Introduction

Introduction An account of the early medieval history of the peoples lied on written and numismatic sources. By contrast, in of Eastern Europe is unconceivable without the Khazar addition to written sources (known to him, at that time, Khaganate. During the period under study in this book, in Russian translation), Mikhail I. Artamonov employed a that was one of the largest polities in Eurasia. Through the considerable amount of archaeological data.8 As all sites integration of ethnically different peoples from the north- attributed to the Khazar period were within the USSR, ern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains to the south to the foreign scholars had little knowledge of, and access to ar- Donets and Oskol rivers to the north, and from the Lower chaeological sources. Volga to the east to the Dnieper and the Crimea in the west, Khazaria occupied a large territory stretching over dif- the Khazar authorities succeeded in creating an economi- ferent climate and landscape zones, between the forest- cally powerful state, and managed to harness also the ex- steppe belt along the Don and the Dnieper rivers to the perience of craftsmen in the eastern Byzantine provinces. steppes along the Volga to the Lower Dnieper, to the Because of that, towards the end of the first millennium, Crimea, and, through the regions of Stavropol and Kuban, the Khazar Khaganate became one of the most powerful all the way to the northern foothills of the Caucasus military and political forces in the Black Sea region, along Mountains. Such a diversity had a considerable impact with Byzantium, Kievan Rus’, and the Arab Caliphate. upon the nature of economic activity and the mode of life The history of research on the rise, development and of the constituent populations — sedentary in the forest- decline of the Khazars, goes back several centuries. It steppe zone and in the Caucasus, but nomadic or semi- has been described in detail in Peter Golden’s studies.1 nomadic in the steppe zone. In Russian historiography, the best survey remains that The ethnic diversity and various forms of reproductive of Eduard Vashchenko.2 The history of archaeological re- economy, each one determined by a specific place of habi- search has been presented by Svetlana Pletneva.3 tation, are responsible for the creation of a highly devel- Beginning with the 1990, and for the subsequent quar- oped material culture, with considerable variations in its ter of a century, the Kharkiv-based historian Oleksandr manifestations. Archaeologists have coined this the Saltiv Tortika (1967–2015) dealt extensively with Khazar issues.4 (or Saltovo-Mayaki) culture, and have dated it between His studies were primarily based on written sources, with the mid-8th and the mid-10th century.9 Svetlana Pletneva only occasional use of the archaeological data. It is im- designated Saltiv (Saltovo-Mayaki) as the “state culture” of portant to note that in post-Soviet historiography, he had the Khazar Khaganate.10 a unique position, as the only historian to focus on the Saltiv assemblages became the object of scholarly in- Khazar Khaganate with so much purpose, and with such terest in the late 19th and the early 20th century, follow- a broad thematic range. He placed a great deal of empha- ing the discovery of the Mayaki hillfort in 1890 and the sis on military and political history, on social relations, as excavation of the first catacomb graves in Verkhnyi Saltiv well as on ethnic and religious processes in Khazaria, all in 1900.11 The scholarly interest in those assemblages in- of which are reflected in his book.5 In terms of economic creased slowly by steadily to the present. The reason for history, Tortika dealt especially with trade routes passing that favorable attitude to the history and material culture through Khazaria and linking the European and Muslim of the Khazars lies in their significant role not only in markets.6 Eastern Europe, but also in Byzantium, the Black Sea, and The most significant contributions to the study of Transcaucasia. Khazar history are those of such scholars as Douglas M. Dunlop, Omeljan Pritsak, Peter Golden, Norman Gold, R. A. E. Mason, and Constantin Zuckerman.7 They all re- 8 Artamonov 1962. Between 1934 and 1936, Artamonov headed the excavations in Sarkel and, after the war, those on the Right-Bank stronghold site at Tsimliansk (1949–1951). 1 Golden 2005. 9 The culture was named after Verkhnyi Saltiv (in the region of 2 Vashchenko 2006. Kharkiv, Ukraine), the site where the first excavation of a cem- 3 Pletneva 1999. etery with catacomb graves took place; and after Mayaki (in the 4 Aksenov, Evseenko, and Riapolov 2016. region of Voronezh, Russia), the village next to which the first 5 Tortika 2006b. stronghold was investigated. 6 Tortika 2006a; 2006b; 2006c; Lobanova-Gulak and Tortika 2009. 10 Pletneva 1999, 206–211. 7 Dunlop 1954; Pritsak 1981 and 1995; Golden 1983; Gold and Pritsak 11 Pokrovskii 1905; Makarenko 1906, 122–44; 1911; Miliutin 1909; 1982; Mason 1995; Zuckerman 1995. Spitsyn 1909. