36 CHAPTER 1
Dzhetyasarians had a considerable influence over the ethnogenesis and cul-
ture of many Eurasian tribes. The issues linked to the ethnic appearance of the
Tocharians, Alans, Hephthalite-Chionites, Avars, the Oghuz and the Pechenegs
are closely related to the Dzhetyasar culture and the Kangju state.72 B. Vainberg
also includes the Bulgars and Khazars among these people.
The main problem with the theory of B. Vainberg is the late dating of the
arrival of the Bulgars, and the Khazars as well, in Europe—the sixth century.
This theory follows the chronology of the emergence of state entities among
the steppe tribes in Europe—the Bulgar and Khazar states were created after
the unification of the Sabirs. Since the Sabirs came to Europe in the fifth cen-
tury, the Bulgars and Khazars followed. This point of view is odd, considering
the reliable accounts regarding the presence of Bulgars in Europe before the
Sabirs’ arrival.73 As for the Khazars, since it is rarely assumed that their arrival
in Europe occurred simultaneously with that of the Bulgars, the sixth century
is generally regarded as a safe date for marking their presence north of the
Caucasus.74 The theory of the common origin of the Khazars and the Bulgars is
the result of later accounts (from the ninth and tenth centuries) from Eastern
sources and in particular from Al-Istakhri, according to whom the language of
the Khazars was neither Turkic nor Persian, but was close to the Bulgar tongue.75
72 Levina 1968, 178; Levina 1981, 172–175; Levina 1996, 28, 89, and 375–376; Levina 1998, 55–56;
Andrialov and Levina 1979, 95–97; Vainberg 1990, 100–101, 185, and 192–194.
73 Vainberg 1990, 285–286 and 294–296; Regarding the Bulgars, the opinion of B. Vainberg
is somewhat contradictory. She ties them to the niche burials (podboy), which appeared
on the territory of the Dzhetyasar culture in the fifth century and were practiced until
its demise (in the ninth century). B. Vainberg assumes that this may be a result of the
migration of a population from Turpan (of a possible Tocharian origin) or from Europe,
presuming that a certain part of the tribes, subject to the Huns, moved back eastward
(Vainberg 1990, 187 and 193–194). While not being directly connected to the Bulgars, the
pit burials with niches, which were traditional for the Dzhetyasar culture, are of greater
interest. This type of burial rites died away in the third to fourth centuries, the last actual
pit burials occurring in the fifth century. These burials, however, were practiced among
the Bulgars between the eighth and the tenth centuries (see for instance Rashev 2003a,
16–41; Flerova 2002, 173). According to Vainberg 1990, 292–295, the Bulgars came from
Eastern Kazakhstan (along the Irtysh River), migrating there in the fifth century as a part
of the Tele tribes, which moved westward after 540.
74 Artamonov 1962, 116. Zuckerman 2001, 313 is of a different opinion, claiming that in the
sixth century the Khazars were not located north of the Caucasus, but in the Volga area;
Dunlop 1967, 5 and 32 believes that the arrival of the Khazars in Europe took place at the
end of the sixth century.
75 Stepanov 1999a, 30; Novosel’tsev 1990, 78.