In historical sources, the Scythians are mentioned from the 7th century BCE. It was then that the ancient world first came into contact with this people. In the 2nd century BCE, the Crimean Scythians transitioned to a settled way of life. As a result, numerous Scythian settlements appeared in the foothills of Central Crimea in the middle of the 2nd to 1st centuries BCE. The Scythians established their hillforts on the northwestern coast and in the Southwestern Crimea in the 2nd to 3rd centuries CE. In the Southwestern Crimea, hillfort-refuges emerged. The successes of the Scythians are evidenced by the massive burial monuments that have survived to the present day, their military expansion at that time, and their control over vast territories.
By the Middle-Scythian period, they had fully mastered the art of pottery. By that time, the most rational forms of pottery had become established in Scythian life, convenient for their nomadic and semi-nomadic way of life. Those were mainly medium-sized pots and small bowls with their own pottery ornamentation, typically used for preparing meat and dairy dishes.
Even in the later period, the potter’s wheel did not become widespread among the Crimean Scythians. Handmade pottery dominated in the daily life of the Crimean Scythians over imported pottery, except for amphorae, which were used as containers rather than tableware. Handmade ceramics from the Northwestern Crimea are much more abundant and complete than in the Central Crimea. The early layers of all settlements in the Northwestern Crimea (late 4th to mid-2nd century BCE) belong to Chersonese estates. Scythian pottery, which, along with Taurian pottery, is found in small quantities during excavations of these layers, indicates a Scythian element among the Greeks, as was the case in Chersonese itself.
After the territory was captured by the Scythians, the situation changed drastically. In the layers of the late 2nd to 1st centuries BCE and the 1st century CE, handmade pottery makes up at least 70% of all pottery. Subsequently, life in the settlements ceased, with only a layer from the 2nd to 3rd centuries CE being traced at Tarpançı. Black clay with sand, crushed shells, limestone, and occasionally grogs characterize the handmade pottery of the Northwestern Crimea. The frying pan presented in the exhibition is an intact handmade flat-bottomed item.
