Black Sea-Caspian Steppe: Natural Conditions

chapter 1 Black Sea-Caspian Steppe: Natural Conditions I shall begin with a description of the natural conditions of the Black Sea- Caspian steppe for reasons other than merely fulfilling expectations about what a typical academic monograph should contain. Geographical factors have been determinants in the development of all human societies – both those in the past and those of today – and steppe-dwellers are certainly no exception. This does not mean, however, that I promote the notion of geographical deter- minism or assume that the history of a particular community is a priori deter- mined by the natural conditions of the area(s) where it resides. Yet in this respect the case of nomads of the steppes of Northern Eurasia is a special one. Their existence was closely linked to a unique geographical environment, and it was changes to this environment caused by anthropogenic factors that resulted in the disappearance of nomadic communities in Europe in the early 19th century. From at least the beginning of the first millennium BCE, up until the late eighteenth century, when the western extremes of the Great Steppe came under the political domination of the Russian Empire, this region was the shared home of often quite diverse nomadic communities. Today, the term ‘steppe’ applies to the lands north of the Black and Caspian Seas more in historical terms than in relation to their physical geography. This region’s steppe and forest steppe zones have been subjected to the most far-reaching anthropogenic change of all the biomes in Northern Eurasia. It is estimated that more than 60 percent of the steppe area in Europe has been converted into arable land. The natural forests in the forest-steppe zone have been almost completely eliminated. With the exception of small areas that have been turned into nature reserves (e.g., the Askania-Nova biosphere reserve in Ukraine), the biogeography of the European steppe and forest steppe zones is therefore more cultural than natural in character. The Asian part of the zone has been less affected by anthropogenic change. However, here too, mainly in western Kazakhstan and southern Siberia, there were intensive efforts in the 1950s to develop ‘virgin lands’ into cultivated fields, which fundamentally changed the region’s natural landscape.1 It is therefore necessary to provide here a general characterization of the natural environment typical of nomads and how it determines the culture specific to these communities and the lifestyle associated with it. It is also 1 Chibilyov 2002, 248, 258–60; Makohonienko 2011, 24. © Aleksander Paroń and Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences, 2021 | doi:10.1163/9789004441095_003 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.Aleksander Paroń - 9789004441095 Downloaded from Brill.com09/28/2021 12:16:12AM via free access Black Sea-Caspian Steppe: Natural Conditions 21 necessary to recall descriptions of the Black Sea-Caspian steppe written over 23 centuries (from the 5th century BCE to the late 18th century CE). These authors immortalized the landscape of steppelands that today no longer exist. 1.1 The Great Steppe. General Comments A vast steppe once stretched across the interior of the Eurasian continent, from the northern shores of the Black Sea to Manchuria. Its northern bound- ary was a humid forest steppe zone that separated it from a long, continuous belt of deciduous and mixed forests farther north. The steppe ran from the Hungarian Plain in the west through the northern regions of today’s Ukraine and Kazakhstan to the southern ends of the Western Siberian Highlands and Mongolia.2 To the south, it was bordered by a belt of semi-arid steppe with short, dry grass or semi-desert features. In the west, this semi-arid belt extended from the Caspian Plain and to the plains of Xinjiang and Gansu, reaching southern and north-western Mongolia. Both transitional belts combine the natural conditions of the zones they separate.3 The steppe zone, despite the fact that it stretches over such a large area, is characterized by its relative homogeneity. It has a continental climate with cold winters and quite long and hot sum- mers. The average January temperature varies between -12° and -23°C.4 The eastern part of the steppe is markedly colder. In the coldest parts of Mongolia, the average temperature in January, as measured in Ulan Bator, is -27°C. From October to March the average temperatures are always negative.5 In July, the average temperature of the steppe zone remains in a range from 19 to 24°C. It should be noted, however, that summer is much longer in the European part of the zone.6 Average precipitation in the steppe ranges from 250 to 500 mm, which, due to a relatively high degree of evaporation, results in a humidity deficit. However, major rivers largely satisfy the ecosystem’s need for water, especially in the western part of the steppe.7 2 Taaffe 1990, 33; Chibilyov 2002, 248. 