Reflections on the Ethnic and Cultural Situation in the Middle Volga Area in Early Mediaeval Times

Abstract

This publication is a discussion supplementing the article on the “Foundations of the New (Old) Concept of Ethnic Origins of the Ancient Bulgarians” [Osnovy novoi (staroi) kontseptsii etnogeneza drevnikh bolgar] by Igor Semyonov who argued in favor of the hypothesis suggesting that groups of early Bulgarians migrated to the area north of the Black Sea in the 5th century and subsequently, around the 7th century, settled in the western part of that area where their language was influenced by the local Slavic languages. Dmitry Stashenkov expounds the opinion pointing to the facts that contradict the view on the close ties between proto-Bulgarian populations and the Slavs. He further questions the voiced arguments about the Imenkovo culture, which re-opens the issue of  econstructing the ethnic history of Volga area Bulgarians for critical reappraisal.