Arrival in the Pontic steppe
From their base in the Caucasian Steppe, during the period of the 8th to 7th centuries BC itself, the
Scythians conquered the Pontic and Crimean Steppes to the north of the Black Sea up to
the Danube river, which formed the western boundary of Scythian territory onwards,[60][41][60][79][80] with
this process of Scythian takeover of the Pontic Steppe becoming fully complete by the 7th century BC.[81]
Archaeologically, the expansion of the Scythians into the Pontic Steppe is attested through the
westward movement of the Srubnaya-Khvalynsk culture into Ukraine contemporaneous with its
movement to the south along the coast of the Caspian Sea. The Srubnaya-Khvalynsk culture in Ukraine is
referred to in scholarship as the "Late Srubnaya" culture.[75]
The westward migration of the Scythians was accompanied by the introduction into the north Pontic
region of articles originating in the Siberian Karasuk culture, such as distinctive swords and daggers, and
which were characteristic of Early Scythian archaeological culture, consisting of cast bronze cauldrons,
daggers, swords, and horse harnesses,[42][82] which had themselves been influenced by Chinese art, with,
for example, the "cruciform tubes" used to fix strap-crossings being of types which had initially been
modelled by Shang artisans.[83]
The Scythian migration into the Pontic Steppe destroyed earlier cultures, with the settlements of
the Sabatynivka culture [uk] in the Dnipro valley being largely destroyed around c. 800 BC, and the
centre of Cimmerian bronze production stopping existing at the time while the Chernogorovka-
Novocherkassk culture was disturbed during the 8th to 7th centuries BC. The migration of the Scythians
affected the steppe and forest steppe areas of south-east Europe and forced several other populations
of the region, especially many smaller groups, to migrate towards more remote regions,[60] including
some North Caucasian groups who retreated to the west and settled in Transylvania and the Hungarian
Plain where they introduced Novocherkassk culture type swords, daggers, horse harnesses, and other
objects:[84] among these displaced smaller populations from the Caucasus were the Sigynnae, who were
displaced westward into the eastern part of the Pannonian Basin.[85][86][41]
Among the many peoples displaced by the Scythian expansion were also the Gelonians and
the Agathyrsi, the latter of whom were another nomadic Iranic people related to the Scythians as well as
one of the oldest Iranic population[87] to have dominated the Pontic Steppe. The Agathyrsi were pushed
westwards by the Scythians, away from the steppes and from their original home around Lake
Maeotis,[41][87] after which the relations between the two populations remained hostile.[41] Within the
Pontic steppe, some of the Scythian tribes intermarried with the already present native sedentary
Thracian populations to form new tribes such as the Nomadic Scythians and the Alazones.[71]
In many parts of the north Pontic region under their rule, the Scythians established themselves as a
ruling class over already present sedentary populations, including Thracians in the western
regions, Maeotians on the eastern shore of Lake Maeotis, and later the Greeks on the north coast of the
Black Sea.[19][88]
Between 650 and 625 BC, the Pontic Scythians came into contact with the Greeks, who were starting to
create colonies in the areas under Scythian rule, including on the island of Borysthenes,
near Taganrog on Lake Maeotis, as well as more places, including Panticapaeum, Pontic Olbia,
and Phanagoria and Hermonassa on the Taman peninsula; the Greeks carried out thriving commercial
ties with the sedentary peoples of the forest steppe who lived to the north of the Scythians, with the
large rivers of eastern Europe which flowed into the Black Sea forming the main access routes to these