182 CHAPTER 4
period of time, or could happen suddenly.54 The unusual trait of Khazaria is
the permanent settlement in various areas of its purely steppe territory.
The emergence of the Saltovo culture is usually ascribed to mass migration.
In the early or mid-eighth century, some of the Alans moved from the North
Caucasus region to the forest-steppe zone around the upper reaches of the
Severski Donets. They carried with them the main traits of their culture and
economy. The Alanian migration is, however, a resettlement of an agricultural
population from one area to another and cannot serve as an example for the
transition of nomads towards a mass sedentarization. If the Saltovo culture is
to be regarded as intrinsic chiefly to the Alans, then there should be no par-
ticular difficulty in explaining the reasons for its emergence.55 However, since
it is seen as the culture of the Khazar state and belongs to both the Alans, the
Bulgars and the Khazars, the Alanian migration cannot provide the necessary
answer.56
54 Khazanov 1994, 200–201.
55 This approach is typical of some Russian scholars, for example: Afanas’ev 1984a and 2001.
The view of the Saltovo culture as purely Alanian is an example of incorectness in the eth-
nic interpretation of the monuments. The Bulgar culture is related to the Late Sarmatian
monuments from the Northern Caspian coast region and the lower reaches of the Volga
between the second and the fourth centuries (Angelova 1995, 5–8). The Bulgars can eas-
ily be differentiated from the Alans by their burial rites and their anthropological type.
Naturally, in areas where the two communities lived together, mixing occurred, both of
the anthropological type, and the burial rites. But up till the 1980s such an intermingling
has been noted only for the period after the eighth century (Pletneva 1981a; Kondukturova
1984, 201 and 236). The Alanian burial rite (the construction of catacombs) is not part of
the Sarmatian burial traditions and probably indicates the closer ties of the Alans with
the traditions of the ancient local population of the Northern Caucasus (the Maeotae).
This is why “the direct involvement of Alans in the ethnogenesis of the Proto-Bulgarians
is questionable” (Angelova 1995, 15). This subject is discussed in more detail in chapter 1.1.
56 In 1962 M. Artamonov defined as a Saltovo culture mainly the culture of the Alans in the
forest-steppe region. Despite this he distinguished its steppe, so-called Zlivka (Bulgar)
type. According to him, the Saltovo culture did not belong to the Khazar Khaganate. In
his view, the Khazars were the ones who destroyed it. Here, the reference is to its Alanian
version, since the Bulgar one continued to exist until 965 (Artamonov 1962, 357–358).
Gradually, it becomes clear that the Saltovo culture is typical for both the population
in the Don area and the population in the region around the Volga and in Dagestan. Its
bearers are three major ethnic groups: the Bulgars, the Khazars and the Alans. This is why
initially S. Pletneva defined eight types of the Saltovo culture, which included Alania,
along with Danube and Volga Bulgaria. (Pletneva 1967, 7–8). Over time, the culture of
the three states was analyzed separately, and the culture of the Khazar Khaganate was
considered to be the Saltovo one. (Pletneva 1999, 11–12). From this perspective, its main
bearers were the Bulgars, the Khazars and the Alans, who defined the ethnic appearance