Hard riding no saddles or stirrups

[Carvettia]

I quite accept that the first stirrups were probably not metal but rope, horsehair, rawhide, hardened leather, wood, horn, and finally metal. (After all the word stirrup comes from "stiga rap" mean "climb rope" so it doesn't have to imply metal!)

Can anyone confirm whether stirrups or indications of stirrups have been found in Sarmatian/Alan contexts? I have read (somewhere, but can't find a reference) that they've turned up in archaeo digs at periods which would be within the Roman ascendancy in Europe. And is there a copy available anywhere of the Strategikon, which I have been told mandated stirrup use for the Roman Army in 580AD?

I gather this can be a bit controversial so let me say: I am only asking for info, not propounding an argument; I do not ever take movie images as historical truth (King Arthur - blech!); and I have not read Scythia to Camelot.