted to the mountainous regions. The Greeks did not aspire here either. The bulk of the population was made up of aboriginal Taurus tribes and, to a much lesser extent, Cimmerian. Consequently, when the nomadic Scythians began to occupy the flat part of the Crimea, the Cimmerians (aka Kizilkobins), who retreated under their onslaught, found here, in the mountains, favorable soil for themselves. Although these tribes came into close contact with the Tauri, they nevertheless retained their traditions and, obviously, a certain independence for a long time.
Ancient peoples in Crimea - Cimmerians, Taurians and Scythians
29.02.2012
Cimmerians
Cimmerian tribes occupied the lands from the Dniester to the Don, part of the northern Crimea, the Taman and Kerch Peninsulas. The city of Kimmerik was located on the Kerch Peninsula. These tribes were engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture, tools and weapons were made of bronze and iron. Cimmerian kings with military detachments made military campaigns against neighboring camps. They took prisoners for slavery. 
In the 7th century BC. Cimmeria collapsed under the onslaught of the more powerful and numerous Scythians. Some Cimmerians went to other lands and disappeared among the peoples of Asia Minor and Persia, some intermarried with the Scythians and remained in the Crimea. There is no clear idea of what origin this people is, but based on studies of the language of the Cimmerians, they suggest their Indo-Iranian origin. 
TAVRA
Name brands given to the people by the Greeks, presumably in connection with the sacrifice to the Virgin - the supreme goddess of the ancient Crimean settlement. The foot of the main altar of the Virgin, located on Cape Fiolent, was framed with the blood of not only bulls (Taurians), but also people, as ancient authors write about: “Taurians are a numerous people and love nomadic life in the mountains. In their cruelty they are barbarians and murderers, propitiating their gods with dishonest deeds.
The Taurians were the first in the Crimea to sculpt human sculptures, monumental works of art. These figures were erected on the tops of mounds, surrounded by stone fences at the base. 
The Taurians lived in tribes, which later, probably, united in tribal unions. They were engaged in shepherding, farming and hunting, and the coastal Tauris also fished and sailed. Sometimes they attacked foreign ships - most often Greek. The Taurians did not have slavery, so they killed the captives or used them for sacrifice. They were familiar with the craft: pottery, weaving, spinning, bronze casting, bone and stone making.
Possessing all the advantages of local residents, accustomed to the Crimean conditions, the Taurians often made daring sorties, attacking grizons of new fortresses. Here is how Ovid describes the everyday life of one of these fortresses: “A little on the hour from the watch tower will give an alarm, we immediately put on armor with a trembling hand. A ferocious enemy, armed with a bow and arrows saturated with poison, inspects the walls on a heavily breathing horse and, just as a predatory wolf carries and drags a sheep that has not made it to the sheepfold through the pastures and forests, so the hostile barbarian captures anyone he finds in the fields who has not yet been accepted by the fence gate. He is either taken prisoner with a stock around his neck, or dies from a poisonous arrow. And it was not for nothing that the whole chain of Roman defense was turned by the front to the mountains - the danger threatened from there.
They often fought with their northern neighbor - the Scythians, while developing a peculiar tactic: the Taurians, undertaking a war, always dug up the roads in the rear and, having made them impassable, went into battle. They did this so that, not being able to escape, it was necessary to either win or die. Taurians who died on the field were buried in stone boxes made of slabs weighing several tons.
SCYTHIANS
To Crimea Scythians penetrated around the 7th century. BC. These were people of 30 tribes who spoke seven dissimilar languages. 
Studies of coins with images of Scythians and other objects of that time show that their hair was thick, their eyes were open, straight-set, their forehead was high, their nose was narrow and straight.
The Scythians soon appreciated the favorable climate and fertile soil of the peninsula. They mastered almost the entire territory of Crimea, except for the waterless steppes, for agriculture and pastoral cattle breeding. The Scythians bred sheep, pigs, bees, and maintained an attachment to cattle breeding. In addition, the Scythians traded their grain, wool, honey, wax, and flax.
Oddly enough, but the former nomads mastered navigation so skillfully that in that era the Black Sea was called the Scythian.
They brought from other countries overseas wines, fabrics, jewelry and other art objects. The Scythian population was divided into tillers, warriors, merchants, sailors and artisans of various specialties: potters, masons, builders, tanners, foundry workers, blacksmiths, etc.
A peculiar monument was made - a cauldron made of bronze, the thickness of the walls of which was 6 fingers, and the capacity was 600 amphoras (about 24 thousand liters).
The capital of the Scythians in the Crimea was Naples(Greek " new town"). The Scythian name of the city has not survived. The walls of Naples at that time reached a huge thickness - 8-12 meters - and the same height.
Scythia did not know priests - only fortune-tellers who managed without temples. The Scythians deified the Sun, Moon, stars, natural phenomena - rain, thunder, lightning, held holidays in honor of the earth and cattle. On high barrows they erected high statues - "women" as monuments to all their ancestors. 
