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and the population that settled down in the outskirts of the steppe region did
not live in isolation. Most often these were the same tribal groups, ruled by a
common aristocratic elite. They retained their mixed economy also during the
time of the Khazar Khaganate. Also of significant importance is the lack of a
considerable chronological distance between the sedentarization of the Alans
in the central part of the North Caucasus and that of parts of the Bulgars and
Khazars (and probably a group of Alans as well) in Dagestan, which can be
dated to the fifth to sixth centuries. The invasions played a role in the further
redistribution of pastures and inevitably led to the withdrawal from the steppe
and the subsequent sedentarization of groups that had previously engaged in
stock-breeding. It is possible that the Khazar invasion from the second half of
the seventh century accelerated this process among most of the Bulgars and
slowed it down among the Khazars themselves.
In the seventh century, Dagestan was probably the most economically
developed region in light of its mixed agricultural and stock-breeding econ-
omy. According to records and archaeological data, this region contained
both cities and artificial irrigation canals. The direct continuity in the devel-
opment of Dagestan from the second and third centuries onwards is perhaps
also of significance. During the second half of the eighth century and during
the ninth and tenth centuries, two main economical regions emerged in the
Khazar Khaganate—the Northwestern Caspian coast and the western lands
of the khaganate (the Crimea, the Taman Peninsula and the lower reaches of
the Don).
4.3 The Don Region
Though they are part of the same geographical region, the European and the
Asian steppes differ significantly from one another. One of the main reasons
for this is the direction, in which the major rivers flow through them. While the
Asian rivers rise mainly from the mountains in the south and cross the steppe
northwards towards the tundra, in Europe they run in the opposite direction,
from north to south, and flow into the Black Sea or the Caspian Sea. The major
rivers of the East European Plain, such as the Dnieper, the Don or the Volga,
were the main links that connected the northern peoples with the southern
civilizations. They also served as a geographical landmark in the vast and
unknown plain expanses of the “Barbarian” world. With their help the ancient
and medieval writers defined the boundaries of this world and the habitats of
the various tribes and peoples. In the minds of ancient scholars, the Don and
the Sea of Azov marked the boundary between Europe and Asia and between