A contact zone in the Northwestern part of the Khazar Khaganate

Abstract

This article is dedicated to an analysis of the ethno-cultural situation in the northwestern part of the Khazar Khaganate, where the forest-steppe variant of the Saltov culture was located, in the 8^th – 10^th c. Some researchers believed that part of this territory was a contact zone that only ran along the Khazar-Slavic border. The forest-steppe variant of the Saltov culture, however, was culturally and ethnically mixed. To the north it bordered possessions of a settled Slavic population while to the south it was adjacent to the steppe world. The population of this region was made up of representatives of many ethnic groups whose cultural traditions constantly interacted. Thus, in the 8th – 10th c. this contact zone also occupied lands further south toward the border with the steppe.