Open AccessKhazars or "Saltovo-Majaki Culture"? Prejudices about Archaeology and Ethnicity
Author(s) -
Bożena Werbart
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
current swedish archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.256
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 2002-3901
pISSN - 1102-7355
DOI - 10.37718/csa.1996.14
Subject(s) - ethnic group , multiculturalism , aristocracy (class) , cultural identity , prehistory , anthropology , archaeology , sociology , interpretation (philosophy) , history , social science , politics , philosophy , political science , law , linguistics , negotiation , pedagogy
This paper deals with the problems and discussions of the diversified cultural changes and the multicultural aspects of prehistoric societies. Prejudices about archaeology and "ethnicity" are exemplified by the almost 150 year old discussions on the Khazar khaganate, alternately a distinct delimited archaeological culture from the 8th-9th-centuries - the Saltovo-Majaki culture. The interpretation of Khazarian material culture has often been made in terms of "ethnicity", and yet the cultural identity, the multiplicity of the society, etc. , are not translated to the material culture. The economical, social and religious changes are the most significant phenomena within the "Saltovo-Majaki culture” and/or the Khazar khaganate: the transition from nomadism to sedentism, from tribal aristocracy to feudalism, and the transformation to a monotheistic religion. The common denominator for the Khazaria and the Saltovo-Majaki culture is, in my opinion, the pluralism of the social structures and economy, and the multidimensional character of cultural identity. The formation of complexes of archaeological items common to the whole of the steppe and forest/steppe areas, does not allow for connections between a specific archaeological material and a specific "ethnic" group of the past or of modern times.