3 Taaffe 1990, 34; Cf. Chibilyov 2002, 248–9. 4 Taaffe 1990, 35; Chibilyov 2002, 248–9. 5 Taaffe 1990, 35. 6 Taaffe 1990, 35. 7 Taaffe 1990, 35; Makohonienko 2011, 24, 26–27. In the western part precipitation is more abundant and the growing season is longer (about 190 days, compared to 160–175 days in the east). Aleksander Paroń - 9789004441095 Downloaded from Brill.com09/28/2021 12:16:12AM via free access 22 chapter 1 The predominant soil types are black and chestnut soils, on which under natural conditions various types of grasses usually grow, in particular, ‘ostrich grasses’ (Stipa). These are an excellent source of feed for animals.8 However, the steppe is not completely devoid of trees. In fact, although they are quite rare in the watershed, in areas with higher humidity (river valleys, topograph- ical depressions, ravines) a number of species can be found, including oak, linden, maple, ash, elm, poplar, alder, fir, and birch. The composition of forests changes as you move from west to east. Oaks are typical for the European steppe, while east of the Urals, birch, poplar, aspen, and fir dominate. A typical feature of steppe flora is the presence of shrubs, including dwarf cherry (Prunus fruticosa), blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), almond trees, Siberian pea- shrub (Caragana arborescens), Spiraea, and wild roses.9 Most species of steppe fauna are distributed over a number of differ- ent zones, and thus, there are far fewer species endemic to the steppe than to forest and desert areas. This is due to the wide variety of steppe habitats, which range from marshes to semi-deserts and from forests to sandy and rocky steppe. The animal population of the steppe is also highly varied, both in terms of the number of species and the natural variation among individuals within a given species. Ungulates and rodents dominate among vertebrates. The steppe was once home to herds of ungulates capable of travelling across large areas in search of food (e.g., the Saiga antelope, a species typical of the southern Urals and Kazakh steppes). Wild horses and kulans (a species of asiatic wild ass) also lived in large herds, usually numbering 50–100 individuals. As a result of human activity, most ungulates had disappeared from the steppe by the beginning of the 19th century. Today rodents are dominant among steppe mammals, most of which live underground in colonies, allowing them to move about eas- ily over a fairly large area.10 The Great Steppe is characterized by a relative lack of contours in its terrain relief. The mountain ranges occurring here mostly run parallel to one another (Altai, Tien-Shan).11 An exception are the Urals, whose northern ranges, which extend beyond the steppe, are both very high and relatively inaccessible.12 The area of greatest interest to us is a vast, expansive plain with by a relatively monotonous landscape.13 This lack of surface features facilitated both the 8 Taaffe 1990, 36; Zamotaev 2002, 114–117; Chibilyov 2002, 248, 249–251; Makohonienko 2011, 28–31. 9 Chibilyov 2002, 256–7; Makohonienko 2011, 24. 10 Chibilyov 2002, 257–258. 11 Shahgedanova, Mikhailov, Larin, Bredikhin 2002, 314–319; Merzlyakovan 2002, 377–381. 12 Shahgedanova, Perov, Mudrov 2002, 287–290. 13 Taaffe 2002, 37. Aleksander Paroń - 9789004441095 Downloaded from Brill.com09/28/2021 12:16:12AM via free access Black Sea-Caspian Steppe: Natural Conditions 23 migration of nomads and the creation of huge steppe empires, which some- times spanned the entire European continent. 1.2 Black Sea-Caspian Steppe. Physical Geography Of particular importance for our considerations are the western regions of the Great Steppe, stretching from the Volga region to the lower Danube and along the arching belt of the Carpathian Mountains. This is where the best docu- mented and most important events in the history of the Pechenegs took place. At the easternmost extreme of this geographical area is the Volga region, which straddles both sides of the Volga River. In terms of its natural conditions, the region can be divided into three distinct zones: forests, forest-steppe, and steppe. The first of these zones stretches to the Kama estuary on the left bank of the Volga (the Transvolga), and on the right bank includes the areas between two of the Volga’s tributaries: the Sura and the Sviiaga. In terms of topogra- phy, it is a flat lowland dominated by alluvial and sandy soils, though marshes and peat bogs are also common. Bordered to the north by the Northern Ridge (Northern Uvaly) and extending southward is the marl and limestone Viatka Upland, which is a drainage basins for this right-bank tributary of the Kama.

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