In the 7th century CE, the Pontic-Caspian Steppe of Western Eurasia experienced a wave of migrations of pastoral nomads from the East, namely from Central Asia and beyond. During those migrations, new people arrived together with innovations in material culture, new technologies, new beliefs and practices, and a new social order. The new migrants formed the Khazar Empire—a nomadic imperial confederation centered in the Volga-Don interfluve, from where they controlled various populations that inhabited the lands from modern Ukraine to Kazakhstan. Why these people migrated from the East is not entirely clear. Nomads left no records of their own. Medieval literati from the South (the Caucasus and the Byzantine Empire) saw them as invaders, although periodically, the Byzantines and the local Caucasian leaders entered into military alliances with the nomads and sought their help. Still, the stereotypes of brutal barbarians and invaders persisted in the literature. For a long time, the Khazar nomads were practically invisible archaeologically. Only in the past thirty years or so, have their ancestral graves been recognized—some have been studied and some published. But by and large, this body of material remains obscure legacy data, which deserves attention and thorough analysis. In this paper, I will deal with a sample of the Khazar burial material. I will focus on archaeological evidence which supports the view that within relatively short time after their arrival, the Khazar nomadic emigres were able to mark, ritualize, and acculturate the new landscape by burying and commemorating their dead ancestors. These actions, associated with the concept of “negative authority” (David Graeber), were paramount in the process of nomadic migration to a new territory. Nomads also rapidly recreated local exchange networks, extending trade routes and diplomacy all the way to the Byzantine Empire and to the Islamic Caliphate.

First Author: Irina Shingiray

Keywords:
Nomads
Migrations
Ancestors
Burial Archaeology
Khazar Empire