Scythian antiquities of Central Crimea in the 5th - 4th centuries bc: studies of the recent decades

The paper provides an overview of Scythian burial sites discovered since 2009 in Central Crimea during annual archaeological excavations of the Scythian Neapolis museum-preserve. All these sites are inground and stone constructions of the 5th-4th centuries BC covered by kurgans. Despite numerous cases of kurgan looting, a relatively narrow dating has been established for each site based on the analysis of transport amphorae, weapons and typology of stone funerary constructions. This region is characterized by high variability of main burial constructions that include inground pits, stone vaults, slab tombs and in-ground catacombs.