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CHAPTER 4
The Khazar Economy: Economic Integration or
Disintegration?
Two types of sources are used as a basis for the assessment of the Khazar
Khaganate’s economy: written and archaeological. They are extensively
discussed mainly in the works of archaeologists (such as S. Pletneva,
M. Magomedov, V. Mikheev and I. Baranov)1 and numismatists (T. Noonan).2
Most comprehensive historical works on Khazaria assign secondary impor-
tance to archaeology. If this is understandable for D. Dunlop,3 given that until
the late 1950s there were hardly any archaeological publications on the Saltovo
culture (which still is not definitely bound to the Khazar state), it seems quite
surprising in M. Artamonov’s case.4 Archaeological data is also missing from
the later works of P. Golden and A. Novosel’tsev.5 Many of the conclusions
that can be reached exclusively through written sources are unreliable. Quite
indicative is the opinion of T. Noonan, according to whom, “it is impossible to
understand what happened in European Russia between ca. 500 and ca. 1000
using written sources alone”.6
Research of Khazaria’s archaeology is usually related to the Saltovo mon-
uments which are regarded as the culture of the Khazar state.7 This culture
belonged to the three main ethnic groups in the khaganate: the Khazars, the
Bulgars and the Alans. But even within its hypothetically smallest territory
1 See Pletneva 1967 and 1999; Magomedov 1983, 95–154; Mikheev 1985, 25–97; Baranov 1990,
69–104.
2 Noonan 1995–1997.
3 Dunlop 1967 (originally 1954).
4 Artamonov 1962.
5 Golden 1980; Novosel’tsev 1990. An original addition to Golden’s work is the review of Balint
- According to Novosel’tsev 1990, 113, “For now, we can speak only in general terms about
the Khazar economy, and primarily on the basis of written sources. Unfortunately, apart from
some traits of the urban economy, archaeologists have yet to provide us with sufficient and,
more importantly, with complex material on this issue.” The monographs of Mikheev and
Magomedov, which actually do not cover the whole territory of the khaganate, were pub-
lished during the first half of the 1980s (see footnote 1 in this chapter) and later became the
basis for Noonan’s study of the Khazar economy (see footnote 2 in this chapter).
6 Noonan 2000b, 934.
7 Pletneva 1999, 3.