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004429574_002 2 Introduction Not all peoples included into the Khaganate, who for both settlement and cemetery sites. Not all of these participated in the creation of the Saltiv archaeological materials are of equal value for our study of agriculture. culture, appear to have played the same role in its forma- To be sure, most important for research on the economy tion. One of the most important and significant contribu- of ancient societies, especially at household level, are set- tions to its rise and development is that of the Alans of tlement sites. It is important to note in this respect that the Northern Caucasus. In the mid-8th century, the cen- excavations resumed at Verkhnyi Saltiv over the past two tral authority of Khazaria moved a large group of Alans decades. The strongholds and adjacent settlements at from their homeland to the northwestern borderland of Mokhnach and Koropovi Khutory, as well as the settle- the khaganate, next to the lands of the Slavs in the forest- ment at P’iatnyts’ke I have also been the object of inten- steppe zone along the Donets and Oskol rivers. The set- sive study.13 Several publications, including two books, tlers skillfully and efficiently implemented an effective put this considerable amount of new information to military and economic basis for the Khazar rule over that use.14 However, even more archaeological, palaeobotani- region. This has contributed to intensive contact respects cal and zooarchaeological data became available over the between the (Alan) inhabitants of Khazaria and the Slavs. last few years, which can considerably enrich our under- The high level of farming, craft activities, and military or- standing of the agricultural practices of the forest-steppe ganization became the basis for the Khazar domination zone of Khazaria. over the neighboring (Eastern) Slavs throughout the 9th The material relevant to the topic of this book are cur- and the first half of the 10th century. Like most other early rently stored in various institutions and organizations. medieval polities, the economy of the Khaganate was For example, the materials from Verkhnyi Saltiv are now based on agriculture. in the collections of the Historical and Archaeological Studying the agrarian economy of the Saltiv culture in Museum Verkhnyi Saltiv and the Archaeological Museum the forest-steppe zone represents therefore the key to the of the V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (KhNU). understanding of the economic power, as well as an im- We have also looked and verified materials in the Insti- portant premise for the study of the military and political tute of Archaeology in Kiev (for Verkhnyi Saltiv) and organization of the Khaganate, at least on its northwest- the “H. S. Skovoroda” National Pedagogical University ern border. A dissertation defended in the mid-1980s was in Kharkiv (KhNPU) (for Verkhnyi Saltiv, Mokhnach, the last attempt to put together the results of various in- Koropovi Khutory, and P’iatnyts’ke). vestigations concerning the economy of the Saltiv culture To obtain a full palaeobotanical spectrum from several in the forest-steppe zone.12 Since then, no other scholar of those sites, the pottery has been partially examined di- have dealt with this research topic. rectly in the field during archaeological excavations (for During the last decade of the 20th century and at seeds caught in the paste). At the same time, species were the beginning of the 21st century, there was a surge of identified in palaeobotanical samples obtained by flota- scholarly interest in the history and archaeology of the tion. We have added the palaeobotanical samples from Khazars. Two congresses (one held in Jerusalem in 1998, the hillfort excavated in Chuhuiv (materials now in the the other in Moscow, in 2003) and a symposium (Kharkiv, Repin House and Memorial Museum in Chuhuiv). 2003) took place at that time. To those, one can add the In short, most data used in this book have been obtained 12th International Conference on International Relations during the last two decades during the archaeological ex- in the Black Sea Region (Rostov-on-Don, 2007), as well cavations carried out by the Medieval Archaeological ex- as the conference of Slavic-nomadic relations, which pedition of “H. S. Skovoroda” State Pedagogical University took place in Voronezh one year later (2008). Moreover, (KhSPU, now KhNPU) in Kharkiv, led by Volodymyr Koloda. Khazar problems were discussed at the 7th International However, we also took into consideration the data known Conference on Jewish Studies (Moscow, 2010). Mass to us at the time the two monographs mentioned above. media in Eastern Europe suddenly began highlighting With his book, Mikheev has set high standards for re- Khazarian history and archaeology.

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