From historiography of the mid-20th - early 21st centuries of the Semikarakory fortress and other Khazarian sitesin the Lower Don region

The paper contains an overview of opinions about the purpose for which theKhazar Kaganate fortresses, such as the Semikarakory, the Pravoberezhnoe Tsimlyanskoe,the Sarkel Fortresses and other fortresses, were built. Publications by M. Artamonov,S. Pletneva, A. Ivanov, K. Tsukerman, A. Tortika, V. Petrukhin, V. Kluchnikov, G. Afanasyevare reviewed. The paper concludes that none of the existing versions concerning thepurpose for which the fortresses were built is widely accepted since the scope of theexcavations has been insignificant (except for the Sarkel fortress) and chronology hasnot been established. The link between the fortresses and kurgans of the Sokolvosky typeremains questionable.