Conclusion 275
The sedentarization of the nomads that inhabited the steppe zone north
of the Black Sea depended heavily on their domination over the forest-steppe
zone or the possibility for it to be used for summer pastures. Thus, during the
period between the fifth and the seventh centuries, the Bulgars began to settle
down in the forest-steppe zone, which led to a strong steppe influence on the
Pastyrskoe-Penkovka culture. Between the fifth and the seventh centuries,
however, this region lacked a strong political center, since Kievan Rus’ was to
become such a center only later, and the nobility of the steppe communities
had therefore political supremacy. Conversely, during the eleventh and the
twelfth centuries, the supremacy there was held by the ruling family of the
Rus’ state. Probably not only the strong steppe influence, but also the desire
to subjugate the local population can both be seen as reasons for the use of
the khagan title by some Rurikids, along with the tamga (trident), which has
been a typical symbol of power in the steppes and in Middle Asia since ancient
times.31
Time and peace are needed for the establishment of a steppe empire or for
the spread of a sedentary lifestyle in a nomadic community. Invasions can also
influence the sedentarization process. The newcomers take over the lands that
are most suitable for stock-breeding. And the preceding population retreats to
territories which cannot be used for nomadic pastoralism. It gradually turns
to a partial or total sedentarization. This is what happened to the Scythians
after the Sarmatian invasion.32 The same probably befell the Bulgars after the
utter defeat of Great Bulgaria by the Khazars. In this sense it is quite clear
that the sedentarization processes among the steppe peoples depended to
a bigger extent on the ties between them. In terms of the relations between
nomads and sedentary people, the study of Khazaria could acquire another
perspective. Compared to the Magyars, Pechenegs and the Oghuz, the Khazar
Khaganate was actually a sedentary state.
The spread of the power of the steppe empires of the khaganate type was
usually not connected with significant invasions or ethnic dislocations. The
Cumans and the Rus’ principalities (the Chernihiv one) is not accepted by most Russian
and Ukrainian scientists who maintain the traditional understanding about the opposi-
tion between the forest-steppe sedentary tribes and the steppe nomadic ones (see for
instance Tolochko 1999).
31 On the Rus’ khagans, see Novosel’tsev 1982; Golden 2003, no. 6, 81–97; Konovalova 2001;
Petrukhin 2001, 73–74 and 77; Stepanov 2000, 198–208 and 2005b. On the tamgas as a regal
symbol and their distribution, see Vainberg 1990, 251–252 and 274–277; Vainberg and
Novgorodova 1976; Kliashtornyi and Sultanov 2000.
32 Khazanov 1975, 248–249.