The Early Russians
Russia is a very large area covering nearly one-eighth of the world's land surface. It includes many different land forms and climatic areas within it's boundaries.
Geography
Parts of the country are forests dense with pine, fir, and birch trees. In the far north there is a region of frozen marshland called a tundra. Reindeer herds can survive the harsh conditions found there and for centuries they have been herded like cattle. In the south central area is rolling prairie land called the steppes. There are also cal and salt mines, black farmlands, and great stretches of dessert. A major factor in Russia's geography is its lack of mountain barriers except in the south. Unlike the other countries we have studied Russian territory has been open to invasion throughout its history. We will see that invaders have swept into the country from both east and west. This has had a very real influence on the history of Russia.
First settlers
The first people to live in Russia settled in the area between the Black sea's eastern shore and the Caucasus Mountains By 3000 B.C. these people were living in small villages by the seashore and on river banks. Their homes were often semi-sunken sod houses much like those built by the early pioneers who settled on the plains. In addition to farming they hunted and fished we know they had refined tools because they left well-built burial pits called tumuli. Due to oxidation iron tools disappeared.
Cimmerians
Sometime about 2000 B.C. these early people learned to domesticate cattle. Those people who chose to raise cattle rather than farm began a new way of living they were forced to become nomadic moving with their herds from one pasture to another. These nomads became part of a group known as the Cimmerians. The Cimmerians roamed Russia's southern plains breeding horses and cattle. They lived off the milk and meat of their herds. They also grew rich by attacking the farming communities and forcing them to pay tribute. Historians have not yet identified any written records from the Cimmerians other that the animal pictographs found on their tombs. Gold and metal objects have been found in their graves. This indicates trade existed between the Cimmerians and civilizations located further south along the Mediterranean Sea.