Pontic steppe in the context of "Wild Fields"

Early European Farmers (EEF) were a group of the Anatolian Neolithic Farmers (ANF) who brought agriculture to Europe and Northwest Africa. The Anatolian Neolithic Farmers were an ancestral component, first identified in farmers from Anatolia (also known as Asia Minor) in the Neolithic, and outside of Europe and Northwest Africa. Although the spread of agriculture from the Middle East to Europe has long been recognised through archaeology, until recently it was unknown how this happened, because of lack of human ancient DNA from pre-Neolithic times. Recent (2025) studies have shown that the spread of Neolithic cultures from Anatolia to West Eurasia was a complex phenomenon involving distinct mechanisms, from pure cultural adoption to admixture between migrating farmers and local forages, to rapid migration. Cultural similarities were not caused by large-scale mobility.

The earliest farmers in Anatolia derived most (80–90%) of their ancestry from the region's local hunter-gatherers, with minor Levantine and Caucasus-related ancestry. The Early European Farmers moved into Europe from Anatolia through Southeast Europe from around 7,000 BC, gradually spread north and westwards, and reached Northwest Africa via the Iberian Peninsula. Genetic studies have confirmed that the later Farmers of Europe generally have also a minor contribution from Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHGs), with significant regional variation. European farmer and hunter-gatherer populations coexisted and traded in some locales, although evidence suggests that the relationship was not always peaceful. Over the course of the next 4,000 years or so, Europe was transformed into agricultural communities, with WHGs being effectively replaced across Europe. During the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age, people who had Western Steppe Herder (WSH) ancestry moved into Europe and mingled with the EEF population; these WSH, originating from the Yamnaya culture of the Pontic steppe of Eastern Europe, probably spoke Indo-European languages. EEF ancestry is common in modern European and Northwest African populations, with EEF ancestry highest in Southern Europeans, mostly Sardinians and Basque people.

In the ancient Greco-Roman world, Sarmatia was a geographic region that encompassed the western Eurasian steppe. It was inhabited by the Sarmatians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people.

The Romans gave the name Sarmatia to the region which the ancient Greeks had formerly called Scythia because it had been inhabited by the Scythians. Beginning in the late 4th century BC the Sarmatians, a nomadic Iranian people related to the Eastern Iranic Scythians, moved from the east into the Pontic steppe, where they replaced the Scythians as the dominant power. Due to the Sarmatian incursion, "Sarmatia Europea" replaced "Scythia" as the name for the region.

The Kurgan hypothesis (also known as the Kurgan theory, Kurgan model, or steppe theory) is the most widely accepted proposal to identify the Proto-Indo-European homeland from which the Indo-European languages spread out throughout Europe and parts of Asia. It postulates that the people of a Kurgan culture in the Pontic steppe north of the Black Sea were the most likely speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). The term is derived from the Turkic word kurgan (курга́н), meaning tumulus or burial mound.

The steppe theory was first formulated by Otto Schrader (1883) and V. Gordon Childe (1926), then systematized in the 1950s by Marija Gimbutas, who used the term to group various prehistoric cultures, including the Yamnaya (or Pit Grave) culture and its predecessors. In the 2000s, David Anthony instead used the core Yamnaya culture and its relationship with other cultures as a point of reference.

The Catacomb culture (Russian: Катакомбная культура, romanized: Katakombnaya kul'tura, Ukrainian: Катакомбна культура, romanized: Katakombna kul'tura) was a Bronze Age culture which flourished on the Pontic steppe in 2,500–1,950 BC.

Originating on the southern steppe as an outgrowth of the Yamnaya culture, the Catacomb culture came to cover a large area. It was probably Indo-European-speaking, with some linguists associating it with Tocharian. Influences of the Catacomb culture have been suggested to be found as far as Italy, Greece, and Syria. It spawned the Multi-cordoned ware culture and was eventually succeeded by the Srubnaya culture.

The Mykhailivka Culture, Mikhaylovka culture, Lower Mykhaylivka culture (Ukrainian: Нижньомихайлівська культура, romanized: Nyzhnjomykhajlivsjka kuljtura, 3600—3000 BCE) is a Copper Age archaeological culture which flourished on the Pontic steppe from 3600 BC to 3000 BC.

Lower Mikhaylivka culture is named after an early Yamna site of the late copper age of the lower Dnieper River, noted for its fortifications, after lower archaeological layer of the site near the village of Mykhaylivka in Kherson Oblast of Ukraine.

The Jász (Latin: Jazones) are an Iranian ethnic group of Eastern Iranic descent who have lived in Hungary since the 13th century. They live mostly in a region known as Jászság, which comprises the north-western part of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county. They are sometimes known in English by the exonym Jassic and are also known by the endonyms Iasi and Jassy. They originated as a nomadic Alanic people from the Pontic steppe.