The term Scythians refers to the warrior nomads who inhabited the Black Sea region in the Early Iron Age, the territory of the present-day Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia. They appear in ancient historical sources as remarkably vivid nomadic groups who embraced a powerful domination over neighbouring populations in Early Iron Age Eurasia. Even though the main driving force of this supremacy were cultural factors they had to differ from other human groups also in terms of biological and demographic structures (e.g. health status, mortality and life expectancy). The aim of the present study was to assess the biological state and dynamics of the Scythian population from the Black Sea region. We assume that Scythians, due to their lifestyle and remarkable position, were characterized by relatively low fertility, low mortality and higher life expectancy compared with other populations of similar chronology. The osteological material representing 220 individuals comes from Glinoe (Moldova) and dates to the 4th-2nd c. B.C. The human remains were examined for an assessment of fertility and biological status based on life table parameters and basic indicators of the reproductive potential. The Scythians differed from other human groups from the Early Iron Age in high probability of dying in early adulthood (q20). Fertility in the examined sample was rather low (TFR=3.89; MFS=2.53; A=81.62), which corresponds to the results of the studies on contemporary nomads.
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These results suggest that the demographic structure of Scythians could depend to some extent on their lifestyle, characterized by conflicts and wars, significantly contributing to high mortality of young
These results suggest that the demographic structure of Scythians could depend to some extent on their lifestyle, characterized by conflicts and wars, significantly contributing to high mortality of young