The Khazar Economy: Economic Integration or Disintegration? 195
Donets Valley, and on the other—the Crimea. Sarkel and the Semikarakorsk
hillfort were situated at a crossroads that was important for the commercial
and administrative relations of the khaganate. It can even be postulated that
(especially during the first half of the tenth century) Sarkel implemented the
water link between the west and the east part of Khazaria, between the Don
and the Volga. The Semikarakorsk hillfort was situated 100 kilometers south
of Sarkel on the Don, at the meeting point of the roads that lay north of the
Caucasus and the ones, coming from the Crimea.101 It would be much more
appropriate to view the Lower Don area as a specific economic center than as
the outskirts of the khaganate.102
West of the Don the steppe region separates from the Donets Range, a hilly
range with an average altitude of around 300 meters. To the south, steppe and
not particularly fertile lands stretch all the way down to the coast of the Sea of
Azov. In Khazar times, they were used mainly as pastures. The northern coast
of the Taganrog Bay was suitable for grazing in the spring, when stock-breeding
was combined with fishing. In summer, the grass dried out and the coast took
on a semi-arid appearance. The same thing occurred in the steppe along the
northern coast of the Sea of Azov, and in the Crimean Peninsula.103
North of the Donets Range lies the Severski Donets Valley. The upper
reaches of the river run through the forest-steppe region of the Saltovo cul-
ture, and its middle reaches—through the steppe region. The Donets Range
naturally separates the southern arid part of the steppe from the fertile one
in the north. Along the banks of the Severski Donets and its tributaries were
the settlements of the Saltovo population that was numerous and of various
origins. Especially densely populated was the area around the left tributaries
of the Severski Donets, like the Oskol and the Aidar. Their upper reaches also
reach the forest-steppe zone. Like the Don, the Severski Donets was the main
road artery in this part of Khazaria.
The distance between the confluence of the Severski Donets and the Don
and the farthest settlements along the upper reaches of the river is around
101 Pletneva 1967, 47; Pletneva 1999, 113; Pletneva 1996, 146–148; see also Flerov 2001 and 2006.
102 S. Pletneva sees Sarkel as the center of a vast agricultural area in the vicinity of the
Tsimliansk reservoir (Pletneva 1967, 109 and 1996, 142). In her view, it became a fron-
tier fortress after the invasion of the Pechenegs, who plundered the settlements, situ-
ated along the right bank of the Don. This is why the Byzantine emperor Constantine
Porphyrogenitus regarded Sarkel as a border Khazar settlement. He, however, described
Sarkel as such in the middle of the tenth century and not at the time of its erection in the
830s (Pletneva 1999, 89–100).
103 Pletneva 1999, 132; Baranov 1990, 7.