Istvánovits Eszter: International Connections... (Jósa András Múzeum Kiadványai 47. Aszód-Nyíregyháza, 2001)
Mark B. Shchukin: Forgotten Bastarnae
During the 2 nd-l st c. B.C., the Bastarnae were permanent allies of the Greek towns on the west coast of the Black Sea (BLAVATSKAIA 1952, 135-157) and were also included in the Circumpontic political alliance created by Mithridates Eupator, fighting on his side against the Romans (App. Mithr. XV, 69, 72). Regarding their localisation, information can be found in Strabo's "Geographica" (Strabo VII, 3, 17). First, he described in detail the various tribes dwelling on the coast of the Black Sea between the Lower Danube and the Boristhenes/ Dnieper. Then he reported that "in the interior dwell, first, those Bastarnians whose country borders on that of the Tyregetans and Germans - they also being, one might say, of Germanic stock." He also named three main groups of that people: the Peucini, inhabitants of the Рейса island in the Danube delta; and the Atmoni and Sidoni, who - according to his information - dwelt in the forest-steppe territories between the Lower Danube and the Middle Dnieper areas. He also included into the Bastarnian territories lands inhabited by the Roxolani east of the Boristhenes, although, as is well known, the Roxolani were a Sarmatian tribe. However, there is a possible explanation for this mistake by the geographer: both tribes were involved in the political alliance created by Mithridates Eupathor and Strabo's informers might have seen here some kind of ethnic unity (MACHINSKIJ 1974, 26; SHCHUKIN 1989, 236-237). There is also a great deal of archaeological evidence supporting the idea: a series of cremation burials with ceramics of the Zarubintsy Culture introduced in Sarmatian barrows (SHCHUKIN 1989, 236-237; KULATOVA-SUPRUNENKO 1999, 148-154). As we intend to demonstrate below, it is possible to connect the Zarubintsy Culture with the eastern part of the Bastarnae. R. Vulpe was the first to compare the Bastarnae with Poienesti-Lukashevka culture on the territory of both Moldovas between the Carpathians and the Dniester (VULPE 1955). This was followed by a long discussion as to who - the Getae or the Bastarnae - the more likely representatives of the mentioned culture were (FEDOROV 1960; MACHINSKIJ 1966; MACHINSKIJ 1966A; ROMANOVSKAIA 1969; KUKHARENKO 1960; MAXIMOV 1969; BABEÇ 1969; BABEÇ 1993; NIKULITE 1987; KASPAROVA 1981; SHCHUKIN 1993; SHCHUKIN 1994; EREMENKO 1997; TKACHUK 1998; TKACHUK 1999 etc.), but today Vulpe's hypothesis is very widely accepted. However, Strabo did mention two groups of Bastarnae between the Danube and the Dnieper, and there are in fact two archaeological units located there, i.e. two similar cultures: Poieneçti-Lukashevka and Zarubintsy. The latter is spread across the triangle between the upper flow of the Pripjat' River and the Upper and Middle Dnieper region from the mouth of the Berezina River in Belarus in the north to the mouth of the Tiasmin River in Ukraine in the south. Both cultures, Poiene§ti-Lukashevka and Zarubintsy, were formed by the movement of certain population groups from the northwest that took place around the time when the name of the Bastarnae appeared on the pages of the literary sources in the late 3 RD- early 2 ND c. B.C. Thus, it seems very plausible that the people of the Zarubintsy Culture were members of the Bastarnae, or perhaps of the Sidoni. In this respect, a discovery by X. Kasparova is very significant. She demonstrated that prototypes of the so-called
