Early Nomadic Antiquities of Steppe Eurasia and «Archaeological Culture»

A substantial increase in the number of early nomadic sites raises issues related to the attribution of the said antiquities. These materials do not always fit in with the existing conceptual framework (identified archaeological cultures), which makes it necessary to define new cultures and introduce new definitions for attributing and interpreting the sites left by the population that inhabited the East European Steppe and the adjacent regions in the Scythian-Sarmatian period. The term ‘archaeological culture’ with respect to early nomadic antiquities is not always consistent with the accepted definitions and does not always adequately reflect cultural and historical processes. This statement holds true for spatial boundaries of the culture as well its chronological range and its components. We do not refuse to use the term ‘archaeological culture’, yet it seems necessary to amend the archaeological nomenclature and include such terms as ‘cultural complex’, ‘a group of people that make up the culture (cultural complex population)’, ‘heterogeneous archaeological culture’, ‘types of sites’ as well as delineate and differentiate traditions by cultural complexes identified instead of intermingling various cultural traditions to produce a mix of something known as ‘culture’.