The Bulgarians: Genetic Studies, Anthropology and Traditional Looks
The aim of this publication is to examine some aspects of the history as we know it, and to explore the results and discussions surrounding the new perspectives posed before us by the new technologies of the modern day. These technologies being the genetic methods and anthropology, which when used in accordance to historical knowledge can provide more details and even clarify historical mistakes and misconceptions.
One such misconception regards the origins of the Bulgarian nation and
the proto-Bulgarians, otherwise known as old Bulgars in particular. The
historical sources about their ancestry show a particular line of group
formation and evolution, which for the most part of the 17th and 19th
century have been overlooked in favour of already existing theories based on
questionable and non-primary or secondary sources, with some cases of political
meddling with the matters of historiography.
When we apply the genetic studies with their findings and the
anthropological findings to the already existing historical sources, then we
can uncover historical truths about the origins and formations of certain
peoples and nations, and also the discrediting particular historic
misconceptions and manipulations.
With the national advancements of present times based upon historical
and cultural prosperity and prestige, we find necessary to present to the wider
international public the new findings regarding history and the origins of the
Bulgarians, who for the most part of the 19th and 20th
century have been mistakenly located among the Asiatic and Turkic populations.
Such theories that have been subject to heavy criticism from the broader
academic field of today, posses little to no historical value in terms of
credible sources and interpretations, but rather serve as politically and
ideologically motivated manipulations of other interested parties, schools and
political movements.
The Persian or Turkic theories of Bulgarian origin have been widespread
since the early 20th century, and ever since their foundation, they
have been subject to heavy debate and subsequent rebuttals by various Bulgarian
and non-Bulgarian academic figures and studies. Provided the already
established notion in the bigger schools of the day, mainly the Russian,
German, Austro-Hungarian and Greek historiography and their monopoly of the
matter at the time, the opposition to this harmful, humiliating and misleading
concept have been censored. With the establishment of the communist regime in
Bulgaria, and most of Europe, history became a place of academic conformism,
and further major studies or past ones have been heavily sabotaged and
censored.
It is in this regard that now, after the fall of the communist bloc,
that have regressed academic knowledge about the history and origins of
Bulgaria and her people, that we find old studies, once censored, and new ones,
now freely conducted. It is as of recently that a new perspective has been
given to Bulgarian history and origin, challenging the outdated theories of the
past.
This publication will provide an extracted part of my original work in
progress meant to be published for the Bulgarian public, with some additional
details for the non-Bulgarian reader.
In order to prevent confusion as of when the extracted and translated
part will begin, we will indicate its beginning and its end by long line of *, alongside the sign: EXTRACTED
PART.
Introduction
The contemporary academic field, and by extension the
official narratives of whole nations throughout Europe, and their public are
based and dwell on old and outdated beliefs and theories, that as more and more
current studies have shown, are incorrect to say the least.
The academic schools of the past, albeit with their
marvelous discoveries, whether that be within the written historical sources or
through the means of archaeology, have been subject to subjective
interpretation and politically motivated misuse by the “high priests” of old
historiography. Those academic schools being mainly the politically driven
Pan-Slavic movement sparked by the Russian historiography, or the expansionist
and often philhellenic German historiography schools, who by their high
admiration, and undoubtedly Greek infiltrated spheres, have taken the ancient
Hellenic culture from the dust and turned it into a historical cult. Or
downgrading the equal to age and achievement Thracian and later Slavic culture,
whether that being for ideological or other reasons. The same applies for the
Pan-Slavic movement, born and used coercively by the imperial Russian narrative
for the “Russian mother of all Slavs”, giving her right to rule over them.
The outdated and incorrect interpretations of history
that still persists in today’s academic and public field, however, is being
challenged by the discoveries of the new technologies of our age, and by
century old researches in the historical sources and artifacts, conducted by
numerous historians, archaeologists, researchers and scientists.
Names such as Gantcho Tsenoff and Assen Chillingiroff
are well-known within both the Bulgarian and German academic fields for decades
now, with their different interpretation and evaluation of the written
historical sources and material artifacts left by the ancients.
