The Identity of Scythian and Turk: In the Base of Cultural History

Central Eurasia in the Middle Ages, 2016

Congress Of Eastern European Studies 2018, 2018

Demir Çağı’nda Anadolu – İran – Turan / Anatolia – Iran – Turan in Iron Age, 2021

Turks are the privilaged others of the world history. With its nomadic origins, shepherds, hunting, nomadic lifestyles and especially warrior characters, it is a society that is feared but respected as well. Central Asia is the geography where Turks emerged and lived through their cultural and religious development phases. Today’s archaeological findings and historical sources indicate that the larger part of the process of Turkish history in this great geography belongs to the Pre-Islamic periods. The nomadic steppe human clusters, which we will call Proto-Turan and Proto-Turkic in 1000s BC, have a pre-Abrahamic Religions period dating back to 1000 AD. Contrary to the popular belief, the nomadic people are not without history. The fact that they did not use writing due to the socioeconomic order and the nature-based culture they live in does not mean that these people do not have a history. In light of the contemporary evidence and considering the Sakae (the Eastern Scythians) as the earliest ancestors of Turks (Proto-Turan, Proto-Turks), the emergence of the Turks with their cultural and racial character in the historical scene even without using the name “Turk” dated to 3000 years before. Sakae/(Eastern) Scythians – Huns – Gökturks – Oghuzs/Turkomans being the steppe nomads of the Central Asia, which later will be called Turkestan, are the Turkish societites which will establish a long cultural chain within the Turan cluster. This process which can be defined as Proto-Turk and started with Sakae who were distinguished by their steppe nomadic identity has continued largely unchanged with Huns and Gökturks. Oghuzs and Turkomans which consists the final link in the chain of the Turkish peoples are a turning point. The adoption of the sedentary life of some of the Oghuz/Turkoman tribes with their conversion to Islam who genetically carried the socio-economic properties of the Sakae and inherited their steppe culture and nomadic life-style is a breaking point to this chain that continued since around the 1000s BC. The common characteristics of the Sakae - Gökturks - Oghuz/Turkomans are that they were formed by the proto-feudal tribes. Examination of their history and culture, especially in terms of archaeology, means examining the Anatolian and Near Eastern Turks, who are their heirs. It is seen that the archaeological findings and written sources belonging to the Persians have not been sufficiently taken into account by those who are interested in pre-Islamic Turkish archaeology, culture and history. When the Persian findings about the Turks are examined, it is observed that the archeological, religious and cultural evidences show that the Turks, who started their historical period in the early 8th century AD, had a longterm “Protohistory” traced from the Near East and going back to the 10th century BC. Evidence showing that Turkish history, culture and language originated in the north and east of the Caspian Sea is increasing day by day on the basis of the (Eastern) Scythians/Sakas, who are understood to be the autochthonous people of this region. At the beginning of the 1st Millennium BC, Proto-Turkic communities and Proto-Turan clusters formed by the Saka, who were at the very beginning of their history, lived and wandered in a wide geography from the Caspian Sea to East Turkestan, from Southern Siberia to Northern India during the Iron Age. Kurgans dated to the Early Iron Age (10th-8th centuries BC), which we can define as the Proto-Saka Period, indicate that the Saka emerged in Western Turkestan, which covers the geography of today’s Western Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Northern Turkmenistan. While the archaeological findings of this geography indicate that the steppe culture began to evolve into warrior shepherds by taming the horse, it also shows that the real nomadic horse culture in Central Asia started with the Sakae. It can be traced on the basis of burial traditions that the Saka clusters spread from the East Caspian coast to the southeast towards the Tian Shan – Fergana in the Early, Middle and Late Iron Ages, and to the northeast on the Altay – Mongolia route. The primary evidence of Sakae being the first people that have the Proto-Turkic/Turan identity is that they had the tribal social structure. Both the Sakas and the Huns – Gökturks – Oghuzs/Turkomans, who followed this society in chronological order, were also nomadic societies with tribal organization. Tent is the smallest unit of the tribe. Tribe is the most basic part of society based on a lineage formed by blood ties and marriages. In this context, it can be said that the Sakae were the first society of the Turkish lineage in the geography that would later be called Turkestan. It can be understood from their physical appearance and anthropological features that the Sakae clusters living in the geography of Khorasan - Transoxiana in the east of the Caspian Sea are racially distant from Europe and Indo-European communities. There is no archaeological problem in expressing the obvious differences in appearance between the (Western) Scythians and the (Eastern) Scythians. Just as the works depicting (Western) Scythians were made in workshops with ancient Greek influence, the reliefs in Persepolis Apadana Palace have contributions from ancient Anatolian and ancient Greek artists. It will be the most important contribution of archaeology to the pre-Islamic Turkish archaeology and history to reveal the similarities of the Saka individuals of the Apadana Palace with the historical Turkic type, and the differences of the (Western) Scythians with the Proto-Turk clusters, and to carry out detailed style-critic studies within the framework of ordinary methods.

