184 CHAPTER 4
these events many thousand-cattle herds were concentrated on the relatively
small territory of the Crimean steppe, which was unsuitable for intensive year-
round exploitation. They (the Bulgars—Author’s note) upset the ecological bal-
ance in the Taurica steppes that required annual grass cover recovery, which
had been possible with the previous brief use of seasonal pastures”.59 This led
to a severe herd reduction, which was the initial reason for the sedentarization
of the Bulgars in the Crimea.60 I. Baranov’s theory seems entirely plausible.
The peculiar thing is that those Bulgars were the ones who brought the
Saltovo culture to the Crimea. They had adopted it in an Alanian (?) envi-
ronment, in the coastal area of the Sea of Azov and the Lower Don Valley.61
Leaving aside the question of whether there were any sedentary Alans in the
coastal steppes around the Sea of Azov just before the mid-seventh century,62
it is clear that these Bulgars mastered their agricultural and artisanal abilities
prior to their settlement in the Crimea. It should be noted that according to I.
Baranov, between the mid-seventh century and the first half of the eighth cen-
tury the agricultural economy of the Bulgars in the Crimea provided them with
enough surplus for trading in the markets of Byzantine Chersonesus.63 This
could be due to a mass sedentarization, but there is no concrete data regarding
the economy of the Bulgars prior to the mid-seventh century. As shall be seen
below, in the early stage of the Saltovo culture in the Crimea the presence of
other Bulgar groups, or of a population, related to the Bulgars, can be traced—
a population whose economy cannot be solely defined as nomadic pastoral-
ism. Of significant importance is the conclusion, also made by I. Baranov: “it
can be assumed that there was no Alanian component among the bearers of
the Saltovo-Maiaki culture in the Crimea”.64
The time between the fifth and the seventh centuries is one of the most
obscure periods in the history of the steppes north of the Caucasus and the
Pechenegs. However, Tortika 2006a, 129 considers it “obvious that the sedentary nature of
the population from the Middle Don Region [.. .] cannot be explained as an evolutionary
process of the Bulgar nomads’ sedentarization and is rather associated with the initially
sedentary nature of the larger part of the Saltovo population that migrated to these parts
in the mid–eighth century”.
59 Baranov 1990, 15.
60 Baranov 1990, 15.
61 Baranov 1990, 15.
62 The reason behind this persistent search of an Alanian influence on the Bulgar version
of the Saltovo culture is its great similarity to the Late Sarmatian culture. As was noted
earlier (see note 55), it cannot unconditionally be defined as Alanian.
63 Baranov 1990, 73–79.
64 Baranov 1990, 105.