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DOI: 10.46698/VNC.2023.87.48.014
NORTH CAUCASIAN ALANS – 1000 YEARS ON THE ROAD TO STATEHOOD THROUGH THE PRISM OF SETTLEMENT ARCHAEOLOGY
Korobov, Dmitry S.
Izvestia SOIGSI. 2023. IIS 48 (87).
Abstract:
The article deals with the processes of politogenesis among the North Caucasian Alans, reflected
in the materials of settlement archaeology. Over the course of a thousand years, from the 2nd century
AD to the 12th century AD, the characteristic features of Alanian settlements, their hierarchy and
settlement system are examined. Several stages in the development of settlement structures are
traced: 1) extensive proto‑town centres with traces of highly developed craftwork, characteristic
of the early stage of Alanian culture (2nd – 4th centuries), and testify to the existence of a state
analogue among the North Caucasian Alans; 2) small fortified settlements of related collectives,
reflecting a less developed Alanian society of the Early Middle Ages (5th – 8th cc.); 3) settlement
traces of a deep impact on the North Caucasian ethnic groups and their involvement in the orbit of
the early state formation of Khazar Kaganate in the 8th – 9th cc.; and 4) the emergence of early town
centres in the 10th – 12th centuries as testimony to the emergence of Alanian statehood. At each stage,
North Caucasian Alanian settlement structures differed in size, fortification, settlement hierarchy
and settlement system. Thus, we see the protracted process of state formation of mediaeval Alania
through the prism of settlement archaeology. The process was uneven, with diverse ups and downs
on the road of Alanian political genesis. However, it is certain that the millennial history of North
Caucasian Alans followed European patterns, and reached its peak with the adoption of Christianity
and the assumption of statehood 1,100 years ago.
Keywords: North Caucasian Alans, Middle Ages, settlement archaeology, politogenesis process.
Download the full text  For citation:: Korobov, Dmitry S. North Caucasian Alans – 1000 years on the road to statehood
through the prism of settlement archaeology // Izvestiya SOIGSI. 2023. Iss. 48 (87). Pp.. 15‑32.
(in Russian).
DOI 10.46698/VNC.2023.87.48.014
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