Ukraine is in the news again! 😊 How many archaeological sites in the Ukraine will be destroyed by Putin the Terrible!
"... A new study has now provided evidence that confirms the Scythians practiced the macabre art of fashioning artifacts from the skin of their enemies.
Researchers analyzed 45 fragments of leather and two fragments of fur found in 2,400-year-old Scythian burial mounds from Southern Ukraine.
They employed advanced peptide mass fingerprinting techniques to analyze leather fragments. ... The collagen and keratin came from many different kinds of animals, but at least in the case of two artifacts, the skin was undoubtedly from Homo sapiens. ..."
From the abstract:
"Leather was one of the most important materials of nomadic Scythians, used for clothing, shoes, and quivers, amongst other objects. However, our knowledge regarding the specific animal species used in Scythian leather production remains limited. In this first systematic study, we used palaeoproteomics methods to analyse the species in 45 samples of leather and two fur objects recovered from 18 burials excavated at 14 different Scythian sites in southern Ukraine. Our results demonstrate that Scythians primarily used domesticated species such as sheep, goat, cattle, and horse for the production of leather, while the furs were made of wild animals such as fox, squirrel and feline species. The surprise discovery is the presence of two human skin samples, which for the first time provide direct evidence of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus’ claim that Scythians used the skin of their dead enemies to manufacture leather trophy items, such as quiver covers. We argue that leather manufacture is not incompatible with a nomadic lifestyle and that Scythians possessed sophisticated leather production technologies that ensured stable supply of this essential material."
Ancient Scythians used human skin for leather, confirming Herodotus' grisly claim The ancient Scythians, a nomadic people known for their gold and warrior ways, used human skin for leather, a new study finds.
Quivers from 47 fragments of 2,400-year-old leather and fur from Scythian tombs, researchers determined that at least two of the samples were human.
Scythian empire
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