The Khazar Economy: Economic Integration or Disintegration? 197
Maiaki and Sidorovo, had sizeable walled areas (circa 18 hectares each).107 The
Sudak/Sugdea fortification in the Crimea is of similar size (20 hectares). I.
Baranov regards the fortresses with an area of 20 hectares or more as centers
that enabled the concentration of large amounts of troops at wartime.108 Both
Sudak and Maiaki were important trade and craft centers.109
It is interesting to note that a significant stretch of the river (around 150 kilo-
meters) lacked any fortresses whatsoever. The Donets Range is situated south
of this area and the first fortresses appear only after the hills begin to slope
down. The Range probably served as a natural fortification that separated
the south steppe from the Severski Donets Valley. K. Krasil’nikov also studied
this area. Around 300 settlements (ranging in size from 2 to 16 hectares) have
been found on a territory of 40 000 square kilometers, not one of which was
fortified.110 They are situated in the valley around the middle reaches of the
Severski Donets and its left tributaries. The settlements begin at the mouth of
the Kamenka River in the west and reach the Derkula River in the east, they
encompass the upper reaches of the Aidar, the Krasna and the Borova rivers in
the north and in the south they border the Donets Range.111
This region was relatively densely populated.112 The settlements along the
middle reaches of the rivers engaged in both agriculture and stock-breeding.
The lands around the upper river reaches were mainly used for grazing and
were populated as well.113 Following the evolutionary theory, K. Krasil’nikov
presumes that the settlements where stock-breeding played a dominant role
107 Mikheev 1985, 12 and 19, see also Kravchenko 2004.
108 Baranov 1990, 57 and 67.
109 Pletneva 1999, 70 and 159; a pagan shrine has been found inside the fortified walls of
Sudak; it was related to the Bulgar population of the city and existed between the eighth
and the tenth centuries (Baranov 1991; Baranov and Maiko 1996 and 2001). Kravchenko
2004, 268 also views Maiaki and Sidorovo as cultural and ideological centers, related to
the spread of Islam and Christianity.
110 Pletneva 1999, 73; Krasil’nikov 1981, 110–119. It is important to note the concentration
of unfortified settlements in the inner parts of Dobrudzha during the pagan period of
Danube Bulgaria. In this area, fortresses began to appear at the end of the ninth and the
begininng of the tenth century (Atanasov 2001, 188). See also Rashev 2008.
111 Krasil’nikov 1981, 110 with n. 1; quite a few unfortified settlements outside some fortresses
can also be found along the upper reaches of the Severski Donets (see Liubichev 2004, 277).
112 As a comparison, more than 250 settlements, spread over on ca. 20 000 square kilometers,
have been found on the territory of Dobrudzha in Northeastern Bulgaria, which was one
of the most densely populated areas of the First Bulgarian Empire. It is assumed that
these parameters correspond approximately to a population of 100 000 people. (Atanasov
2001, 195).
113 Krasil’nikov 1981, 122–123.