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Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Objects, Places and Interactions in the...
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Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Objects, Places and Interactions in the Western Scythian World

A special issue of Arts (ISSN 2076-0752).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2026) | Viewed by 2828

Editor

Prof. Dr. Caspar Meyer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Bard Graduate Center, Bard College, New York, NY 10024, USA
Interests: archaeology of Eurasia and ancient Greece; nomadic material culture; ancient craft and technology; cross-cultural interaction and exchange
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

For millennia, the mobile people of the Eurasian steppe played a pivotal role in world history through contacts with neighboring sedentary civilizations in China, India, West Asia and Europe. Often portrayed as destructive raiders and ‘barbarians’ by external observers, their impact was in fact far more nuanced than these representations suggest. Beyond mere conduits of material goods and technologies, the steppe people were active participants in shaping the cultural landscapes of the regions they inhabited, frequently transforming social and economic structures and innovating forms of material and artistic expression beyond the steppe.

In this Special Issue, we aim to reevaluate the dynamics of interaction and change between mobile and sedentary populations in western Eurasia during the era of the Scythians. We invite scholars to contribute to a multi-vocal and interdisciplinary exploration of cultural agency and transformation in the northern Black Sea area and adjoining regions to the west, with a particular focus on the material and textual evidence of exchange, reception, technological transmission and shifting social structures. Of particular interest are contributions that highlight archeology’s potential to challenge existing narratives by revealing the multifaceted patterns of adaptation, hybridization and creative innovation that shed light on the mutual entanglements between the people of the steppe and the forest steppe, Greek settlers along the Black Sea shore and farming communities in the Hallstatt world further west. We also welcome contributions that situate the distinctive cultural and political configurations of the first millennium BCE in long-term or historiographical perspectives to illuminate the broader frameworks in which the later steppe polities came into being. Through such multi-scalar approaches, we hope to show how material culture connects individuals, sites and civilizations, and shapes historical processes in fundamental ways.  

To propose an article for publication, please contact the Guest Editor with a provisional title and short abstract. Full manuscripts should be up to 8000 words long.

Prof. Dr. Caspar Meyer
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Arts is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • archaeology
  • Eurasian nomads
  • Hallstatt
  • Hillforts
  • Iron Age
  • material culture
  • Northern Black Sea region
  • Scythians

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

50 pages, 53822 KB  
Article
The Unusual Construction of Kurgans of the Scythian Elite from the 4th Century BC in a Burial Ground near the Village of Vodoslavka in the Northern Sivash Region (Ukraine)
by Marina Daragan and Sergei Polin
Arts 2026, 15(6), 133; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts15060133 - 4 Jun 2026
Viewed by 741
Abstract
This study focuses on the construction sequence of three complex and atypical Scythian kurgans at the Vodoslavka burial ground in the Northern Sivash region, which incorporate several unique structural and ritual elements. One of the most striking features is the layer of mud [...] Read more.
This study focuses on the construction sequence of three complex and atypical Scythian kurgans at the Vodoslavka burial ground in the Northern Sivash region, which incorporate several unique structural and ritual elements. One of the most striking features is the layer of mud applied to the ground surface prior to mound construction, which, in several cases, formed anthropomorphic outlines. Funerary feasting, which took place both before and during the burial ceremony, was just one of the other features. So too was the deliberate shaping of soil removed from the central grave into a spherical segment, and the ritual activity associated with this prepared spoil heap. Although the mounds’ preserved height is relatively modest (originally about 3–5 m), their internal organisation and the composition of the grave goods suggest that they were used for burying individuals of high status within Scythian society. The cemetery’s proximity to major salt lakes suggests that the local elite’s affluence may have been linked to their control over this vital resource. The architectural and depositional features of the kurgans can be interpreted as elements of a ritual system designed to ensure the deceased’s proper transition to the afterlife. The design of the burial chambers and the richness of the grave goods reflect a concern for the conditions of existence in the afterlife, while the associated manipulations of the sub-mound space and mound deposits, prepared surfaces, deliberately shaped spoil heaps, and related ritual practices can be understood as material markers and procedures intended to secure the successful passage of the deceased to the afterlife. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Objects, Places and Interactions in the Western Scythian World)
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19 pages, 4451 KB  
Article
Central European Female Clothing Ensemble from the Burial Mound of the Skorobir Necropolis
by Iryna Shramko
Arts 2026, 15(6), 122; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts15060122 - 1 Jun 2026
Viewed by 1280
Abstract
One of the indicators of high social status of women in ancient societies is the funerary costume, whose main element is the headgear. In our previous work, we drew attention to several female burials in the first half of the 6th century BC, [...] Read more.
One of the indicators of high social status of women in ancient societies is the funerary costume, whose main element is the headgear. In our previous work, we drew attention to several female burials in the first half of the 6th century BC, which featured funerary headdresses adorned with gold plaques of several types. All of them come from the territory of forest-steppe Scythia. During recent excavations at one of the largest necropoleis of the Bilsk hillfort, a burial mound of the last quarter of the 6th century BC yielded another grave of a member of the local elite, whose funerary headdress was decorated with gold plaques. Among the objects placed in the grave was a unique set of Central European leather items (a belt and a cap), which, although not belonging to the funerary costume proper, were nevertheless used in the funerary rite. Being found among sacred objects, the belt and the cap may be attributed to female ceremonial dress, emphasizing the special position of the deceased woman in society. The state of preservation of these items makes it possible to reconstruct their shape; trace a number of features of cut and manufacturing technique, as well as the design of a previously unknown type of Central European headdress of the Hallstatt period; propose their reconstruction; discuss the probable place of manufacture of these unique artifacts and the mechanism by which they reached the barrow necropolis of forest-steppe Scythia; and extend the chronological framework of the period of burials of elite women in this region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Situating Eurasia in Antiquity: Objects, Places and Interactions in the Western Scythian World)
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