In more recent times, names such as Vesselina
Vachkova, Alexander Fol, Aleskandar Mosheff, Evgeny Sacheff, Peter Georgieff and others, have taken a different stance in regards, not only
to the origins of the old proto-Bulgarians, but also to the origins of the
Slavs. Some other, such as the German Rolf Hachmann, Heinrich Kunstmann, the
Polish Magdalena Maginska, the Bulgarian Balascheff and Bakardzhieff, have also
taken a different stance in regards to the old history of the ancient peoples
who lived in the areal of the Black sea, and the evaluation of the data
regarding them.
From the fields of modern sciences such as
anthropology for instance, we find particularly valuable the works of the
Bulgarian Metodii Popoff, who worked in the 1930s and 1950s, and whose works
are now gaining more popularity in light of the new scientific discoveries.
From the field of genetics we find particularly useful and detailed the works
of researchers, such as Sena Karachanak-Yankova, doctor Nesheva and engineer
Evgeny Deleff, whose genetic studies on both the contemporary Bulgarians and
proto-Bulgarian people, and their alongside Slavic migrations, have shown a
completely different truth than the one we know from the historiography
schools.
With the relevant anthropological and genetic studies
and knowledge gained thereof, the aforementioned academic and research figures
have shown particular interest in the reformation of the historical knowledge
regarding the Slavic-Bulgarian past as we know it today. This meaning that with
the now apparent shift in standpoint of the academic and research fields from
the old theories, to more detailed ones, we need to adjust our knowledge with
the scientific discoveries and present the main points to which, we believe, is
the right path to discovering and postulating the historically objective truth.
Part One
Fundamental Basics
Genetic & Anthropological Studies on the Bulgarian
people and Slavic Migration
With the rise of new technologies science is now able
to deduce the direct ancestors to contemporary peoples and nations for as far
back as 75 thousand years, which is the period of the first separation of the
main human genetic groups.
The genetic studies provide us with detailed data on
the patterns of which ancient populations have played role in the formation of
today’s people, and also guide us to the possible reasons. It also pinpoints
the starting point of any genetic formation and subsequent migration and its
end point location, providing specific dating for said processes.
The genetic studies and the evaluation of their
results, when compared to other sources, such as written historical sources for
instance, present probably the most objective and full picture of the past and
its happenings. That is why it is necessary for us to begin our inquiry with
the evaluation of the genetic proofs that have been established in the past
decade.
Before we do so, however, it is important to mention
that with the technological advancement, we are to produce even better methods
of conducting and evaluating genetic studies and their findings. For instance,
the studies we are about to discuss have taken place between 2008 and 2018,
while a newer method called “Full Genetic Sequence” was developed in 2019. This
meaning that when the new method of genetic studies is applied, hopefully in
the near future, on studies on the Bulgarians, we will have even better and
more detailed data and picture of the past and the ancestral heritage of the Bulgarians.
1. Genetic Studies
The genetic studies on the Bulgarians provide us not
only with a very different picture of our past, but also with detailed
information on our direct ancestral heritage and the geographical landmasses
where we formed as an ethnicity. These studies also provide very detailed
insight on the whole settlement of the European continent, and the formation of
its nations.
The studies at question took place throughout the
2000s and 2010s respectively – 2008/2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014/2015 and 2018.
Observing these studies academician Grigor Veleff
(2016) says that at least 20% of contemporary Bulgarians are descendants of
people who have never had any contact with people from outside the boundaries
of contemporary Bulgaria.
But to stick true to the objectivism of our inquiry
and the scientific truth, we will examine and quote when necessary these
studies. For instance, the study of doctor Sena Karachanak-Yankova (2011) found
that:
“The positions
of Bulgarians among other populations was visualized by Principal Component
(PC) analysis. About 80% of the total genetic variation in Bulgarians fall
within haplogroups E-M35, I-M170, J-M172, R-M17 and R-M269. This finding shows
that the Bulgarian haplogroup profile is congruent with those described for
most European populations… Bulgarians are distant from Turks (despite
geographical proximity), Arabic and Caucasus populations and Indians.”
