Textiles and dyes of the European Scythians: Recent investigations of the finds from the 4th century BC burials in Southern Ukraine

Clothing has been regarded as one of the main identifying criteria for the Scythians – nomadic peoples who roamed the steppes of Eurasia during the 1st millennium BC – in Greek and Persian iconography and written sources. Textiles, felt and leather surviving in Scythian burials provide a rich source of information about the materials and techniques used by the Scythians for the construction of their clothing. Traces of colour furthermore indicate that this clothing was colourful - information that cannot be gained from representational arts. The paper presents the first results of textile and dye investigation of fabrics recovered from numerous Scythian burials in southern Ukraine dated to the 5th – 4th century BC. The new data are placed in the wider context of European textile and dye cultures of the first millennium BC and compared to the better-known Eurasian Scythian finds.