252 CHAPTER 5
the Maskuts (the Massageteans, a Sarmatian tribe that originated from Middle
Asia) who had their own state there before the Hunnic invasion in the fourth
century.125 The scholars believe that the later catacomb burials in the Verkhnii
Churiurt necropolis are Khazar ones.126
A group of mound burials, widely distributed between the Don and the
Volga and surrounded by a square (sometimes circular) moat, are also believed
to be Khazar. This burial rite is not isolated from the burial practices typical for
the Northern Black Sea region and the Volga-Don Interfluve in previous centu-
ries (from the fifth to the seventh century). A. Komar and E. Kruglov identify as
Khazar the monuments from the Sivashovka group, as well as the monuments
of the Pereshchepina type. The lack of written records about Khazars in the
Northern Black Sea region between the fifth and seventh centuries does not
bother the two historians, who easily deny the authenticity of records referring
to Bulgars (including those that speak of Great Bulgaria).127
A. Komar and E. Kruglov’s theory is not new. Already in the 1980s,
A. Ambroz and A. Aibabin identified as Khazar monuments that belonged to
the Sivashovka group and the Pereshchepina type (Voznesenka). They asso-
ciated these monuments with Turkic traditions, especially Voznesenka with
the Turkic memorial temples.128 Extremely interesting is V. Flerova’s view-
point: she rejects the Turkic origin of the moat burials and identifies them as a
125 Fedorov and Fedorov 1978, 36–41; see also Novosel’tsev 1990, 91–92. An Armenian essay
from the fifth century which refers to events from the fourth century describes the ruler of
the Maskuts as “the master of the numerous armies of the Huns”. It is completely possible
that this account reflects the relations that existed between Dagestan and Middle Asia
during the third and fourth centuries. The earliest undisputable date for the presence of
Huns in the North Caucasus region is 395 AD (see Artamonov 1962, 51–53).
126 Fedorov and Fedorov 1978, 101. Pletneva 1976, 28 also distinguishes a Khazar burial rite in
the Verkhnii Chiriurt necropolis. According to her, the neighboring hillfort was inhabited
by Khazars, Bulgars and Alans.
127 Komar 1999 and 2000; Kruglov 2002 and 2005. For more details on the Sivashovka and the
Pereshchepina group type monuments, as well as critisism on the theory of A. Komar and
E. Kruglov, see: Rashev 2007a, 70–136. See also Rashev 1998; Stanilov 2003a; Pletneva 1999,
121–126, 169–176, and 200–204; Bogachev 2007; Flerova 2001b and 2002; Prikhodniuk 2002;
Naumenko 2004a; Tortika 2006a, 71–93; on the ethnic interpretations of the Sivashovka
and the Pereshchepina group type monuments, see also chapter 4.2.
128 Ambroz 1982; Aibabin 1985 and 1991; such a link is also accepted by Artamonov 1962, 175
(where it is emphasized that these finds do not contain anything specifically Bulgar or
Khazar) and Pletneva 1997, 47, as well as Pletneva 1999, 173–174 (where she states that “we
have yet to find a memorial temple on the main territory of the Khazar Khaganate”, and
that “the lack of new data does not permit us for the time being to associate with abso-
lute confidence the “memorial” temples specifically with the Khazars”). See the criticism