28 CHAPTER 1
Europe. After that, according to O. Bubenok, there were actually no Bulgars in
the steppes of Eastern Europe and the whole population of the steppe version
of the Saltovo culture was represented by Yases.
O. Bubenok reaches the conclusion that both the pit and the catacomb
burials were left by Alans, and to complete the picture, the body-burning was
apparently also Alanian.43 Since this issue will be discussed in more detail
elsewhere, let me just say here that there is absolutely no reason to view the
Sarmatian culture as part of an ethnic whole. There is also no reason for this
ethnic whole (which is non-existent) to bear the name of the Yases or Alans dur-
ing the Early Middle Ages. The problem of the Sarmatian heritage in Medieval
Europe is much more complex and cannot be bound to only one ethnic group
such as the Alans. As to the Saltovo culture analogues, a vivid example for the
Central Asia region is the culture of the Wusuns, though this does not in any
way mean that one of these cultures derives from the other.44 Incidentally,
V. Gening notes a direct link between the Wusuns and the Bulgars.45
R. Rashev assumes that among the Bulgars the nobility (or part of it) was
Turkic, while the majority of the population was of Iranian origin.46 This old
Iranic-speaking population, bearer of the Late Sarmatian archaeological cul-
ture, joined the tribal unions of the Ugrian and Turkic newcomers. “The new
change of culture further erased the traces of the various ethnic groups. Thus,
the problem of the primary land of origin of the Proto-Bulgarians acquires a
new light. It may be significantly closer than previously thought”.47
The Late Sarmatian culture is dated between the second and the fourth cen-
tury. It is not a culture of a homogenic population that constitutes an ethnic
whole. Its emergence can be directly linked to the influx of new tribes from
different areas in Asia. It should also be borne in mind that around the sec-
ond century AD, the Huns established themselves in the Volga Region. The first
(and of course quite vague, as they come from later sources) accounts about
Bulgars, Barsils and other related tribes date from that time. The formation
of the Late Sarmatian culture brings up the question of its bearers’ attitude
43 Bubenok 1997, 37–44, 64, and 171.
44 On the Wusuns, see Akishev and Kushaev 1963, 139ff.
45 Gening 1989, 8; see also Rashev 2007a, 29.
46 Rashev 2001, 10–11; see also Rashev 1993. A similar example are the Avars. According to
archaeological evidence (burials), it is possible that their nobility was of Turkic origin
(with very prominent Mongoloid traits), while the population was Sarmatian (Iranian)
(Tot and Firshtein 1970, 29–33), but data on the Bulgar nobility’s ethnic appearance is far
less clear. Cf. for instance Beshevliev 1967.
47 Rashev 2001, 11–12.