Russian scientists think that Scythians were ancestors of East Afghans, and not Ossetians, as was considered before.
      
      Fifty years ago archeological community agreed with the theory that Ossetians were an isolated relict of Scythian and Sarmatian world of Iranian language. However, some Russian researchers doubt that and suggest making significant changes in the problem of Scythian language and origin.
      
      The stumbling block in this problem is that Scythians – nomads, who spoke Iranian, haven’t left any signs of a writing system. All that have left from the Scythian language are some toponyms and proper names.
      
      Similarity of Scythian and Iranian languages was proved by transitions of several sounds, which now cannot be regarded as evidence due to similar transitions on other languages.
      
      Other linguistic characteristics of Scythian language point that it could have belonged to a group of Turkic languages. Russian scientists claim that eastern Iranian tribes had close relations with north Caucasus tribes, which contradicts existing hypothesis, saying that Scythians originated from Central Asia. Scythian language tends to belong to east Iranian language group, which doesn’t deny its relation with Ossetians, but reveal closer link to Afghans.
      
      All these may help finding the real place, where Scythians originate from.
      
      Source: Science & Life