Late Scythian settlements in Northwestern Crimea: principles of housing construction and their changes

The main task of this paper is to describe the pattern of changes in housing construction at late Scythian settlements in Northwestern Crimea (around 120 BC- early II century AD). In circa 120 - circa 110 BC these settlements were small forts built over earlier Greek constructions. After 110 BC and until mid I century BC new principles of house building at the settlements were employed, with multi-room houses grouped in residential quarters becoming units of new housing construction. Meanwhile, some constructions were used from the earlier substage, and some construction methods of the preceding period were practiced as well. New houses were enclosed by fortifications; however, by the middle of I century BC, unfortified outskirts had appeared outside the fortifications. After the middle of I century BC the same principles of housing development were applied and the settlements reached their maximum size. The final stage (circa 20 AD - early II century AD) saw decrease in the number of settlements, their size and housing density, most settlements became unfortified and new types of housing emerged. These changes were particularly obvious after 65 AD and were apparently linked to partial replacement of the population.