198 CHAPTER 4
were older that the rest, although he believes that the population of the agri-
cultural settlements used the pastures along the upper reaches of the rivers.114
According to S. Pletneva, there is no evidence in support of the earlier emer-
gence of the so-called stoibishcha, herding camps. She assumes that they were
the summer pastures of a sedentary population that not only engaged in agri-
culture and handicrafts, but also in transhumance.115
The area around the Oskol (a left tributary of the Severski Donets) is also
dominated by unfortified settlements. The fortified ones (four in number) are
located along the upper and lower reaches of the river, where the main trade
route passed. The fortifications along the upper reaches of the Oskol con-
nected the fortresses, situated on the upper reaches of the Severski Donets (in
the west), with the ones, located along the Tikhaia Sosna River (in the east).116
No trade routes passed along the Oskol, or along any of the other left tribu-
taries of the Severski Donets. The road went around the area that was occu-
pied by unfortified settlements, without crossing it. The settlements along the
Oskol were characterized by the development of metallurgy, based on local
resources.117
The settlements and fortresses in the forest-steppe region occupy a territory
of around 100 000 square kilometers, on which more than 300 monuments have
been found. A characteristic feature of this area is the large number of fortified
settlements, built close to one another in the valleys around the upper reaches
of the Severski Donets (on average, at every 20 kilometers) and of the Tikhaia
Sosna (at every 15 kilometers). The short distances between them (equiva-
lent to a day’s march) and their arrangement in a straight line gives grounds
to assume that they served as road stations.118 In G. Afanas’ev’s view, the for-
tresses constituted a border fortification line and were also of importance for
trade.119 It is, however, hardly possible to understand in full the purposes of the
hillforts by examining them in isolation from the surrounding settlements. The
114 Krasil’nikov 1981, 123–125.
115 Pletneva 1999, 74–75.
116 Vinnikov and Pletneva 1998, 40.
117 Vinnikov and Pletneva 1998, 40. There are also other centers of metal production, related
to the Bulgar population of the steppe zone (see Koloda 2007).
118 Pletneva 1999, 61–63. This assumption is also backed by the comparison with the main
route in Danube Bulgaria that led from the Danube to the Balkan Mountain Range
(Stara Planina) via Pliska. The fortresses there are also situated on an average distance of
20 kilometers apart. The road went through the center of the state and was not a border
fortification line (Rashev 1982, 103).
119 Afanas’ev 1993, 122 and 148–150; Mikheev 2004, 90–91 also sees the fortresses as a border
line. They “isolated” (?) the khaganate’s subjects from the Slavic population. According to