Translated material
Itil burned and drowned
Archaeologists have announced the discovery of the ancient capital of the Khazar Kaganate
The forgotten city of Itil, which was the capital of Khazaria in the 8th-9th centuries, has been found. This is the opinion of Russian archaeologists who conducted excavations in the Volga delta. The Samosdel settlement, located near the village of Samosdelka, Kamyzyak district, Astrakhan region, claims to be the capital of the Khazars. One of the leaders of the expedition, Dmitry Vasiliev, told RIA Novosti.The archaeologist actually confirmed the assumption that scientists had several years ago. The ancient settlement, where the expedition of the Astrakhan State University and the Institute of Ethnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences worked since 2000, is perfect for the role of the legendary Itil. In particular, in terms of location: sources agree that the capital of the Khazar Kaganate stood somewhere in the Volga delta. But now archaeologists have evidence that there was a really large city on the site of the Samosdel settlement.
According to Vasilyev, the cultural layer they discovered is about three and a half meters thick. Moreover, the lower layers date specifically to the Khazar period - the 8th-9th centuries. Then a brick fortress was built here. It was this fact that made it possible to assume that there was a capital here, since, as the scientist noted, “brick construction in Khazaria was a royal monopoly.” “We know of only one brick fortress on the territory of the Khazar Kaganate. This is Sarkel, which was built directly by royal decree,” added Vasiliev.
Other brick buildings were also found, as well as the outlines of the citadel, the island on which the central part of the city stood, and the place where less prosperous neighborhoods were located. In the city itself there were also yurts of nomads, traces of which were discovered during excavations. For permanent settlements of nomadic peoples of the steppe, this scheme is typical; yurts were often used as temporary or permanent urban dwellings.
Vasiliev noted that it will never be possible to prove 100% that the found city is Itil. However, we have to admit that if the Samosdel settlement was not the capital of Khazaria, it means that at the same time there was another large city in the Volga delta, the population of which, according to preliminary estimates, could reach 50-60 thousand people. But the presence of any other large Khazar settlement here is not mentioned in any historical source. Finally, the hypothesis of Russian archaeologists is also supported by the fact that traces of a fire were found at the site. This may be a trace of the campaign of Prince Svyatoslav, who burned the Khazar capital in 968-969.
Itil is far from the only ancient city in the Northern Black Sea region and the North Caucasus that was lost by historians and archaeologists. Even if we talk about the same Khazaria, scientists still have not decided where to look for another capital of this state - Semender. This city was the predecessor of Itil, the first residence of the Khazar rulers. It was located somewhere in present-day Dagestan, but was abandoned many centuries ago. Several ancient settlements claim the role of Semender, but it has not yet been possible to reconstruct the exact location of the Khazar capital.
Itil was replaced by Semender after several Arab-Khazar wars in the 7th-8th centuries. At that moment, Khazaria was arguing with the caliphate for influence and control over Transcaucasia and the North Caucasus territories. The Arabs made military campaigns against the Khazars several times and invaded their lands several times in the first half of the 8th century. The capital Semender was right on the path of the Arab troops and was captured by them in the 720s and 730s. When the Arabs managed to gain a foothold in the Transcaucasian territories, the Khazars had to change the direction of their own expansion. The main goals of the Kaganate were control over the Crimea and the area between the Volga and Don rivers.
In that era, two Khazar cities emerged and rose - the new capital Itil in the Volga delta and Sarkel on the Don. However, both settlements turned out to be not very durable. These are already the last centuries of the existence of Khazaria; soon the Khaganate will collapse under the blows of new enemies - the Pechenegs and Slavs. Built in the 830s, Sarkel, according to Russian chronicles, was taken by Prince Svyatoslav in 965; Itil, as already mentioned, was burned by the Rus in 968-969. Svyatoslav’s campaigns became decisive blows to the Khazars: after them, the Kaganate lost its influence, and already in the 11th century, references not only to this state, but also to the people themselves disappeared. Other tribes, mainly Cumans, settled in these territories in the Northern Black Sea region and Ciscaucasia.
Sarkel (White Vezha) was discovered in the first half of the last century. The settlement on the banks of the Don was examined in the mid-30s and again in 1949-1951. Traces of brick buildings, a fortress wall with towers, workshops of artisans and yurts of nomads were discovered. However, after 1951, Sarkel was destroyed for the second time (and, apparently, forever). A hydroelectric power station was built in the lower reaches of the Don, and the Tsimlyansk reservoir flooded the settlement.
Water played a similar role in the history of Itil, only the flood was caused not by man, but by nature itself. According to Dmitry Vasiliev, the last capital of Khazaria existed until the 14th century, when the Golden Horde already ruled here. However, at that time it was apparently just a small settlement in the Volga delta; the main cities of the Tatars were located upstream. Vasiliev noted that Itil was then flooded by the Caspian Sea (in that era, the level of this sea actually rose). The Samosdel settlement is located low, not far from the coastline, and rising water could well have led to the death of Itil.