Animal Sacrifices in the North Pontic Region in the Sarmatian Era
Mordvintseva Valentina I.
A comparative analysis of the remains of sacrificial animals found in the North Pontic region makes it possible to identify different local patterns in the cultic sphere, which can be preliminarily identified as representing ‘nomadic’ and ‘agricultural’ ideologies. In some cases, we observe the emergence of the ‘nomadic’ pattern on the new territories (e.g., the Right Bank of the Kuban in the third century BC, and the Lower Dnieper in the first century AD). In other cases, the ‘nomadic’ pattern disappeared (the Right Bank of the Kuban in the first century AD) or has been replaced by the ‘agricultural’ one (e.g. Crimea in the third century BC, the Don Delta in the first century AD). These changes could occur both under the influence of climatic factors and as a result of political events, for example, due to the new political actors, involvement of local elites in new alliances and new economic activities.