Isimu: Revista sobre Oriente Próximo y Egipto en la antigüedad, 2019

The present paper reviews the history of Scythian research since its rediscovery at the end of the 17th century, with the impressive findings of Scythian gold in the Ukrainian kurgans, up to the most recent German-Russian and French-Russian archaeological works in Siberia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia and through the numerous Soviet excavations, of which only a few of Western specialists echoed. Putting all of them into comparison, and without forgetting the philological investigations carried out in parallel, it is intended here to present the current state of knowledge of the history of the Scythians.

Advances in Ancient Black Sea Studies: Historiography, Archaeology and Religion, 2019

The expressions ‘Late Scythian culture’ and ‘Crimean Scythia’ are modern concepts. The first term appeared soon after 1946, and it was intended to designate the material culture of the Scythians, supposedly superseded by the Sarmatians in the 3rd century BC and later replaced by the Slavs, thus making a direct historical bridge from Scythians to Russians. The Late Scythian culture consisted of two enclaves, the Crimean-Dnieper and the Thracian one. The Crimean-Dnieper enclave was represented by two slightly different variants located in the Crimea and in the Lower Dnieper region. The term ‘Crimean Scythia’ was invented in late 1980s – early 1990s, and reflects the idea of the formation of a new separate Scythian statehood in the Crimea. According to the predominant point of view, the Late Scythian culture of the Crimea was constantly transforming in the course of the Sarmaticization’ process. This position seems to be unsustainable. In fact, some migrations to the Crimea from the North Pontic steppe or the Caucasus could have likely occurred. However, the newcomers (‘Sarmatians’?) certainly had a much lesser effect on the functioning of the social networks and the economic and cultural appearance of the ‘Crimean Scythia’ than the proximity of the ancient centres and geopolitical aspirations of the world hegemonic powers.

Journal of Old Turkic Studies, 2024

Much has been said about the origin of the Scythians, but no academician or researcher has ever been able to provide evidence to reveal the identity of the Scythians. Today, the prevailing view about the origin of the Scythians is the view that they are of Indo-European origin. And this argument is supported by Western academics. No written sources say that the Scythians were of Indo-European origin or spoke an Indo-European language. The only thing that makes those a community of Indo-European origin is the arbitrary explanations of the personal names belonging to their language in Indo-European languages and the kinship relationship established between the Ossetians and Alans. No consistent explanation of the words of the Scythian language in Indo-European languages has been provided to date. However, very recently, in the light of written sources, more than one piece of evidence has been presented to shed light on the origins of the Scythians. This article aims to reveal the true identity of the Scythians and Alans in the work of the 12th-century Byzantine writer John Tzetzes in the light of these new evidences.

A Review of the Scythian Empire: Central Eurasia and the Birth of the Classical Age from Persia to China, 2024

The Scythian Empire is a controversial book with a charming title that can attract the attention of any scholar. Christopher I. Beckwith presents claims in this book that accepting each one of them leads us to rethink many previous customary historical beliefs. Some of his theories are novel but most of them are rehabilitation of older obsolete ideas. The book wraps a wide range of specialized topics in the fields of history, archeology, and linguistics; but deals with most of them on a superficial level. Since the Scythians were an Iranian ethnic group, this work is especially recommended for scholars of Iranian history, as unfortunately, the significance of the Scythians in shaping Iranian history has not been recognized as other ancient Iranians such as the Persians. In a broader sense, this work can be also useful for scholars interested in the Iranian world and its relations with neighboring civilizations, Eurasia, Central Asia, and China.

Apaydin, V., (2013). Steadman, S. R. And McMahon, G. (eds.) 2011. The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia.. Papers from the Institute of Archaeology. 22, pp.143–148. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/pia.409, 2011

Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia 25, 2019

The new data that have become available in the last two decades show that the Scythian Kingdom with its capital in Neapolis Scythica, which existed in the Crimea in the 2nd century BC, was much closer to Hellenistic states ruled by barbarian dynasties than to nomadic kingdom of the Scythians of the 4th century BC. At the same time, these data allow us to return in part to the old view formulated by Rostovtzeff about continuity between the Scythia of the 4th century BC and the Late Scythian Kingdom, which most researchers have rejected during the last thirty years. It turned out that this continuity existed at least at the ideological level, and the excavations at Ak-Kaya (Vishennoe) filled the chronological gap between the Scythian Kingdoms of the 4th and 2nd century BC. Apparently, Ak-Kaya became one of the political centres of the Scythians as early as the late 4th century BC, before the fall of "Great Scythia", and the capital of the Crimean Scythians was located there before it was moved to Neapolis Scythica. In the formation of Late Scythian culture and the Late Scythian Kingdom with its capital first in Ak-Kaya and then in Neapolis Scythica, apart from the Scythian elements, sedentary Tauri took part, as well as probably the Greeks and the Hellenized population of the chorai of the Greek cities in northwestern Crimea. A key role in changing the character of Scythian culture was apparently played by a change in its economic-cultural type and the transition from nomadic pastoralism to