186 CHAPTER 4
The account of Zacharias Rhetor is confirmed by archaeological data from
Dagestan. The region around the Terek-Sulak Interfluve was densely populated
by a sedentary population which was ethnically related to the Alans, Bulgars
and the Khazars already in the sixth century. This region is even regarded by
M. Magomedov as a center of the Khazar tribes’ settlement.69 An essential fea-
ture of the monuments there is that it is possible to trace a continuity in the
culture from the Late Sarmatian period (the second to fourth centuries) till
the Khazar times inclusive (the seventh to eighth centuries), i.e. till the initial
period of the Saltovo culture. A typical example in this sense is the Andrei-
Aul hillfort (dated between the second and the eighth centuries), where, accord-
ing to evidence, most of the inhabitants led a sedentary way of life during the
entire time of its existence.70 The Khazar economy in Dagestan was predomi-
nantly agricultural already by the seventh century. It did not differ greatly from
the economy of Khazaria in the tenth century. A similar kind of economy can
be seen in all the places, where Bulgar, Alanian and Khazar monuments, dating
between the eighth and tenth centuries, have been found through archaeologi-
cal research. This prompts M. Magomedov to assume that the emergence of
the Saltovo culture in the Don area during the eighth century was the result
of a migration of parts of the three ethnic groups from Dagestan, caused by the
Arab invasions.71 Although such a development is very likely, it is only one of
the possibilities when considering the Saltovo monuments from the Don area.
settlements could be found there, bearing the characteristic traits of a sedentary lifestyle”
(Stepanov 2003c, 63). See also Stepanov 2002, 32–34. Golden 1980, 46–47 also draws atten-
tion to the fact that during this period, the Bulgars engaged in stock-breeding and agricul-
ture simultaneously.
69 Magomedov 1983, 49–50.
70 Magomedov 1983, 100; also of importance is the continuity in the development of the pot-
tery complex from the Late Sarmatian period until the Saltovo period of several hillforts
in the region of the Terek-Sulak Interfluve (Magomedov 1983, 179). See also Angelova and
Doncheva–Petkova 1990, 65.
71 Magomedov 1983, 193. This theory is similar to the conclusions of Pletneva 1967, 184–185,
who presumes that the reason behind the Alanian migration from the North Caucasus
towards the Don area was the Arab invasion. In her later works she is willing to agree with
V. Mikheev, according to whom the Alans were forcibly displaced to the forest-steppe area
by the Khazar authorities (Mikheev 1985, 97 and 2004, 89); A. Gadlo is of a similar opinion
(Gadlo, A. Etnicheskaia istoriia Severnogo Kavkaza X–XIII vv. St. Petersburg, 1994; his work
unfortunately remained unattainable to me). There they had the obligation of guarding
the borders (Pletneva 1999, 24–25 and 42). Tortika 2006a, 131 expresses a similar point
of view. Kovalevskaia 2002, 65–67 assumes that the Alanian migration happened during
the second, rather than the first half of the eighth century (and more precisely between
the years 754 and 763). The migration was the result of the Arab-Khazar relations and of