Itkul culture

The Itkul culture (Ru: Иткульская культура, 7th-5th century BCE) is one of these Early Saka culture, based in the eastern foothills of the Urals. The Itkul culture was part of an East to West mouvement of Asiatic Saka tribes towards the Ural regions during the Iron Age (c.1000 BCE and later) period. Other Saka groups, such as the Tasmola culture circa 600 BCE, were also involved in similar mouvements and settled in the southern Urals.

The Itkul culture was a culture of metalworkers. They played a key role in exploited the metallurgical ressources of the Urals, and established fortified settlements to protect them. They were probably provided of metal weapons for other tribes of the steppes.

The Itkul culture was eventually assimilited into the Early Sarmatian culture (early Prokhorovka period), and contributed to its varied genetic makeup. As a result of these mouvements, a large-scale integrated union of nomads from Central Asia and the Near East formed in the area in the 5th–4th century BCE, with fairly uniformized cultural practices. This cultural complex, with notable ‘‘foreign elements’’, corresponds to the ‘‘royal’’ burials of the Filippovka kurgans, and define the "Prokhorovka period" of the Early Sarmatians.