(Karachanak, S., et al., 2011).
This quote from the researchers’ finding comes to show
that the majority of the Bulgarian gene pool, belongs exclusively to the
boundaries of European populations, contrary to the belief that Bulgarians were
of Turkic-Asiatic ancestry. The researchers continue with the following: “The greatest contribution comes from the range
expansion of local Mesolithic foragers triggered by adoption of agriculture
introduced by cadre of Near Eastern Farmers.”
If we are to take anything from this short passage,
then that would be the fact that greatest contribution for the formation of Bulgarians’
gene pool is to be derived from the Mesolithic era Balkan habitants.
In a study published one year later, in 2012, Karachanak-Yankova
provides additional details:
“Thus while the
Mediterranean legacy could be attributed to the Thracians, indigenous people
that firstly inhabited the Balkans…” (Sena Karachanak, et al., Int J Legal
Med 2012 Jul).
The researchers, if we may add, as the author P.
Serafimoff (2018) argues, have been partially misled by historians and their
historic terms. For instance, they use terms as proto-Bulgarians in relation to
other “Eastern influences” which they themselves refuse to comment on, and
something that they will disprove with their new studies. We add this short
note in order to save the reader from countless hours in research and confusion
as to why earlier studies make difference between Bulgarians and
proto-Bulgarians, and later studies claim that in essence, there is no such
difference.
Aside from that, we learn that the indigenous
anthropological type of the region is typical for the “Bulgarian race”. This is
later confirmed by another study from the same year, where the researchers, in
essence, disqualify the validity of the most accepted within some fields, and
pushed on the public narratives, of Turkic or Persian ancestry of the
Bulgarians. In this study from 2013 – Y-Chromosome Diversity in Modern
Bulgarians: New Clues about their Ancestry – the researchers make a very solid
statement:
“On the whole,
Bulgarians are distant from Altaic populations and populations residing in the
north of the Pamir region and they are also distant from Kazan Tatars and
Iranians, although to a lesser extent.” (Karachanak, S., et al, 2013). As
we already said, this passage completely disqualifies the Turkic and Persian
theories about the Bulgarian ancestry. However, they mainly focus on the gene
pool that is residing within contemporary Bulgarians, and that to some may
indicate that, old Bulgars died out while their subjects, taking their name,
lived up to see the 21st century. And that in short is basically the
premise of the Asiatic theories of Bulgarian origin. This would have been
somewhat of a valid argument if the studies stopped at this point. However, two
years later, in 2015, another study was published that made its focus to
analyze and compare the ancestry of the old-Bulgars also called
proto-Bulgarians. For this study they have also included additional method for
research, mainly the Mitochondrial DNA in addition to the Y-Chromosome of their
research on Bulgarian ancestry. The study found the following:
“The Modern
Bulgarian mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-Chromosome gene pools predominantly
consist of Western Eurasian haplogroups…A similar pattern is observed in
ancient mtDNA samples of proto-Bulgarian human remains, which belong
exclusively to Western Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups.” (Nesheva et al., 2015).
The data from this study contains a lot of value to
the uncovering of the Bulgarian ancestry. A lot of side-examiners and
researchers, as well as historians have spoken about the fundamental meaning of
this finding. They seem to agree that the proto-Bulgarians or old Bulgars
belong not only to the typical European populations, but more specifically to
the Balkan and Black sea areal populations widely known as Thracians.
Some have noted that the slight density difference
between the compared Thracian and old-Bulgar samples is due to the vast period
of time separating them – about 4000 years, and if the samples were in the
radius of only few centuries apart they would have been completely identical
(Serafimoff, 2018). Aside from the details, we see a clear hereditary lineage
coming from the indigenous peoples (Thracians) to the old-Bulgars and in turn
into contemporary Bulgarians.
In another work of hers, Karachanak-Yankova states
that the genetic contribution of Central Asia (C-M217), Northern Eurasia
(N-M231) and south-eastern Asia (variations of Q-M242, LM51 and R-M124) in
Bulgarians, are almost non-existent, present only within 1,5% combined,
These 1,5% according to the opinion of the wide new
school academic and research fields is due to the later Mongol, Tatar and
Ottoman invasions, raids and occupations of the region, somewhere in the period
between 12th and 14th century AD.
