The “Internal” Ethnic Communities in Khazaria 255
of a region.142 This way, L. Gumilev rejects the probability of a cohabitation
between Bulgars and Khazars in various regions of the khaganate (in the Terek
Valley, for example, or along the lower reaches of the Volga), as well as the possi-
bility of the existence of Khazar nomads and consequently Bulgar farmers. His
standpoint contradicts the reports on Bulgar agricultural communities in the
river valleys of the Khazar Khaganate (incidentally, in his research the Bulgars
seem to “disappear” from this territory after the defeat of Great Bulgaria in
the seventh century). This is why he opposes the theory of M. Artamonov and
S. Pletneva. According to L. Gumilev, “the identification (?—Author’s note)
of the Bulgars with the Khazars is based on the unjustified placement of an
equality sign between ethnos and the archaeological, i.e. material culture,
which is mostly represented by pottery (?—Author’s note) [.. .] The logic of
the authors (M. Artamonov and S. Pletneva—Author’s note) is simple in the
extreme: vessels are easier to study”.143 At the same time, when he claims to
have found Khazar burials or places, inhabited by Khazars, L. Gumilev justifies
his statements with... the found pottery.144 The paradoxical thing here is that
these burials are actually Bulgar in origin.145
In L. Gumilev’s opinion, during the second half of the tenth century parts
of the Khazars migrated to the lower reaches of the Volga and the Don Region,
bringing with them an agricultural economy.146 Like many other “theories”
of L. Gumilev, this one also has no grounds. It “skips” the period between the
eighth and the tenth centuries, when the Don Region was inhabited by Bulgars
whose main economic activity was agriculture. It is hardly necessary to stress
once more that no compelling proof of ethnic Khazars has been found until
now. Even the excavations at Samosdelka (a necropolis has not yet been found
there) show the presence of Oghuz and Bulgars, but not Khazars. And accord-
ing to the archaeologists researching Samosdelka, that was the site of Itil.147
Nothing is known about the role of the ethnic Jews in the khaganate. Not
a single synagogue has been found until now (unlike the unearthed Christian
and pagan temples). The viewpoint of S. Pletneva that a synagogue may have
existed in Sarkel currently remains an unverifiable hypothesis.148 For this reason,
I do not deem it necessary to examine the scientific theories on the influence
142 Gumilev 2003, 90 and 139; Gumilev 1997, 55.
143 Gumilev 1997, 60–61.
144 Gumilev 1997, 65.
145 Flerov 1989, 180; Pletneva 1999, 195.
146 Gumilev 1997, 212.
147 See Zilivinskaia, Vasil’ev, and Grechkina 2006, 30 and 33.
148 Pletneva 1996, 29; see Flerov and Flerova 2005, 192.