The Khazar Economy: Economic Integration or Disintegration? 177
middle reaches of the Severski Donets. For this region, the evolutionary
approach is presented by K. Krasil’nikov.30 According to S. Pletneva, there is
no data to support the notion that the early pasture settlements (stoibishcha)
appeared before the sedentary ones. Her assumption is that the sedentary pop-
ulation, which engaged in transhumance, had summer pastures.31
Already in Soviet times the evolutionary approach was subject to doubt
by some ethnologists. Thus, instead of talking about stages of development,
A. Khazanov speaks only of types and varieties of nomadism. His classification
identifies five basic forms of nomadic pastoralism, the first three of which are
varieties of year-round migration with no permanent settlements. Of particu-
lar interest are the fourth and fifth forms, which are identified as typical for the
Eurasian Steppe:32
“4. The whole population leads a nomadic life in spring, summer and fall,
migrating in a meridional or vertical direction, and returns to its permanents
dwellings in winter. Agriculture is practiced alongside nomadic pastoralism,
but only as a supplementary part of the economy.
- Part of the population is nomadic during a greater or lesser period of the
year, migrating in a meridional or vertical direction, while the other leads a
sedentary life and engages mainly in agriculture”.33
These two forms of nomadic pastoralism are defined as semi-nomadic.
Further on A. Khazanov explicitly states that to view these types of nomadism
as consecutive stages in the development of the nomadic economy would be
inaccurate.34 The scholar also rejects the theory that the kuren form of nomad-
ism subsequently gave rise to the aul type. According to him, the account of
Rashid Al-Din refers to a specific kind of building structure, used in case of
danger, which concurs with the Eastern historian’s own explanation.35
G. Markov reaches a similar conclusion during the 1970s. He also draws atten-
tion to the defensive purpose of the nomadic camp’s circular structure, adding
that “elements of a social organization, similar to the kuren one, have existed
among all nomadic stock-breeders during every period of their history”.36 In
G. Markov’s view, a nomadic or semi-nomadic economy occurs only when the
basis for a nomadic society’s existence is extensive pastoralism, accompanied
30 Krasil’nikov 1981.
31 Pletneva 1999, 74–75.
32 Khazanov 1975, 10–11.
33 Khazanov 1975, 11.
34 Khazanov 1975, 13.
35 Khazanov 1975, 269.
36 Markov 1976, 57.