Mysteries of the Scythians: where did they come from and where do their descendants live today

The history of the Scythians is shrouded in mystery, as well as their rapid disappearance from the expanses of Eurasia. This ancient nation, with all its rich culture, did not have a written language, and very little is known about the language of the Scythians. There are several versions of the origin of this mysterious people, but none of them is reliably proven.

According to historians, the Scythians lived in the vast territories of Eurasia from the Northern Black Sea coast in the west to the Altai mountains in the east. The northern border of the Scythians inhabited the territory of southern Siberia, and the southern one extended to the mountainous regions of Central Asia.

It is believed that the Scythians existed in this region from the VIII century BC to the IV century AD. The rich Scythian culture has left the world many exquisite works of jewelry, household items and a large number of ancient settlements found by archaeologists. Many geographical names in Eastern Europe and Southern Siberia are also of Scythian origin. But scientists still argue about where the Scythians came from and who their ancestors are.

Very little is known about the Scythian language. Ancient historians who traveled to Scythia left some evidence, judging by which, the Scythians spoke the language of the Indo-Iranian group and belonged to the Indo-European family of peoples.

According to previous genetic studies, the Scythians occupied an intermediate position between Europeans and Asians, and by their genotype they are closest to modern residents of Altai. And recent studies by British geneticists show that the Scythians were closest to the ancient peoples of northern Eurasia and were far from modern Indo-Europeans. The question of the genetics and origin of the Scythians is still open.

The heyday of the Scythian state occurred in the VIII-VI centuries BC. Subsequently, they were attacked by Sarmatians, Goths and other peoples. By the 3rd – 4th centuries AD, the Scythians were finally conquered or driven out to other regions and assimilated by neighboring peoples.

Scientists believe that the modern descendants of the Scythians are Ossetians living in the Caucasus. The Ossetian language originates from the Alanian language, spoken by tribes of Scythian-Sarmatian origin.