Элитные курганы как маркеры территориальной структуры Cкифии

The rulers of Scythia left kurgans instead of palaces. We know 17 Scythian kings and 14 of them are associated with the steppes of the Northern Pontic area. The period of active kurgans’ building in the steppe began by the time of the Ariapeith dynasty. About 6 or 7 kings can be related with it. At the same time the number of kurgans, that could be looked at as “candidates” for the Scythian ruler’s tombs, reaches six dozens. We can identify centers of regional structures using these kurgans as bearing points of the spatial structure of Scythia. The political centre of Scythia (5 – 3 c. BC) was located near the rifts of the lower Dnieper river. The importance of this area is emphasized by 4 most famous kurgans, probably tombs of the supreme kings. There are also 3 barrows of the second level, two or three times smaller than the royal ones and 10 graves of the third level, which are dozen times smaller than the giant tombs of the kings. The remaining 40 – 45 barrows could be divided in 11 or 12 local groups apparently marking regional centers of the Herodotus`s and Post-Herodotus`s Scythia.