Testing Herodotus: leather species identification of Scythian quivers using novel scientific methods

Scythian archers are invariably depicted carrying a quiver in ancient iconography and the ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote of Scythian archers flaying the right arms of their dead enemies and using the skin to cover their quivers, yet little is known about the construction and materials of Scythian quivers. The survival of numerous fragments of leather quivers excavated from Scythian burials in southern Ukraine and recently developed analytical methods finally provide the possibility of investigating the material used to make this indispensable element of Scythian military equipment. We used Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) to test 38 fragments of decorated leather quivers from ten kurgan sites in order to reveal their species identity. In this paper we present the methods and results of our investigation and attempt to answer the question: what material did the Scythians use to make their quivers, and was Herodotus correct in his grisly claim?