Pages: 77-197

The present publication is dedicated to one of the most remarkable monuments of the Scythian time on the Lower Dniester – Dudosari barrows. Here in 1980-87, there was research of 17 barrows, containing nomadic burials of V-IV cc B.C. The deepest scientific interest is the dominating funeral rite on the burial ground – burning of wooden hipped roof tombs without grave pit on the cover. The combination of these constructions with other types of Scythian burials, the presence of Greek amphora and potter’s ceramics, unique finds out of precious metals make the researched barrows near Dubosari most perspective for the historical and archeological analyses.
The materials of Dubosari barrows can throw new light on the ethno-political processes in the west of Scythia at the period of its greatest power. Mass Scythian settlements of Prut-Danube-Dniester inter-river area are seen in the present work as the result of forced migration from the eastern regions of the power. The initiators of the re-settlement and its active moving force, as the authors consider, are Scythians-Nomads, who practised the above described rite. Ousting tribes of forest-steppe type from their places of habitation in the Dnepr’s Right Bank region happened in the last quarter of V c B.C. That was caused by the pressure of the tribes who buried their dead in catacombs. The appearance of catacombs on the banks of the Dniester and Danube took place later – in 60-50 of IV c B.C., and probably the bearers of this rite were aggressive in character.