Bulgarian origin like those of any other nomadic descendants is still obscure. All nomadic people of the vast steppes of Asia were a major force in history. Their power was not in the empires they built, but rather, it was the turmoil they have created on ancient civilizations such as China or Persia, affecting substantially their historical development<ref>Worriors of the Steppe by Erik Hildinger, De Capo Press, 1997, pp. 57-92</ref>.

The Nomad

The early history of the Bulgarians (as being nomadic decendants) is shrouded with enigma, which lifts somewhat only after their contact with cultures possessing written histories. But even when information about any nomadic horde becomes relatively more plentiful, linguistic complexities make its interpretation extremely difficult. For example, recent advances in computational phylogenetic methods, provideed a phylogenetic tree of 87 Indo-European languages. The modern Bulgarian language as classified in 'Slavic-Baltic' (Balto-Slavic)<ref>The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language by David Crystal, Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp.302-3</ref> group was observed to branched off from the 'Indo-Iranian' group 6,900 years before the present time<ref>Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin by Russell D. Gray & Quentin D. Atkinson in Nature (2003) 426, p435-7.</ref>. Thus the linguistic method is mapping the nomadic cultural separation ~4,000 years earlier then what has been noted by the Chinese as early as third century B.C<ref>The Empire of the Steppes, a History of Central Asia by Rene Grousset (transl. by Naomi Walford), Rutgers University Press, 2005, p.25</ref>. In additioin to the linguistic approach, another scientific approach - the history of art in a gestalt perspective<ref>New Essays on the Psychology of Art by Rudolf Arnheim, University of California Press, 1986, p.31</ref> can be used. Studying Proto-Bulgarians art through comparison, may reveal leads to the Bulgarians' origin tracking backword their symbols (symbolism)<ref>Philosophy of Analogy and Symbolism by S. T. Cargill, Kessinger Publishing, 1997, p.13</ref> and creative imagination<ref>The Afghan Amulet: Travels from the Hindu Kush by Sheila Paine, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2006, p.249</ref><ref>The Cambridge History Of Early Inner Asia by Denis Sinor, Cambridge University Press, 2004, p.234 (Volga Bulgaria), p. 261 (Magna Bulgaria)</ref>. For example, some of the artistic traditions, especially that of metal carving (toreutics), claim great antiquity<ref>How to Understand Sculpture by Margaret Thomas, Kessinger Publishing, 2005, p.25-6</ref>. Toreutics was practised in the 'Bronze Age' and was well established centuries before the shaft graves. As such toreutics will be used here as an artistic 'fingerprint'<ref>Social Transformations in Archaeology: Global and Local Perspectives (Material Cultures) by Kri Kristiansen, Routledge, 1998, p.29</ref> to illuminate the Bulgarian nomadic time.

The Art

The art of the Proto-Bulgarians contains specific artistic elements as traces of cultural coexistence. However, cultural coexistence is only one possible reason to explain the phenomenon of art being recursive. The recursion can be explained twofold. Firstly, the core property of human communication (in a 'narrow' sense, including language) is recursion. As such it is attributed to limited syntax in the conception - with a finite set of elements to yield a potentially infinite array of discrete expressions<ref>The Faculty of Language: What Is It, Who Has It, and How Did It Evolve? by Marc D. Hauser, Noam Chomsky,W. Tecumseh Fitch in Science (2002), 298, pp.1569-79</ref>. Secondly, the art recursion can be explained (in a 'broad' sense) through imposion of archetypal structures<ref>How Art Made the World, A Journey to the Origins of Human Creativity by Nigel Spivey, Bbasic Books 2005, p.89</ref> existing beyond the faculty of human communication. Therefore, ancient art today, is a blend of the above three- cultural coexistence, communication recursion and archetypes.



Characteristic elements of the Proto-Bulgarians art have recurred at different locations in Central Asia. A typical art motif from the Proto-Bulgarians identified in the toreutics of Nagy Szent Miklos' treasure (1799) - 'griffin fighting an elk' (see figure on top right) - has been discovered 108 years latter in the tombs of Hsiung-nu (early Huns) during Colonel Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov<ref>Buddha: Radiant Awakening by Jackie Menzies, Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2001</ref><ref>Wildlife of the Tibetan Steppe by George B. Schaller, University Of Chicago Press, 2000, p.11</ref> expedition (1907-09) near Urga (Outer Mongolia)<ref>Discoveries of the Kozlov Expedition by W. Perceval Yetts, he Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 48, No. 277 (Apr., 1926), pp. 168-185</ref><ref>The Pazirik Burial of Altai by Eugene A. Golomshtok, M. P. Griaznov in American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1933), pp. 30-45</ref><ref>Recent Russian Archaeological Exploration by W. E. D. Allen in The Geographical Journal, Vol. 69, No. 3 (Mar., 1927), pp. 262-264</ref>. The use of similar gold technique is depicting animal motifs found in the vicinity of the city of Turpan - the principle crossroad of the northern Silk Road (see the Turpan gold on your right).

The Gold

Why would nomads use gold? It is believed that the nomads ranged relentlessly and widely, forever moving on for sake of richer grazing for their horses and sheep. Migrations were often seasonal. In the course of such migrations nomads wove for them selves an imperishable and precious intimacy with their land and its natural resources. They could extract gold with unprecedented ease. In summer, during the tribe's seasonal migration, a fleece would be weighted on a riverbed to collect particles of alluvial gold. Upon the tribes' return, the fleece would be sheared, burned, and gold ingot the size of a horse's hoof would result. The 'tay tayak' (the horse's hoof) was a unit of gold for a long period: a measure of golden metal rather then money, since gold was not fabricated as currency. Usage of gold was essentially spiritual - as emblems of priestly office, of prizes for physical prowess in ritual sport, or as adornment of the sacral ceremony of marriage<ref>Kazakhstan, Coming of Age by Michael Fergus and Janar Jandosova, Stacey International 2003, p.106 (ISBN 1-900988-615)</ref>. Today Bulgaria, for the wealth and variety of hidden treasures and hoards, has no rivals in Europe.

The Spirit

Tracing few artistic fingerprints at the above, the Bulgaro-nomadic origin looks less enigmatic. The Bulgaro-nomadic art and spirituality was developing from close contacts with Chinese, Tibetan, Indian, cultures. The strongest catalyst however, was the steppe itself. The boundless reach of land and the fathomless bowl of sky is embedded in the Bulgarian collective psyche (archetype). This vastness and emptiness brought into being one of the most exotic systems of belief on Earth - a profound combination of monotheism and polytheism that has come to be know as Tengrism<ref>Muslim Turkistan: Kazak Religion and Collective Memory by Bruce G. Privratsky, Routledge Curzon, 2001, p.77</ref>. The nomad spirit of Proto-Bulgarians has been embraced today in complex and diverse forms of progressive aesthetics <ref>An Introduction to the Classical Modern Art of Bulgaria by S. A. Mansbach in The Art Bulletin, Vol. 81, No. 1 (Mar., 1999), pp. 149-162</ref>




To be continued...

References

See also

Bulgar language

Bulgarians

Pamir languages

Madara Rider

Volga Bulgaria

Bactrians

Balkar

Bolghar

History of Babylonia and Assyria:

*Sumer

*History of Sumer

*Akkadian Empire

*Gutian period

*3rd dynasty of Ur "Sumerian Renaissance"

*Babylonia

*Assyria

*Kings of Babylon

*Kings of Assyria

Geography of Babylonia and Assyria

Assyro-Babylonian culture

*Chaldean mythology

*Babylonian and Assyrian religion

*Babylonian law

*Babylonian literature

*Art and architecture of Babylonia and Assyria

*Social life in Babylonia and Assyria

*Cuneiform script

Ancient Orient

Mesopotamia

Assyriology

*Classical authorities of Babylonia and Assyria

*Modern discovery of Babylonia and Assyria

*Chronology of the Ancient Orient

*Chronology of Babylonia and Assyria

*Chronological systems of Babylonia and Assyria

Iran

Qajar art

Culture of Iran

List of Persian painters

Modern and Contemporary Art in Iran