CSSETIAN AUTONOMOUS AREAS, two administra tive units of Russia. (I) The South Ossetian Area created in 1922 is linked administratively with the Georgian S.S.R. Area 3,337 sq.km. Pop. (1926) 87,342. (2) The North Ossetian Area created in 1924 is linked administratively with the North Cau casian Area. Area 6,027 sq.km. Pop. (1926) 152,00o.
The Ossetes are descended from the Alans, the strongest and most numerous of the Sarmatian tribes, and their language be longs to the Iranic group of the Aryan tongues. The earliest ref erence to the Alans is A.D. 35 when, according to Josephus, they occupied the Kuban valley; later they occupied the Don and Dnieper regions, where they joined forces with Germanic tribes in attacks on the Romans. Legend gives the Emperor Maximin a Gothic father and an Alan mother. The Mongol invasion swept them from the steppe, but they took refuge in the Caucasus and were probably settled in their present territory in the 5th and 6th centuries. They have been described by some writers as long headed, blue eyed and fair haired, but recent Russian in vestigators describe them as rather broad headed. with swarthy complexions, dark eyes and hair, and straight noses, their stature being above the average. In the Caucasus they held the grassy passes leading from the sources of the Terek and the Ardon to those of the Rion and the Kura, by which alone horsemen and troops can cross the range in summer, and in the height of their prosperity their flocks whitened the steppe and their vin tages were famous. The rude walls and towers of their fortified farms and villages still remain on high and defensible ridges in the mountain fastnesses. Later they formed villages with two storeyed stone houses, the lower for the cattle and the upper for human habitation, with flat wooden roofs and balconies.
Queen Tamara introduced Christianity among them in the 12th century, but later the Kabardians drove them from many of their pastures and Turkish tribes supplanted them in the lower valleys and introduced the Islamic faith within their borders. The Ossetes, however, even in their decline, still held the upper passes, the keys of the Caucasus. The Russian hold on the region began when a small fortress was established at Vladikavkaz in 1784 and the Ossetes were conquered in 1802. Later the famous Georgian military road through the Dariel gorge of the Terek, constructed 1811 to 1864, brought the Ossetes more definitely under Russian rule. For a description of the rich treasures found in the tombs of the Alans, see Rostovtseff, M., Iranians and Greeks in South Russia, 1922.
Most of the territory of the Ossetes consists of the mountain region of the Caucasus, with snow clad peaks, e.g., the Adai Khokh (15,242 ft.). Numerous streams ultimately join the Terek; in their upper courses they have carved deep valleys. They are of no use for floating timber or for navigation, owing to their rapidity and the numerous falls, but are of great potential value as a source of hydro-electric energy, and a hydro-electric station has recently been built on the Gizeldon. The chief pass is the Mamison, over which goes the Ossetian military road, con structed in 1889. No other good road exists in the whole Ossetian
area. A loop from the Black Sea—Caspian Railway passes through the north of the territory, with a branch to Alagir and Vladi kavkaz. The latter town is the administrative centre for the North Ossetes, but forms a separate administrative division of the North Caucasian Area. Stalinir (formerly Tskinvali), a settlement of 5,809 inhabitants, is the administrative centre of the South Os setes. The chief range apart from the Central Caucasus, is the Bokovoi Ridge, exceeding a height of 10,00o feet. The average altitude of South Ossetia is 10,000 feet. (See CAUCASUS.) Forest and shrub are general in the region, oak and hardbeam being the prevailing varieties in the north, where timber is ex ported through Alagir. The forests extend to the upper limit of the limestone gorges, but the crystalline schists are bare of vegetation. Coniferous forests extend above the oak, hardbeam, ash, maple and lime and alpine meadows with a rich variety of blossoms are found above the tree limit. On the plateau in the north maize gives good harvests and occupies 76% of the sown area; winter-wheat, potatoes, fruit, sunflower seed, tobacco and vegetables are also cultivated; the latter find a market in Vladi kavkaz, and in the tomato canning factory recently established at Alagir. Milk, meat and cheese, from sheep and goats espe cially, and from cows in some regions, form the staple food of the herdsmen and shepherds. The numbers of sheep and pigs are greater than in 1913, but horses, asses, mules and horned cattle are still below that level. Small patches of summer wheat, barley, oats and potatoes are grown in sheltered spots among the hills, but frost or early snow often spoils the harvest. Un worked coal, naphtha, iron, manganese, graphite, asbestos, wol fram and arsenic exist ; the only mineral at present exploited is lead.
South Ossetia is essentially a grazing region, with sheep and goats in the east and cattle in the west. It is thinly peopled in comparison with the north, and its population was further dimin ished by the disastrous war conditions following the 1917 revolu tion, when many natives left their homes and went northwards. Conditions in this region are recovering very slowly. Peasant in dustries include the making of daggers and metal goods, fur caps, leather goods, and small metal wares.
There are two main Ossetian dialects, the Iron and the Digor; the South Ossetians call themselves Tualte and speak a dialect related to the Iron group. Ossetes form about 85% of the popu lation and Russians and Ukrainians about 12%. The literacy rate among this scattered population in a region of poor com munications is low and decreases from north to south. Since the Ossetes received cultural autonomy, the Latin script has been adopted and some newspapers and books are now printed in Ossete. School provision is made for less than half the children, mainly for those in the plateau region. The problem of providing education and medical help for the herdsmen and shepherds of the mountain regions is at present unsolved. (R. M. F.) OSSETIAN LANGUAGE: see OSSETE.