In order to save time and space, and also to keep this
inquiry relatively short we will not go in further details of the studies here.
For those interested enough, they can find the exact citations and details in
the “Bibliography” section.
Now we think it will be better if we point to the main
things of the genetic studies, that being the dominant haplogroups within the
Bulgarian gene pool.
1. R-L23: Belongs to the people who have settled the
region after the Ice Age (aprox. 13 000 years ago – V. I.)
2. E-V13: Belongs to the people who have been living
in the region during the Mesolithic period – aprox. 12 000 years ago,
after which they expanded to other places alongside the adoption of
agriculture.
3. J-M241: Is from the Neolithic period – aprox. 8-9
thousand years ago and shows the expansions of the early farmers along the
Black sea areal.
“R-L23 is
present in Eastern Bulgaria since the post glacial period; Haplogroup E-V13 has
a Mesolithic age in Bulgaria from where it expanded after the arrival of
farming; Haplogroup J-M241 probably reflects the Neolithic westward expansion
of farmers from the earliest cities along the Black sea.” (Karachanak, S.,
et al., 2013).
The other major haplogroup in the Bulgarian gene pool
is R1a-M17 called “Slavic” or “proto-Bulgarian”, due to it being mostly present
within Slavic populations. For this haplogroup the researchers say the
following:
“...It is worth
mentioning that as previously suggested [48] – [50] haplogroup R1a-M17 could be
a signal of various events ranging from early post LMG (Last Glacial Maximum or
Late Glacial Maximum – V. I.) expansions to more Slavic demographics.” (Karachanak,
S., et al., 2013).
*According
to studies from 2009, the earliest “Slavic-gene” migrations to Europe were to
the Balkan Peninsula where they settled, and migrated eastwards in later stage.
Whether they are of Siberian or other Asiatic origin is still up to debate, but
this would be a study for the formation of Homo Sapiens if we were to deduce
the origin point of every single HG. What is of interest now, is the direct
ancestry of contemporary nations after the settlement of Europe.*
According to Igor L. Rozhanskii (et al, 2012), one of
the migrations of the R hg subgroups is related to the peoples referred in
ancient scripts as Scythians, Antes, Veneti and others,
From the 17,5% of hg R-M17 about 42,9% belong to the
typical for Europe hg R-M458.
In essence, the genetic findings show us:
1. Contemporary Bulgarians are not of Asian, Turkic,
Iranian, Indian and Pamir origin;
2. The old Bulgars or proto-Bulgarians are not of
Altaic or Asian and Turkic origin;
3. Contemporary Bulgarians have the genetic heritage
of the first Balkan settlers, through several migrations and settlements that
happened between 8 and 13 thousand years ago. In their majority the Bulgarians
are closest to the ancient Thracian population;
4. Contemporary Bulgarians do not differ genetically
from the proto-Bulgarians, who share the same genetic heritage as them.
The genetic image of the Bulgarians is as follows:
I-M423 – 20,2%
E-V13 – 18,1%
R-L23 – density of 5,2% (17,5% with 42,9% typical
European)
J-19%
According to the findings of Deleff’s study on the
Bulgarian genome, the Bulgarians mainly consist of groups typical for the
Balkan region. In his work “Population genetics on the Bulgarians” (2017), on
page 142 he gives the following gene distribution among the Bulgarian
population:
-“South European
genes average of about 80% of the Bulgarian genes. They are distributed in the
following way:
-Balkan –
between 54 and 75%
-Italian –
between 2,4 and 8%
-Iberian – very
rare, below 1%
-South European
broader area – between 8,9 to 25%
-The east
European genes among Bulgarians vary between 0,8 to 15,5% :
-Northwest
European genes:
-English and
Irish – up to 0,6%
-French and
German – very rare, below 1-2%
-Northwest European
broader area – between 0,3 and 3,6%
-European
broader area – between 3,5 and 7,9%
-Ashkenazi – up
to 1%
-Near eastern
and north African genes are found between 0 and 1% among Bulgarians and are
distributed by the following way:
-Near eastern –
between 0 and 0,9% of the Bulgarian genome;
-North African –
between 0 and 0,1%;
-Near eastern
and north African broader area – up to 0,1% in general of Bulgarian genes.
-North African
genes are found predominantly among the population that migrated from Greece in
the last few centuries. The north African alongside the near eastern genes are
indicators of recent migrations from populations from the regions of Morea
(Peloponnese), Epirus, Attica, Thessaly, as well as the Ionian islands and the
regions from western and middle Asia Minor. They are separated in the north
African broader area category and amount up to 0,1% of the Bulgarian genes.”(Deleff,
2017).
According to the majority of scientists, the Balkan or
European genetic heritage in Bulgarians is up to 75%, while according to others
is about 80-90% (E. Deleff, 2017, p.113).
According to Evgeny Deleff (2017) the head of the
Bulgarian Genetic Project to the US Family Tree DNA, Bulgarian ancestors can be
divided into few groups to have mixed somewhere between (periodically) 8-to-13
thousand years ago. He also adds that due to the early migrations of those
populations, their genes, which are present within the Bulgarian gene pool,
have also spread across Europe and played integral part in the genetic
formation of many, but not all, contemporary European populations.
Also according to him (2017; 2019) the process of
formation of the (proto) ethnicity of the Bulgarians, or their direct
ancestors, began on the Balkan Peninsula and around the Black sea, some 7500
years ago.
In essence, the conclusion of the evaluation of the
genetic results is that, while the Bulgarians are an ancient mix of the first
Balkan settlers, their gene pool is also homogenous, meaning that there are no
ethnic enclaves, as it is the case with many others, but that the genes are
homogenously spread throughout the whole landmass of Bulgaria, including the
equal homogeneity across the keepers of the set genes in the face of
contemporary Bulgarians.
The studies have also disproven a widely believed, but
false narrative, that due to the geographical position of the Balkans, they
have been a place of constant race and gene mixing between cultures and peoples
of all parts of the world in any given time throughout history.
2. Anthropology of the ancient and contemporary
Bulgarians
Integral part of the racial belonging of any person,
group or nation is their anthropology, that meaning in short, specific visual
characteristics, such as skin pigmentation, facial and skull features, hair
color etc. In order to correctly identify to which anthropological type a group
belongs to researchers must go through a vigorous process of examination of all
the related factors, a small part of which we already briefly mentioned.
Another aspect of the anthropological identification,
especially if we are to examine the ancients, is to look into the art and
images they left behind. This way we can tell, without much effort to which of
the human races they belong.
It is necessary to point out to, in the beginning,
that some facial specifics, such as the eyes, cannot be reconstructed using the
bone (skull) artifacts of the human remains. This is because the factor
responsible for the formation of the specific eye types e.g Mongoloid or
Europeid/Caucasian, are the soft tissues underneath the skin around the
eyeholes, which after the decomposition of the body disappear. This note is in
relation to some manipulations done by, we would rather call them
pseudo-anthropologists, who try to present a false image of the past through misuse
of their academic regalia. Such is the case with the Bulgarian Jordan
Jordanoff, who claims to have been able to reconstruct eye features without any
existing soft tissues. That is what we know as pseudo-science and lack of (any)
scientific method and ethics.
This image is the “reconstruction” of Mostich – an
early medieval Bulgarian noble, who was appointed to the role of ancient
prototype of the contemporary Prime-Minister position.
It is obvious that this reconstruction is false. This
is due to the following factors:
1. Caucasian or Mongoloid eye features are impossible
to recover and reconstruct without the soft skin tissues. Such is the case with
Mostich’s skeletal remains. He lived in 9th and 10th
Century – a little over 1000 years ago, meaning only fragile bones were left of
his existence.
2. The wide academic field, as of now, does not accept
this as a realistic representation of the medieval Bulgarian person.
