Editing Cimmerians (section)

===In the Caspian and Ciscaucasian Steppes===
Within the western sections of the Eurasian Steppe, the Cimmerians lived in the Caspian{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=102}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2019|p=123}} and [[Kuban steppe|Ciscaucasian]] Steppes,{{sfn|Phillips|1972|p=129}}{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=94}}{{sfn|Petrenko|1995|p=8}} situated on the northern and western shores of the [[Caspian Sea]]{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=76}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=94}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=102}} and along the Araxes river, i.e., the [[Volga river]],{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=95}} which acted as their eastern border separating them from the Scythians;{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=80}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=108}} to the west, the territory of the Cimmerians extended until the Bosporus, i.e. the [[Kerch Strait]]).{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=86}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=95}}

The Cimmerians were thus the first large nomadic confederation to have inhabited the Ciscaucasian Steppe,{{sfn|Petrenko|1995|p=8}} and they never formed the basic mass of the population of the Pontic Steppe,{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=93}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=102}} with neither [[Hesiod]] nor [[Aristeas|Aristeas of Proconnesus]] ever recording them living in this area;{{sfn|Diakonoff|1985|p=93}} moreover the groups of the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex from the Pontic Steppe and Central Europe have so far not been identifiable with the historical Cimmerians.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=94}} Instead, the main grouping of Iranic nomads of Central Asian origin belonging to the Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex in the eastern parts of the Pontic Steppe were the [[Agathyrsi]] to the north of the Lake Maeotis.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=103}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000b|p=130}}

Some later place names mentioned by the ancient Greeks in the 5th century BC as existing in the Bosporan (Kerch Strait) region,{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=81}} might have owed their origin to the historical presence of the Cimmerians in this area,{{sfn|Jacobson|1995|p=46}}{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=86}} such as:
*the "Cimmerian ferry" ({{langx|grc|πορθμηια Κιμμερια|translit=porthmēia Kimmeria}}),
*the "country of Cimmeria" ({{langx|grc|χωρη Κιμμερια|translit=khōrē Kimmeria}}),
*and the "Cimmerian Bosporus" ({{langx|grc|Βοσπορος Κιμμεριος|translit=Bosporos Kimmerios}}).
However, a derivation of these names from the historical Cimmerian presence is still very uncertain.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2000a|p=95}}