Fishery in the Life of the Nomadic Population of the Northern Black Sea Area in the Early Iron Age

It is commonly believed that fishing is unusual for traditional nomads as they, being herdsmen, believed fish to be inedible and instead mainly ate meat and drank milk. Consumption of fish by the barbarian population in the northern Black Sea area in the early Iron Age was usually limited geographically to the forest steppe zone. The appearance of fishery in the steppe zone was thought to be connected with either the Greeks of Olbia, Chersonesos, the Bosporan Kingdom, etc. or with the post-Scythian population, for example that of Scythia Minor on the Dnieper from the 2nd century BC.1 However, archaeological research of recent years, in particular finds from Scythian settlements on both banks of the Dnieper2 dated to the 4th century BC, as well as the results of the study of the economic history of the steppe Scythians – in particular their domestic production3 – and an application of general patterns of nomadic economy to the interpretation, allow us to take a fresh view of this problem. Firstly, it is possible to pinpoint an appreciably earlier appearance of fishery in the steppe zone of Scythia than is normally assumed; secondly, we may confidently connect fish processing with the Scythians among the population of the steppes of the northern Black Sea region; thirdly, it can be demonstrated that not only Eastern civilization, but also the Greek way of life influenced the Scythian fishery. The following sources are available for our reconstruction of nomadic fishery: