Nogai steppe as a cultural landscape: Problems of identification and study

Abstract

This article poses a novel problem of identifi cation of the Nogai steppe (geographical space located between the Terek and Kuma rivers) as a cultural landscape of the Nogais, one of the Turkic-speaking peoples of Russia. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of those features of the Nogai steppe's natural and cultural framework, which can act as a kind of historical source that makes it possible to reconstruct individual stages and aspects of the history of the Nogai people in Russia. When choosing a research methodology, the authors of the article relied on the works of such Russian researchers as Yu. N. Vedenin, V. N. Kalutskov, M. E. Kuleshova. The authors used such sources as historical archival documents, as well as studies by pre-revolutionary, Soviet and Russian authors on the history, material and spiritual culture and toponymy of the Nogais. The article is largely based on fi eld materials collected by authors during studies on the territory of the Nogai steppe, mainly the Nogai, Kizlyar and Tarumov districts of the Republic of Dagestan, conducted from 1993 to 2015. The cultural landscape of the Nogai steppe has a complex, sophisticated structure, its key elements are such material, natural and cultural objects as water sources, including wells, barrows, relic groves, settlements and Nogai cemeteries. The role of the basic elements of the sacred space of the Nogais in the steppe is played by Shiikhs - the graves of holy Islamic fi gures.