evidence: The Tuvinian depression province (the archaeologically richest area of Tuva) and the Ubsunur depression account for 52 and 21% of the sites, respectively. The mountain landscapes were colonized to a considerably lesser extent; the largest number of sites are located in the Western-Tuva mountain province. In the Scythian time, the cores of development of the Tuva territory were represented by the intermontane depressions (Tuvinian and Ubsunur), the connections between which were provided by a small number of large valleys and mountain passes. [...] Geomorphological Map of the Tuva ASSR. Sc 1:1000 000, B.A. Borisov, Ed., Moscow: Aerogeologiya, 1977, Sh. N-47 (46) [in Russian]. [...] Mandel’shtam, A.M., Early Nomads of the Scythian Period on the Territory of Tuva, in Archaeology of the USSR, Vol. 10: The Steppe Belt of the Asian part of the USSR in the Scythian-Sarmatian Time, M.G. Moshkova, Ed., Moscow: Nauka, 1992, pp. 178–196 [in Russian].