132 CHAPTER 2
leading a nomadic way of life in the Kalmyk steppes, were not affected by the
invasion at all, similarly to many port towns along the Black Sea region and
the Crimea. The Bulgars also remained there, including the “Black” ones [.. .]
The steppe cities of the khaganate appeared to have remained virtually
untouched as well: the capital Itil and Sarkel”.24 In 2000 S. Pletneva reaches
the conclusion that during the last years of the ninth century the Pechenegs
“simply passed through” the Don domains of Khazaria and settled far away in
the west, in the steppes around the Dnieper, Dniester and the Prut (only one
horde remained in the Khazar steppes—the so-called Khazar Pechenegs).25
The Pecheneg invasion corresponds to the first phase of nomadism accord-
ing to S. Pletneva’s classification, in which the population has no established
permanent settlements and wanders around in search of suitable pastures all
year round. The invasions that it commits are especially devastating because
the whole population takes part in them.26 According to P. Golden, the
Pecheneg invasion was a migration of broken-up nomads, rather than a war of
conquest. During this migration the Pechenegs conquered a group of weaker
nomads (the Magyars), while the sedentary societies remained unaffected.27
During the process of their establishment, the Pechenegs could have rep-
resented an obstacle for normal relations between the different regions of the
Khazar Khaganate, as well as for the development of international commercial
relations, but they did not cause the downfall of Khazaria. It is possible that
during their incursions some Bulgar and Alanian settlements may have been
24 Pletneva 1997, 52; in her last summarizing work, Pletneva 1999 names several settlements
and areas where life went on until the mid-tenth century: Sarkel and Tankeevka, 45;
Maiaki, 72; the population of the Taganrog Bay in ancient Russian times (the eleventh
to thirteenth centuries) remained the same as during Khazar times; such processes can
be traced in several areas along the Lower Don, 134–135; Tepsen in the Crimea, 164 and
others.
25 Pletneva 2000a, 82–98.
26 Pletneva 1982, 13–14 and 33. Another question in this case is to what extent it is appropri-
ate to talk about a phase of development in nomadism and not about a type or a ver-
sion of it, caused by reasons that cannot be tied to a certain periodization of the social
or economic development. There are different theoretical models of the development
of the nomadic economy. Khazanov 1975, 10–11, for instance, considers the “camp” stock-
breeding (the first phase according to S. Pletneva) to be a strictly specific type of nomad-
ism which is manifested only during migrations, conquests and the acquisition of new
territories. This type (version) is different from the year-round nomadism which occurs in
the desert areas of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia.
27 Golden 2003, no. 7, 91. According to Pritsak 1981b, no. 10, 9–10, the Pechenegs turned to a
nomadic economy after they were driven by the Oghuz to the steppes between the Volga
and Ural during the first half of the ninth century.