202 CHAPTER 4
Of special interest is the line of four brick fortresses of a square shape, situ-
ated along the Tikhaia Sosna River (on the northeastern border of the Saltovo
territory, where the Maiaki hillfort is located as well). These fortresses were
built on the road that connected the upper reaches of the Severski Donets
with the upper reaches of the Don. It ran north of the densely populated valley
along the middle reaches of the Severski Donets and its left tributaries. The
fortresses functioned both as Khazar administrative centers and as a sort of
caravanserais, similar to those in Sarkel.135
The existence of Khazar administrative centers in the remote northern
areas is also evidenced by the fortresses, built from large hewn stone blocks
(unlike most of the stone fortresses in the forest-steppe zone that had less mas-
sive walls, built from rubble stone). Three such fortifications are known in the
Don area: the Maiaki and Verkhnii Ol’shanksk hillforts on the Tikhaia Sosna
and the Right-bank Tsimliansk hillfort, located on the Don opposite of Sarkel.136
The enormous resources and energy that went into the erection of
the stone and brick fortresses not only indicate the great significance of the
Don Region for the khaganate, but also that it was an important part of its
territory.137 Especially noteworthy is the Tikhaia Sosna area where six brick and
stone fortresses were built. Several Saltovo fortresses along the upper reaches
of the Severski Donets can also be named here, like the Verkhnii Saltov and the
135 Vinnikov and Pletneva 1998, 36–40. Flerov 2002, 155 and 2007, 57 rejects the existence of
caravanserais in Sarkel.
136 Vinnikov and Pletneva 1998, 40; Pletneva 1999, 54 and 1967, 35. In 1991, one more fort was
found (the Kamyshin one), at a distance of 1 km from the Tsimliansk one. It is presumed to
have been built from large hewn stone blocks (Flerov 2002, 160–161). The auls of Danube
Bulgaria, regarded as fortified castles, are built in the same manner (Vaklinov 1977, 96). So
far, as auls are regarded Pliska, Preslav, the fortress near the village of Khan Krum, on the
Păcuiul lui Soare Island, Drustur, near Slon in the Carpathian Mountains and probably
also the fortresses near Oriakhovo and Vidin (Rashev 1982, 126; see also Rashev2008, 45).
They were “garnison headquarters or residences of the khan or some local military ruler
[.. .] they not only had a military strategic purpose, but also a representative function; and
their construction bears the traits of the official monumental construction in Danube
Bulgaria” (Dimitrov 1987, 224).
137 Afanas’ev 1993, 147. On this issue, see about the Semikarakorsk hillfort Flerov 2006, 66.
According to Pletneva 1967, 40, the erection of the Tsimliansk hillfort required even
greater efforts, since there were no stones in the area. The stone blocks were transported
over a distance of at least 100 km from quarries, located north along the Don. This assump-
tion is however rejected by Flerov 1991, 164.