The Pechenegs In Khazar History 133
destroyed, but it would not be justified to talk about the destruction of the
whole settlement system of the Saltovo culture. The Pechenegs were largely
dependent, due to the lack of an agricultural sector (their own or a subordinate
one). This is why they entered into political coalitions, and only then did they
become a threat to one of the neighboring countries.28 “Despite the troubles
and ruin that befell the state, which had become stronger by the ninth century,
the economy of the khaganate could not have vanished all of a sudden. Many
settlements, dated by material finds almost to the end of the tenth century,
continued to exist, and in the large cities the most sophisticated products were
preserved and developed”,29 S. Pletneva asserts in 2005.
In his dissertation from 1992 (which was published between 2000 and 2005),
S. Romashov revives the old theory about the destructive consequences of the
Pecheneg invasion for Khazaria. According to him, the Pechenegs not only rav-
aged the Bulgar and Alanian settlements in the Don region, but also those in
the Crimea and on the Taman Peninsula. Their invasion brought about the dis-
integration of the Khazar Khaganate and the ultimate downfall of the Khazar
world. Khazaria became a “second-class” state and lost its pacifying and unify-
ing role. The historian justifies his views with S. Pletneva’s studies, but the ones
dating before 1986.30
A. Tortika’s findings show that the causes for the downfall of the Saltovo
culture and, in particular, for the demise of the settlements along the Severski
Donets and the Don have not yet been clarified. The Bulgaro-Alanian settle-
ments probably happened to be aside from the main Pecheneg attack (which
28 The final expulsion of the Magyars, for example, became possible because they were
engaged in another conflict, and the Pechenegs acted in coordination with Danube
Bulgaria (Constantine Porphyrogenitus. De Administrando Imperio, ch. 40, in Litavrin
and Novosel’tsev 1989, 165). According to Russian Primary Chronicle, in 915 the Pechenegs
reached the land of the Rus’ for the first time, making peace with Prince Igor before con-
tinuing on towards the Danube River. Later on he fought them (in 920), and in 944 they
constituted a part of his troops as allies (Povest’ Vremennykh Let, in Adrianova-Peretts
1950, 31–33). The Pechenegs did not constitute a serious threat to Rus’ trade, despite the
difficulties which they caused (these are described by Constantine Porphyrogenitus. De
Administrando Imperio, ch. 2, in Litavrin and Novosel’tsev 1989, 37–39) by obstructing free
movement along the Dnieper River. See esp. Golden 2003, no. 7, 58–101.
29 Pletneva 2005, 24.
30 Romashov 2002–2003, 84 and 2004, 218–222. The theory about the total defeat of the
Saltovo settlements in the Crimea, caused by the Pechenegs in the period between the
ninth and the tenth centuries, is laid out in its fullest by A. Iakobson (Iakobson 1973, 56–57
and 76–77). It is now obsolete and not accepted (see for example Baranov 1990, 152–153, as
well as the sections written by Aibabin 2003).