Pages: 119-140

The article analyses finds on the site of cemetery in Skalistoe belonging to the epoch of the Great Migrations. The site is situated in Crimea, 20 km south-west of Simferopol. Owing to its continuous existence from late IV to early VIII c., as well as to the well expressed grouping of burials, this cemetery offers a unique possibility to reconstruct structural changes in the ethnic composition of Crimean population. The author considers its geographical situation and available records, the state of the matters in building Crimean chronology for the time of the Great Migrations and early Middle Ages, researches horizontal stratigraphy of the cemetery, distinguishes 4 phases of its development and provides their ethnic interpretation. The researchers make a conclusion that the foundation of the cemetery in Skalistoe is due to two different ethnics – Sarmatians and Goths. Its further development, however, shows the process of unification of these two peoples, which is manifested in formation of a unified culture, both material and spiritual, including religious beliefs.