Scythian Burials: The Problem of Localization of the Royal Mounds

The localization of the Scythian Gerros is still completely uncertain. The problems associated with it cover a wide range of currently unresolved topical issues due to both the state of preservation of rich burials and the lack of clear criteria for their definition, in particular, social ranking, i. e. issues related to the identification, number and location of the royal mounds. The study is based on the logic of the general scientific inductive and deductive method as the conceptual core of obtaining the initial and inferred knowledge about the object of our research – the localization of the mounds of the Scythian kings, the subject of which is the general cultural and archaeological signs of the Scythian kings’ mounds. We have come to the conclusion that the use of craniological studies of anthropological material from burial monuments located within the Scythian “square” of Herodotus, for their proximity to the Tuvan Okunevians will firstly allow us to identify and select the royal Scythians from the entire massif of Scythian material, then subsequent mapping of the data will make it possible to determine the area of their settlement. Secondly, with the help of craniological analysis, it will be possible to determine the burials of the Scythian kings, which should contain homogeneous anthropological material within the same burial room. Thirdly, in the process of searching for Scythian burials outside the steppe, we will also be helped by craniological studies of material that was not initially classified as “Scythian” due to the lack of clear criteria for its selection. Fourthly, the mapping of the burials of the royal Scythians and the systematization of all the signs of groups located in the same vector of their closest ties will bring us closer to solving an even more extensive problem – the definition of the concepts of “Scythian”, “Scythian culture” and “Scythian archaeological culture”. Keywords: Gerros, mound, localization, Scythian kings’ mounds, royal Scythians