3. The period in which these false theories and
manipulations developed and took place was the Communist era in Bulgaria. They
are based on some unproven and shady preexisting notions and hypothesis before
the Socialist era, but are generally enforced during the Communist era.
Provided that the Turkic-Asiatic theory of Bulgarian origin was firmly enforced
on the academic and public field in this era, it is highly likely, as many
academic persons have started to speak out about, that this is due to
politically motivated reasons from those at the top of the Communist and
Pan-Slavic power structure.
4. The images of the medieval Bulgarians are
completely opposite to the false “Mongoloidization” and manipulated Asiatic
looks of the old Bulgarians. They show resemblance with the looks of the
ancient Thracians – who are now proven to have never died out (Tsenoff: 1910,
1937; Ts. Gaid & S. Gaid: 2017; E. Sacheff: 2020; V.Vachkova: 2017; A. Chilingirov: 2014, 2017; Al. Mosheff: 2015).
5. The Anthropological studies conducted in the 20th
Century on the Bulgarian peoples completely disproves the Mongoloid or Turkic
and Asiatic belonging of the old Bulgarians and their ancestry.
* * * * * *
The anthropological studies conducted on the Bulgarian
peoples are 20 years apart – 1938 and 1959 respectively. They were conducted by
using large demographic samples from across the nation from large scientific
team headed by doctor M. Popoff.
The results of the first anthropological study were
showed in the Bulgarian Scientific Academy in the presence and with cooperation
with large academic representatives and scientific specialist numbering few
hundreds, and it was then published to the public.
The head of the anthropological study M. Popoff says
the following:
“From the
evaluation of the anthropomorphic researches on the Bulgarian nation, if I may
repeat myself, come to light that all the data points to the fact that all of
the racial components, in which our peoples (or nation) belong to, are within
the boundaries of the known European (Caucasian) races.” (M. Popoff, 1938,
p.111).
From these results we come to know that there is no
external i.e. Asiatic factors in the anthropological components and formation
of the “Bulgarian race”. And while this first study determined that the
Bulgarians belong exclusively to the Caucasian/European race, the following
study from 1959 is more detailed in that it determines to which specific
anthropological types of the Caucasian race Bulgarians belong.
“The
anthropological types, to which the Bulgarian peoples (or nation) belong to,
fall exclusively to the European/Caucasian race. Among those anthropological
types, are the Pontic or Black sea type…” (M. Popoff, 1959, p.260).
This anthropological study, when compared to the late
genetic studies show us more clear and full image of the racial type of the
Bulgarians – they fall within the Caucasian Black sea (M. Popoff, 1959) and
Mediterranean (Karachanak S., et al 2012) types, which are regarded as typical
for the local Balkan populations.
And since contemporary Bulgarians are proven to be of
European and more specifically Balkan-Black sea areal origin, both genetically
and anthropologically, we would like to see the images of the old Bulgarians
from the past.
It is important to note that the skeletal remains of
old Bulgarians show average to tall body height – from the graves of old
Bulgars and their chieftains, we know that they ranged from the typical for
Europe for that time period height of 170m to 2m.
The 9th Century Bulgarian ruler Krum the
Dreadful, founder of the Krum dynasty, and eventual descendant of the old Dulo
dynasty (P. Pavloff, 2019), drinking wine from the skull of the Byzantine
emperor’s skull.
Battle
of Versinikia – Bulgarians with Krum to the right.
From these images we can see that the old Bulgars not
only show typical European and Caucasian features, but also bright hair
features and light skin. The Asiatic characteristics are completely absent.
The
son of Krum, Omurtag.
Omurtag
and his Bulgarians to the left, and the Byzantines to the right.
We find the same European features in later stages of
history. We can even compare the Byzantines to the right with the Bulgarians to
the left. They all fall within the Caucasian race types.
On this image dated to 9th or 10th
Century we see a group of Bulgarians slaying Romans. The image is partially
damaged through time, so we cannot make up all of the facial features of both
groups. We can see, however, the skin pigmentation of the persons depicted on
it. It is worth noting that some of the Romans/Byzantines show darker skin
color than the Bulgarians.