The Scythian state collapsed in the III century. BC. under the blows of another warlike people- Sarmatians.
For a long time, the peoples living on the territory of the Crimean peninsula participated in the formation of ethnic societies. These processes were calculated for centuries. At the time before our era, this area was inhabited by Taurians, nomadic Cimmerian, Scythian and Sarmatian tribes. In the Middle Ages, the Greeks, Tatars, Alans, Goths, and Turks left their mark. The Tatar-Mongols, intertwined with the Greeks and Polovtsy, formed the core ethnic group, called the Crimean Tatars, which represented the main population Crimean Khanate that existed from the 15th to the 18th century. After the conquest of the Crimea, since 1783 there was a gradual resettlement of Russians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews to these lands.
By our time, a modern multinational community of peoples has developed. This ethnic symbiosis includes representatives of about 125 nationalities. The largest groups are Russians (65%), Ukrainians (16%) and Crimean Tatars (12%). Given this structure of the population in Crimea, three languages are used and enshrined at the legislative level as state languages: Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar. Other nationalities are not so widely represented, but they all take their place in the national palette and influence the culture of this region. According to census statistics, 2.3 million people permanently live in Crimea (including the city of Sevastopol). The Russian language is the most common and used in all spheres of life, and is also universal for interethnic communication.
Russians
The representation of the Russian people in the Crimea has been quite significant since ancient times. During the period of the Crimean Khanate, captives from Rus', Russian diplomats, merchants, and monks stayed there. They have been part of the local population for centuries, and after the conquest of the Crimea, they remained there as Russian subjects. The mass settlement of Russian people began after the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1783. The migrants were the military, who received preferences from the state for calling their relatives for permanent place residence on the peninsula. The widows came and unmarried girls to create families. An additional impetus was the departure of the Crimean Tatars to the territory of modern Turkey and the liberation of fertile lands for the start of a new life for the settlers. The migration of Russians to the Crimea continued throughout the 19th century. The favorable climate and nature of the southern coast attracted many tourists for treatment and recreation. It was at this time that magnificent palaces for reigning and influential persons began to appear, which today act as attractions and places of pilgrimage for vacationers. The result of these processes was the predominance of the Russian ethnic group in the Crimea at the beginning of the last century.
Ukrainians
After the revolutions and wars in Russia in the 1920s and 1930s, Ukrainians also began to move to Crimea. The mass resettlement of Little Russians began after the annexation of Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954. Fulfilling the plans of the government, migrants from the western regions of Ukraine, officials and employees were drawn to the collective farms of the Crimean region.
Crimean Tatars
Crimean Tatars are the third largest ethnic group on the Crimean peninsula. This people is complex and dramatic fate, an ethno-cocktail from a mixture of different peoples, formed over several centuries. The appearance of a special Turkic ethnos was facilitated by living in a separate area, the predominance of Islam and a common language. Initially, the Tatars lived in the steppe Crimea, but the spread of Islam expanded their zone of influence. They were joined by the inhabitants of the mountainous regions and south coast who took new religion. The annexation of Crimea to Russia contributed to the outflow of indigenous people from the peninsula, and the resettlement of Slavic peoples reduced the share of Tatars in the population. Another dramatic outcome of the Crimean Tatars occurred during their deportation from the Crimea in 1944. But at the end of the twentieth century, the reverse process of the return of the Tatars to their historical land began and in last years there is a steady increase in the number of this ethnic group. The main population density of the Crimean Tatars is in rural areas in the steppe part of the peninsula.
Other nations
In addition to these three large nations, still lives in Crimea a large number of medium and small ethnic groups, whose roots are firmly fused with the Crimean land. These are Crimean Greeks, Crimean Armenians, Jews, Karaites and Krymchaks, Gypsies, Azerbaijanis, Moldavians, Poles, Germans, Bulgarians. Crimea is a multinational, multilingual peninsula professing many religions, so small in area and so big in warmth and friendship.
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Our Motherland - Crimea
... Within Russia there is no other country that would have lived such a long and intense historical life, participating in the Hellenic Mediterranean culture in all the centuries of its existence ...
M. A. Voloshin
The Crimean peninsula is a "natural pearl of Europe" - due to its
geographic location and unique natural conditions from ancient times
was the crossroads of many maritime transit roads connecting various
states, tribes and peoples. The most famous "Great Silk Road"
passed through the Crimean peninsula and connected the Roman and Chinese empires.
Later, he connected together all the uluses of the Mongol-Tatar empire
and played significant role in the political and economic life of peoples,
inhabiting Europe, Asia and China.
Science claims that about 250 thousand years ago, a man first appeared on the territory of the Crimean peninsula. And since that time, in different historical eras on our peninsula lived, replacing each other various tribes and peoples, there were different arrangements of state formations.
