Thraco-Cimmerian

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Thraco-Cimmerian

Thraco-Cimmerian is a historiographical and archaeological term, composed of the names of the Thracians

Thracians

The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European peoples who spoke the Thracian language - a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family....
and the Cimmerians

Cimmerians

The Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads who, according to Herodotus, originally inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea, in what is now Ukraine and Russia, in the 8th century BC and 7th century BC....
. It refers to 8th

8th century BC

The 8th century BC started the first day of 800 BC and ended the last day of 701 BC....
to 7th

7th century BC

The 7th century BC started the first day of 700 BC and ended the last day of 601 BC.The Assyrian Empire continued to dominate the near east during this century, exercising formidable power over neighbors like Babylon and Egypt....
century BC cultures that are linked in Eastern Central Europe

Central Europe

Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern Europe and Western Europe Europe. In addition, Northern Europe, Southern Europe and Southeastern Europe may variously delimit or overlap into Central Europe....
and in the area north of the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is an inland sea sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolia and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Seas and various straits....
.

Cimmerians are known from historical records to have invaded Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia or Asia Minor is a region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. It is a geographic region bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Aegean Sea to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Iranian plateau to the east and southeast....
around this period, while the Thracians are mentioned as far back as the Iliad

ILiad

The iLiad is an electronic handheld device, or e-book device, which can be used for document reading and editing. Like the Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, the iLiad makes use of an electronic paper display....
and Odyssey

Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Hellenic civilization epic poetrys attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer....
, where they participate in the Trojan War

Trojan War

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta....
; Thracologists and archaeologists generally trace back the Thracians to the Balkan/Carpatho

Carpathian Mountains

The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc of roughly 1,500 km across Central Europe and Eastern Europe, making them the largest mountain range in Europe....
-Danubian

Danube

The Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg River rivers which join at the eponymously named German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows eastwards for a distance...
Chalcolithic period (Hoddinott et al.).

It is sometimes assumed that the migration of the Cimmerians was triggered by an Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
ian expansion, from the area of the former Srubna culture

Srubna culture

The Srubna culture , was a Late Bronze Age culture. It is a successor to the Yamna culture, the Catacomb culture and the Abashevo culture.It occupied the area along and above the north shore of the Black Sea from the Dnieper eastwards along the northern base of the Caucasus to the area abutting the north shore of the Caspian Sea, across t...
, into the steppes of what is now the Ukraine

Ukraine

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Encyclopedia

Thraco-Cimmerian is a historiographical and archaeological term, composed of the names of the Thracians

Thracians

The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European peoples who spoke the Thracian language - a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family....
and the Cimmerians

Cimmerians

8th century BC

The 8th century BC started the first day of 800 BC and ended the last day of 701 BC....
to 7th

7th century BC

Central Europe

Black Sea

Anatolia

ILiad

Odyssey

Trojan War

Carpathian Mountains

Danube

Iran

Srubna culture

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
. Virtually nothing is known about the Cimmerian language, but they are usually speculated to belong to the Satem group on the basis of royal names such as Sandrakshatra. The Thracian language is poorly attested, but available vocabulary suggests a Satem branch, though theories of a Thracian-Iranian branch have been all but discarded, and no close link between Thracian and Iranian has been demonstrated. The Sigynnae

Sigynnae

The Sigynnae were an obscure people of antiquity. They are variously located by ancient authors.According to Herodotus , they dwelt beyond the Danube, and their frontiers extended almost as far as the Adriatic Veneti on the Adriatic....
, reported by classical authors as a tribe of the Black Sea steppes related to the Medes

Medes

The Medes were an Ancient Iranian peoples who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. This area was known in Greek as Media or Medea ....
, may have invaded the area about the time of the Cimmerian expansion.

Archaeologically, "Thraco-Cimmerian" artefacts are metal (usually bronze) items, particularly parts of horse tack

Horse tack

Tack is a term used to describe any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domestication of the horse animals....
s, found in a late Urnfield context, but without local Urnfield predecessors for their type. They appear rather to spread from the Koban culture

Koban culture

The Koban culture is a late Bronze Age and Iron Age culture of the northern and central Caucasus. It is preceded by the Colchian culture of the western Caucasus....
of the Caucasus

Caucasus

The Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region located between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. It is home to Europe's highest mountain ....
and northern Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a transcontinental country in the Caucasus region, located at the dividing line between Europe and Asia. It is bordered by the Russia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, Armenia to the south, and Turkey to the southwest....
, which together with the Srubna culture, blends into the 9th

9th century BC

The 9th century BC started the first day of 900 BC and ended the last day of 801 BC....
to 7th centuries pre-Scythian Chernogorovka and Novocherkassk cultures, and by the 7th century, "Thraco-Cimmerian" objects are spread further west over most of Eastern and Central Europe, locations of finds reaching to Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
and eastern Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was, most recently, a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. This state had for centuries substantial influence on Germany and European history....
in the north and to Lake Zürich in the west. Together with these bronze artefacts, earliest Iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
items appear, ushering in the European Iron Age

Iron Age

In archaeology, the Iron Age was the stage in the development of any people in which tools and weapons whose main ingredient was iron were prominent....
, corresponding to the Proto-Celtic expansion from the Hallstatt culture

Hallstatt culture

The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture from the 8th to 6th centuries BC , developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC and followed in much of Central Europe by the La T?ne culture....
.

The artifacts labelled "Thraco-Cimmerian" all belong to a category of upper class, luxury objects, like weapons, horse tacks and jewelry, and they are recovered only from a small percentage of graves of the period. From this it is assumed that the "Thraco-Cimmerian" migration did not consist of large populations, but rather of relatively small groups who installed themselves as ruling class over the indigenous Urnfield/Hallstatt

Hallstatt

Hallstatt, Upper Austria is a village in the Salzkammergut, a region in Austria. It is located near the Hallst?tter See . At the 2001 census it had 946 inhabitants....
population.

External links

(German)
A controversial archeological phenomenon: the "Cimmerian Culture" ( and )