Сарматская археологическая культура: от спекулятивной модели к сетевой

Вестник древней истории. 2020. Т. 80. № 4. С. 1062–1083.

Mordvintseva V.

The assumption that cultures are clearly defined, essentially self-contained entities has
been subjected to serious doubt in modern archaeology which needs to be reflected also
in Sarmatian studies. Such concepts as ‘Sarmatians’, ‘Sarmatian period’ and ‘Sarmatian
archaeological culture(s)’ are widely used in archaeological literature. However, the
monuments of the different macro-regions that are usually connected in scholarship with
the various Sarmatian communities and political entities mentioned in the written sources
have significant cultural distinctions. The nature of these differences has not been reliably
clarified yet. This leads to contradictions in the interpretation of the same culture groups by
representatives of different schools of archaeology. The basiс cause of the contradictions lies in
the flaws of the argumentation procedure, which appears to be speculative, and thus devoid of
any heuristic potential. It is necessary to develop common approaches to the interpretation of
the archaeological material. A promising approach in this regard might be the network model.
Such models will make it possible to define an archaeological culture as a stable set of features,
objects and phenomena of the material world, reflecting the network connections formed and
operating in a certain area within a particular period.

Keywords: сетевая модель, Network model, Sarmatian archaeological culture, сарматская археологическая культура, speculative model, спекулятивная модель