Many of us had to deal with the names "Tavrika", "Tavrida", which were used and continue to be used in relation to the Crimea. The appearance of these geographical names is directly related to the people, which can rightfully be considered a Crimean aborigine, since its entire history from beginning to end is inextricably linked with the peninsula.
The ancient Greek word "tauros" is translated as "bulls". On this basis, it was concluded that the Greeks called so local residents because they had a cult of the bull. It has been suggested that the Crimean highlanders called themselves some kind of unknown word, consonant Greek word"bulls". The Greeks called Taurus the mountain system in Asia Minor. Mastering the Crimea, the Hellenes, by analogy with Asia Minor, called the Taurus and the Crimean mountains. From the mountains, the people living in them (Taurians), as well as the peninsula (Tavrika), on which they were located, got their name.
Antique sources brought to us meager information about the ancient inhabitants of the Crimea - Cimmerians, Taurians, Scythians, Sarmatians. The main population of the Crimea, especially the mountainous part, ancient authors call the Taurians. The most ancient people recorded in writing in the Crimea and the Black Sea steppes were the Cimmerians; they lived here at the turn of the II-I millennium BC, and some scientists consider the Taurians to be their direct descendants. Approximately in VII-VI Art. BC. the Cimmerians were ousted by the Scythians, then the Scythians were ousted by the Sarmatians, while the remnants of the first Cimmerian, then the Taurus and Scythian tribes, as researchers think, retreat to the mountains, where they keep their ethno-cultural identity for a long time. About 722 B.C. e. the Scythians were expelled from Asia and founded a new capital, Scythian Naples, in the Crimea on the Salgir River (within modern Simferopol). The "Scythian" period is characterized by qualitative changes in the composition of the population itself. Archaeological data show that after that the basis of the population northwestern Crimea were the peoples who came from the Dnieper region. In the VI - V centuries BC. e., when the Scythians ruled the steppes, the Greeks founded their trading colonies on the coast of Crimea.
The settlement of the Black Sea region by the Greeks took place gradually. Mostly the sea coast was populated, and in some places the density of small settlements was quite high. Sometimes the settlements were in direct line of sight from one another. ancient cities and the settlements were concentrated in the region of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Peninsula) with the largest cities of Panticapaeum (Kerch) and Feodosia; in the region of the Western Crimea - with the main center Chersonese (Sevastopol).
In the Middle Ages, a small Turkic people appeared in Taurica - the Karaites. Self-name: Karai (One Karaite) and Karaylar (Karaites). Thus, instead of the ethnonym "Karaim" it is more correct to say "karay". Their material and spiritual culture, language, way of life and customs are of great interest.
Analyzing the available anthropological, linguistic and other data, a significant part of scientists see the Karaites as descendants of the Khazars. This people settled mainly in the foothills and mountains of Taurica. The settlement of Chufut-Kale was a peculiar center.
With the penetration of the Mongol-Tatars into Taurica, whole line changes. First of all, this concerned the ethnic composition of the population, which underwent great changes. Along with the Greeks, Russians, Alans, Polovtsians, Tatars appeared on the peninsula in the middle of the 13th century, and Turks in the 15th century. In the 13th century, mass migration of Armenians began. At the same time, the Italians are actively rushing to the peninsula.
988 Prince Vladimir of Kiev and his retinue adopted Christianity in Chersonese. On the territory of the Kerch and Taman peninsulas, the Tmutarakan principality was formed with the prince of Kyiv at the head, which existed until the 11th - 12th centuries. After the fall of the Khazar Khaganate and the weakening of the confrontation between Kievan Rus and Byzantium, the campaigns of Russian squads in the Crimea stopped, and trade and cultural ties between Taurica and Kievan Rus continued to exist.
The first Russian communities began to appear in Sudak, Feodosia and Kerch in the Middle Ages. They were merchants and artisans. The mass resettlement of serfs from central Russia began in 1783 after the annexation of Crimea to the empire. Disabled soldiers and Cossacks received land for free settlement. Construction railway at the end of the 19th century. and the development of industry also caused an influx of the Russian population.
Now representatives of more than 125 nations and nationalities live in Crimea, the main part is Russians (more than half), then Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars (their number and proportion in the population is growing rapidly), a significant proportion of Belarusians, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, Germans, Bulgarians , Gypsies, Poles, Czechs, Italians. Small in number, but still noticeable in the culture of the small peoples of the Crimea - the Karaites and Krymchaks.
The age-old experience of nationalities leads to the conclusion:
Let's live in peace!
Anatoly Matyushin
I won't reveal any secrets
There is no ideal society
If only the world consisted of aesthetes,
Maybe there would be an answer.
Why is the world so restless
A lot of anger and all sorts of enmity,
We are neighbors in a huge apartment,
We would not slide into trouble.
Taking up arms is not the point
Grieving for all the oppressed,
Don't try to change others
Maybe just improve yourself?.
To improve something
I would like to convince people
The world would be a little better
We just need to be friends with everyone!