Depiction
of the Battle of Anchialos.
On this image we see the depiction of the battle of
Anchialos which took place in the 10th Century. To the left we see
the galloping Bulgarian army in pursuit of the fleeing Byzantine army (to the
right).
If we are to extend our view into the looks of later
Bulgarians, we can see that they also look like their predecessors.
Leader
of the anti-Byzantine rebellion Peter Delian in 11th Century.
From what we are able to gather from visual evidence
is that, as with contemporary Bulgarians, their ancient forefathers had typical
European/Caucasian looks, with light or darker hair, light skin pigmentation,
while some Romans are even darker. Their faces, for as far as we can tell from
the ancient images, are the same or similar of type to those of the preceding
Thracians and contemporary Bulgarians.
Since we mentioned the looks of old Bulgarians in the
context of the even older peoples, we find it necessary to compare some of the
Thraco-Bulgarian features.
Mosaic
image of the Thraco-Hellenic mythological hero Orpheus.
This ancient mosaic image makes impression it its
looks not only because is in similarity to the people shown in the previous
images i.e. medieval Bulgarians, but also in the clothes of the ancient hero.
They have very strong resemblance to the Bulgarian traditional clothing – the
Nosiya (Носия).
Bulgarian
folk dancers.
Bulgarian
couple in Nosyia.
The similarity between traditional Thracian clothing
and the Bulgarian Nosiya is not a coincidence, but rather a coherent pattern,
which was observed and researched extensively in many works, both from
international and home scientists (N. Koleff: 1987; D. Norton-Taylor: 1975; D.
Aldea: 1984). As for example, we have ancient statues, figures and fragments
showing clothing ornaments of the Thracians, those ornaments can be found on
the Bulgarian nosiya.
Graphic
reconstruction of Thraco-Bulgarian clothing ornaments. Left: Thracian
ornaments. Right: Bulgarian ornaments.
Graphic
reconstruction of Thraco-Bulgarian clothing ornaments. Left: Thracian
ornaments. Right: Bulgarian ornaments.
Graphic
reconstruction of female Thracian clothing – Nosiya.
Bulgarian
women in Nosiya.
Bulgarian
woman from the past in Nosiya.
Typical
Bulgarian Nosiya.
We shall note here that Bulgaria has many folk regions
where the traditional clothing differs in semantics such as ornaments, colors
and types, but they generally stick to one unified motif.
It is somewhat of a regularity for archaeology to find
female images, statues and fragments from the ancient cultures, as it is the
case with most found artifacts. We, however, posses something that can be
called unique, because we have two figures of ancient males, which given the
nature of ancient culture, indicates to the importance of these men, in culture
that usually glorified the female nature in its statues and figures.
Stone
figure of a Thracian in Yamurluk – typical hat for Scythians; the Thracian
Getae and contemporary Bulgarians.
This stone statue depicts a Thracian in the typical
clothing of that time and of that region. What is important here, however, is
that this clothing is part of contemporary Bulgarians in the mountainous
regions of the country and to those who live by their livestock herds.
Another peculiarity is the similarity of other type of
hats, or as that particular type of hats is called in Bulgarian – Kalpak (Калпак), which we find in a small western Bulgarian museum.
This fragment – a head- of once whole body clay figure
shows a male wearing a typical Bulgarian kalpak. It has been dated as far back
as about 8000 years ago.
Contemporary
variations of this type of Kalpak.
The similarities in the Thraco-Bulgarian clothing does
not end here, but if we continue to show these similarities, our inquiry will
become too long. We will have to satisfy our curiosity with one last set of
images – some depicting Thracian and Bulgarian women in their Nosiya, some will
depict some Thracian faces, and others some Scythians wearing the typical
Thraco-Bulgarian type of kalpak/hat.
Mask
of Thracian king Teres.
Head
of the Thracian king Seuthes III.
Thracian
woman.
Bulgarian
woman in Nosiya.
Scythians
from golden pot, depicting one of them with the typical for the
Thraco-Bulgarians hat.
End of extracted part
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