On the Time When Using Hunting Birds Appeared in Traditional Cultures of Eurasia

Abstract

Introduction. The popularity of images of birds of prey in Scythian art makes us pay more attention to the place of birds of prey in the life of the Scythian world. Birds of prey were actively used in the hunting practice, and hunting with hunting birds was an elite form of hunting common in open spaces. Materials. The first information about nurseries of hunting birds belongs to ancient China of the 7th century BC. Images of hunting birds appear on Hittite basreliefs of the 13th century BC. They are also known in the Assyria of the time of Sargon II. Analysis. The active participation of the Scythians in political events in the Middle East allows us to assume that the Scythians are familiar with this method of hunting. In Scythian culture, there are a series of images of attacking birds, which should be seen as naturalistic sketches. Results. The abundance of bone remains of hunting birds in the cultural layers of Scythian settlements and the presence of a burial of a man with a Falcon in the materials of the Elizavetovskoe hillfort directly indicates the use of hunting birds in the South Easten European continent steppe as early as the 4th century BC.

Keywords

• hunting
• hunting birds
• archaeology
• paleozoology
• eurasian steppe
• chronology
• hittites
• assyria
• scythians