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Ossetian Genetics topic became a subject of special studies because the Ossetian language is a keystone component of the Scytho-Iranian hypothesis that stipulates that Ossetians are a remnant of Ases, who in turn were also called Alans, who in turn were a Sarmatian tribe, who in turn were a Scythian tribe, and thus Ossetians are a remnant of Scythians who must have had spoken a proto-Ossetian language. By defining the Ossetian language as Iranian, the Scytho-Iranian hypothesis postulates that Scythians were Iranian, and thus Indo-European, speaking tribe.

The Scytho-Iranian hypothesis is being tested against linguistical, genetical, ethnological, anthropological, archeological and historical accounts. The historical literary sources were well studied for traces of Scythian-Persian identification. The anthropological studies were also well advanced by the middle of the 20eth c. The ethnological observations come from the literary sources, and are abandantly complemented by archeological finds of the 20eth c. The linguistical sources were first canvassed in the early 19th c., and by the end of the 19th c. the European historical school of thought mostly subscribed to the Scytho-Iranian hypothesis, relying on the linguistical studies of the time. The linguistical studies were greatly reenforced with the publication of (Russified name Abaev V.I.) 'Osettian language and folklore',1949. In that work, V.I.Abaev declared Ossetian language to be indisputably an Iranian language, but at the same time estimated that the proportion of the Indo-European lexicon in the Ossetian language at the most makes 20%, and the remaining 80% are a combination of 50% Caucasian languages, 10% Türkic borrowings, and the remaining 20% are of unknown provenance. Considering that Caucasus is a home of 360 mutually unintelligegle languages, there is plenty of room for unknown provenance.

Genetical studies joined into the picture in the 21st century. The studies were undertaken to confirm the correctness of the prevailing doctrines, but the results were different.

The following illustrations depict the factual findings. Ossetians, so called by conquistador generals in Russian service, are composed of three distinct populations, two of which have languages completely unintelligegle between each other. These groups are Irons, Digors, and Argonians. The linguistic studies center in Iron, probably because of the name that implies Iranian connection, citing the Digor words as a sidekick.

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