GIS-modelling of the early medieval agricultural landscapes in the Kislovodsk depression

The article presents GIS-modelling of the agricultural holdings allocating around 156 fortified and unfortified settlements of the Kislovodsk depression. The investigation includes modelling territories of potential economic zones and ploughing areas for each settlement. It is assumed that in the 5 th-8 th cc. AD comparatively even areas (slopes no more than 10°) at a distant 1 km around the site were the most valuable for agriculture. The rest of the economic area simulated by means of Thiessen tessellation could have been used for pasturing and haymaking. The reconstructions were tested during combined field investigations around some fortified settlements. Computer simulation of the potential economic territories determines the area of suggested ploughing and pasturing holdings, and estimates the quantity of settled population and their cattle. Thesis on small dimension of the patronymic society of the Early Medieval Alanic population is put forward, and self-sufficiency of their economy is confirmed.