The Khazar Economy: Economic Integration or Disintegration? 219
Khazar economy. These changes, however, did not affect the nomadic econ-
omy, as evidenced by the growing power of the Pechenegs and the Oghuz, for
example. Rather, the crisis had more to do with agriculture. But it probably had
more serious consequences for the population of the Don area than for the
people inhabiting the Cis-Caspian Region. The majority of the settlements of
the Saltovo culture were abandoned. At the same time—during the second half
of the tenth century and the first half of the eleventh century—the Borshevo
settlements along the upper reaches of the Don and along the Voronezh River
were also abandoned.220 The same fate befell the settlements of the Romny
culture (that were related to the Severians) after the end of the ninth century.221
This is how the settlement structure, spread across a vast region of Eastern
Europe, disintegrated during the tenth century. If the Pechenegs had caused
serious concerns for the Saltovo population in the Severski Donets Valley, it
would be only logical for it to try and build an effective defense system.222 In
this sense, an interesting example is the existence of abandoned unfinished
fortifications like the Volchia hillfort.223
Assuming that the problems of the agricultural economy in the Don area
proved to be of essential significance for Khazaria’s survival, it would be there
that the Rus’ subsequently penetrated the Khazar defenses. The population of
the agricultural settlements probably gradually switched to a stock-breeding
economy, but the steppe was occupied by the Pechenegs. They could not be
possibly ousted by a population that had lost its economic footing.224
220 Moskalenko 1981, 148; Vinnikov 1995, 123.
221 Timoshchuk 1995, 185.
222 According to Artamonov 1962, 357, such raids could, at the most, have caused the popula-
tion to move to neighboring areas that were more secure. “In most cases, the relations,
established between the nomads and the sedentary population that did not have powers
for resistance, were those of dependence of the latter to the first, with a payment of a
regular tribute as opposed to the uncertain earnings from plunders. In the case of the
Saltovo culture something entirely different is manifested—its complete destruction”.
223 Koloda 1999. An abandoned incomplete fortification dating from the first half of the tenth
century can also be found on the territory of the Tsimliansk hillfort (Pletneva 1996, 112).
The Dmitrievka and Maiaki hillforts were most probably abandoned as well (Flerov 1993,
64). And at the site of the Verkhnii Saltov hillfort, for example, can be found traces of
fire and destruction. In Aksenov’s view, if the second half of the tenth century is to be
regarded as the upper limit of the Saltovo culture, these destructions were caused by the
campaigns of Prince Sviatoslav between 965 and 968 (Aksenov 2006a, 76).
224 In Mikheev’s opinion, the Pecheneg invasion caused significant dislocations among the
Saltovo population in the steppe region Parts of it migrated north, towards the forest-
steppe Saltovo settlements, while others returned to nomadism, joining the Pecheneg
hordes. Thus, Khazaria lost its fertile lands and pastures and its economic system was
shaken (Mikheev 1985, 99).