Conclusion 277
of development, which involved the sedentarization of the majority of the
population that engaged in trade, agriculture and handicrafts. In other words,
the nomads were no longer nomads and had a semi-sedentary economy. In
S. Pletneva’s opinion, this stage is typical not only for Khazaria, but also for the
Uyghur and the Kyrgyz Khaganates, or for the steppe empires that had suc-
ceeded the Turkic Khaganates. Although they engaged in agriculture in their
winter or summer camps (which was typical for the second stage according to
S. Pletneva’s classification), the Turks did not transition towards a large-scale
sedentarization. This could also have been a result of the close symbiosis they
had with the sedentary Iranian-speaking population of Middle Asia.37 In this
connection it should be noted that during the eighth and ninth centuries, the
boundaries between sedentary and nomadic peoples in Middle Asia and in the
steppe zone of Eastern Europe became blurry.38
A. Khazanov does not deny the presence of agriculture in nomadic commu-
nities. A good crop required significant effort, due to the harsh conditions in
the steppes. In many places, agriculture was developed only through the con-
struction of irrigation canals. The large-scale sedentarization of the nomads
occurred only after their migration to other environmental areas. A. Khazanov
assumes that in the steppe zone agriculture was possible only in territorially
limited or peripheral areas. He names the Hungarian Plain, Mawarannahr, the
area between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers, the Zhetysu region and
Ordos.39
I think that this is one of the controversial aspects of A. Khazanov’s theory,
since he refers to territories that were by no means peripheral but quite cen-
tral to the steppe empires (although not to the steppe as a geographical area).
There, the initial alliances that subsequently expanded their power over the
steppe pastures were often created. Before establishing their khaganate, the
Ashina Turks in the Altai Mountains were a sedentary people whose livelihood
depended on both stock-breeding and irrigation farming, and especially on
metal mining.40 The Hungarian Plain was central for the Huns of Attila, was
well as for the Avar Khaganate and the Magyar state. The Zhetysu region was
the main territory of the Wusun alliance.41 And Ordos was the initial territory
37 Pletneva 1982, 77–126. On the Turko-Sogdian symbiosis, see Golden 2006; Pritsak 1981a;
Stepanov 2005a, 33–37.
38 See Stepanov 2005a, 43.
39 Khazanov 1994, 44–50 and 200–201.
40 Kyzlasov 1997, 27; Markov 1976, 42.
41 The Wusun economy was nomadic in the early stages of the existence of their alli-
ance which had a center in the Zhetysu region from the third century BC onwards. In