Semyon A. Volodin^1,*, Aleksandr A. Shevchenko^1,**, Yuri G. Chendev^2,***, Tatiana A. Puzanova^3,4,****, and Fatima G. Kurbanova^5,*****

¹Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow, Russia
²Belgorod State National Research University, Belgorod, Russia
³Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
⁴Moscow City Branch of the Russian Geographical Society, Russia
⁵Institute of Geography RAS, Moscow, Russia

*E-mail: volodinsaimon@gmail.com
**E-mail: she.shevchenko@yandex.ru
***E-mail: sciences@mail.ru
****E-mail: puzanova@mail.ru
*****E-mail: fatima.kurbanova@igras.ru

Keywords: radiocarbon dating, Middle Don region, Scythians, burials, burial mounds, chronology.

This article discusses the results of radiocarbon dating of Scythian-period sites in the Middle Don region obtained through genetic and soil studies. A total of 13 samples from nine complexes in six burial grounds were analyzed. In most cases, radiocarbon dating confirmed the archaeological findings, and in several cases, it refined the chronology and suggested a more specific date. In one case, the dating of a complex was significantly adjusted. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using radiocarbon dating in chronological developments in Scythian archaeology, its efficiency being denied by many researchers to date. It was also possible to confirm previously proposed methods for analyzing the calibration of radiocarbon ages of samples from the 4th century BC.

DOI: 10.7868/S3034577426010051