Settlements

Scythian-era communities built large fortified settlements in the forest-steppe as well as using mobile camps on the open grasslands. Bilsk and Kamianka in present-day Ukraine supported farming, craft work and trade during the first millennium BCE. Later Scythian rulers developed a different kind of royal centre at Neapolis in Crimea.

These centres belong to different centuries and environments. Their defences, stores and workshops show how settled production supported communities connected to pastoralists and the Black Sea markets.

Fortified centres in the forest-steppe

Bilsk, in the forest-steppe of present-day Ukraine, illustrates how separate fortified settlements could be linked into a larger defensive complex. The site was occupied from the late eighth to the early third century BCE. Its Western and Eastern settlements began to be fortified in the seventh and sixth centuries BCE; a third, at Kuzemyn, was added in the fifth century BCE. Defences of timber and earth included ditches, high ramparts, wooden walls and towers. Together, the three fortified areas and the larger enclosing works covered about 4,400 hectares, with ramparts extending for about 34 kilometres.

Bilsk’s earthworks enclosed several settlements and open areas. Excavations have identified partly sunken and above-ground buildings, farmsteads, shrines and altars. Cellars, grain pits, barns and drying structures supported food storage. Smiths, bronze casters, potters and bone workers operated alongside farming and animal husbandry.

Bilsk stood among river and land routes that connected the forest-steppe with the Dnieper, the northern Black Sea coast and Crimea. A route down the Vorskla and Dnieper led towards the Greek city of Olbia; overland tracks connected the area with steppe routes and neighbouring communities. Imported painted pottery, transport amphorae and glass point to exchange with distant centres. Herodotus’s accounts describe several peoples in this broader forest-steppe region. Some scholars identify Bilsk with Gelonus, a wooden city described by Herodotus among the Budini, but the identification remains debated.

Kamyanka and the lower Dnieper

Kamyanka, on the left bank of the Dnieper, developed in a different setting. Founded around the transition from the fifth to the fourth century BCE, it occupied about 12 square kilometres on a sandy rise between marshy areas. An earth rampart about two metres high marked its boundary towards the steppe. Most of the settlement was abandoned in the third century BCE, while the acropolis continued in use.

Excavations have revealed homesteads, storage pits, and workshops for bronze casting, metalworking and the working of bone and horn. Finds include iron and bronze objects, imported tableware, glass, ornaments, and coins associated with Greek cities and the Bosporan Kingdom. These remains, together with evidence for farming and livestock raising, show a centre where local production and food supply were linked to wider exchange. Kamyanka has been proposed as the site of Metropolis, a capital associated with King Ateas, but that identification is not certain.

Some researchers connect the settlement’s beginnings with wintering places used by mobile Scythians, interpreting its growth as part of a shift towards more settled life in the area. Kamyanka later served as an economic centre for the northern Black Sea steppe, where trade with neighbouring communities, especially Greek cities, was concentrated. Its stores and workshops made it a centre for the surrounding steppe economy.

Scythian Neapolis: a later Crimean centre

Scythian Neapolis, near present-day Simferopol, belonged to a later Crimean setting. It became a fortified royal centre in the second century BCE and remained inhabited into the third century CE. Its population and cultural environment included Scythian communities, the settled Tauri and people connected with the rural territories of Greek cities. Greek architectural forms and imported objects joined local traditions within this regional royal centre.

The site occupied a plateau with steep natural protection on parts of its northern and eastern sides. A substantial stone wall, towers and a main gate defended the more accessible southern approach. Construction changed over time: early buildings used timber, unfired brick, limestone and clay, while important palace and funerary structures employed more carefully worked stone and Greek architectural details. The Southern Palace served as a royal complex associated with King Skilurus; the nearby mausoleums of Argotas and Skilurus reflect the status of the ruling elite. These monumental buildings stood apart from the more modest dwellings and working areas.

Neapolis also depended on its surroundings for water and food. The Salgir River and nearby springs supplied water, while excavated drains and ceramic channels, along with traces of dams, indicate that surface water was also managed. At one phase, archaeologists found 60 grain pits near the defensive wall, some with a capacity estimated at up to four tonnes. This storage is evidence of planning for food supply, including during a possible siege.

The settlement’s economy and way of life changed over the centuries. Early evidence points to limited farming and livestock raising, small-scale pottery production and domestic manufacture, alongside imports such as amphorae, tableware and ornaments. In later periods, animal husbandry and more mobile ways of life became more prominent. By the late second and early third centuries CE, large grain stores, hand-mills and remains of apples and grapevines indicate renewed or expanded agricultural activity. Imported goods continued to arrive from neighbouring Black Sea centres.

Neapolis was not a direct continuation of Kamyanka. An older proposal that the Scythian capital moved from the lower Dnieper to Crimea has been questioned because the fortified Crimean centre belongs to a later period. Neapolis itself underwent major changes before violent destruction in the third century CE; the precise date and attribution of that destruction remain disputed.

For the wider setting, see Scythian historical context.