Uploaded April 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
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The Scythians were one of the great civilisations of the ancient world along with the Greeks and the Celts, but what is their origins and their genetic history?
The Scythians enter the historical record around the 9th century BC. Certain sources argue that they grow out of the Srubnaya culture, or Timber-grave culture, a Late Bronze Age 1850–1450 BC culture in the eastern part of Pontic–Caspian steppe. This culture is generally associated with ancient Iranian speakers. Their name comes from Russian, сруб (srub), meaning "timber framework", from the way their graves were constructed.
For a detailed breakdown on the Scythians in general, check my playlist on them that I’ll link above.
An interesting genetic study that looked at the Scythians from 2021 took genome-wide data for 111 ancient individuals retrieved from 39 archaeological sites from the first millennia BCE and CE across the Central Asian Steppe. Just for reference on dates before we continue, the Bronze Age lasted from 3300 BC – 1200 BC, with the Middle Bronze Age starting around 2000 BC.
The authors note that three competing hypotheses have often debated regarding the origins of the Scythians: a Pontic-Caspian origin, supported by their assumed Iranian languages, a Kazakh Steppe origin supported by the archaeological findings, and a multiple independent origin from genetically distinct groups that adopted common cultural traits.
The study did not find support for a western Pontic-Caspian steppe origin. This makes sense as we know that the Scythians moved into the Pontic-Caspian steppe from Central Asia as opposed to originating there.
The study found that the Kazakh Steppe origin hypothesis finds instead a better correspondence with our results, but rather than finding support for one of the two extreme hypotheses, i.e., single origin with population diffusion versus multiple independent origins with only cultural transmission, we found evidence for at least two independent origins as well as population diffusion and admixture (Fig. 4B).
In particular, the eastern groups are consistent with descending from a gene pool that formed as a result of a mixture between preceding local steppe Middle and Late BA sources (which could be associated with different cultures such as Sintashta, Srubnaya, and Andronovo that are genetically homogeneous) and a specific eastern Eurasian source that was already present during the Late Bronze Age in the neighboring northern Mongolia region (27).
Sources:
Herodotus, the Histories (2008: Oxford University Press)
Srubnaya culture en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srubnaya_culture
Scythians en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythians
Science Daily, Ancient genomes trace the origin and decline of the Scythians - Science News sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210326151352.htm
Ancient genomic time transect from the Central Asian Steppe unravels the history of the Scythians, Science Advances science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abe4414
Pontic–Caspian steppe en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontic%E2%80%93Caspian_steppe
Targitaos en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Targitaos
Chapters:
0:00 Scythian Origins and Genetics
3:01 Altai Mountain Region and Ural Mountains
5:47 The Legends of Scythian Origins
#scythian #history #ancienthistory
Scythia Scythia Documentary Scythian Origins Scythian Genetics Scythian History
Please Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/CelticHistory
Please support this channel on Patreon and get ad-free videos and other benefits: patreon.com/historydecoded
Please donate through PayPal using this link: paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QFB9ZECHZJDF6 – chdecoded@gmail.com
Subscribe to Celtic History Decoded: youtube.com/channel/UCCS3M_uNHH2iOJkpGhkO2SA?sub_confirmation=1
Follow Celtic History Decoded on Instagram - instagram.com/celtichistorydecoded
Subscribe to World History Decoded – youtube.com/@worldhistorydecoded
The Scythians were one of the great civilisations of the ancient world along with the Greeks and the Celts, but what is their origins and their genetic history?
The Scythians enter the historical record around the 9th century BC. Certain sources argue that they grow out of the Srubnaya culture, or Timber-grave culture, a Late Bronze Age 1850–1450 BC culture in the eastern part of Pontic–Caspian steppe. This culture is generally associated with ancient Iranian speakers. Their name comes from Russian, сруб (srub), meaning "timber framework", from the way their graves were constructed.
For a detailed breakdown on the Scythians in general, check my playlist on them that I’ll link above.
An interesting genetic study that looked at the Scythians from 2021 took genome-wide data for 111 ancient individuals retrieved from 39 archaeological sites from the first millennia BCE and CE across the Central Asian Steppe. Just for reference on dates before we continue, the Bronze Age lasted from 3300 BC – 1200 BC, with the Middle Bronze Age starting around 2000 BC.
The authors note that three competing hypotheses have often debated regarding the origins of the Scythians: a Pontic-Caspian origin, supported by their assumed Iranian languages, a Kazakh Steppe origin supported by the archaeological findings, and a multiple independent origin from genetically distinct groups that adopted common cultural traits.
The study did not find support for a western Pontic-Caspian steppe origin. This makes sense as we know that the Scythians moved into the Pontic-Caspian steppe from Central Asia as opposed to originating there.
The study found that the Kazakh Steppe origin hypothesis finds instead a better correspondence with our results, but rather than finding support for one of the two extreme hypotheses, i.e., single origin with population diffusion versus multiple independent origins with only cultural transmission, we found evidence for at least two independent origins as well as population diffusion and admixture (Fig. 4B).
In particular, the eastern groups are consistent with descending from a gene pool that formed as a result of a mixture between preceding local steppe Middle and Late BA sources (which could be associated with different cultures such as Sintashta, Srubnaya, and Andronovo that are genetically homogeneous) and a specific eastern Eurasian source that was already present during the Late Bronze Age in the neighboring northern Mongolia region (27).
Sources:
Herodotus, the Histories (2008: Oxford University Press)
Srubnaya culture en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srubnaya_culture
Scythians en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythians
Science Daily, Ancient genomes trace the origin and decline of the Scythians - Science News sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210326151352.htm
Ancient genomic time transect from the Central Asian Steppe unravels the history of the Scythians, Science Advances science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abe4414
Pontic–Caspian steppe en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontic%E2%80%93Caspian_steppe
Targitaos en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Targitaos
Chapters:
0:00 Scythian Origins and Genetics
3:01 Altai Mountain Region and Ural Mountains
5:47 The Legends of Scythian Origins
#scythian #history #ancienthistory
Scythia Scythia Documentary Scythian Origins Scythian Genetics Scythian History
