Archaeologists Unearth 7,000-Year-Old Swastika in North-western Bulgaria

[hajduk]

http://www.balkantravellers.com/images/stories/news10/swastika_ancient.jpg
A pottery fragment with the image of a swastika, dating to 7,000 years ago, and an ancient female adornment with a phallus are among the artefacts shown for the first time as part of the on-going exhibition "Gods, Symbols and Ancient Signs" in the museum in Vratsa in north-western Bulgaria.

The swastika-decorated clay pottery fragment was found by archaeologists during excavations of a ritual pit around the village of Altimir near the town of Vratsa. The find dates back to the beginning of the Stone-Copper Age and shows that this symbol traverses the centuries and cannot be linked solely to Hitler's party, archaeologists explained.

The swastika as a symbol dates to the Neolithic period in Ancient India, according to previous archaeological finds. It can also be seen on Roman and Medieval artefacts. Although it was commonly used all over much of the world without stigma and still occurs widely in religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, the swastika has become stigmatized in the Western world, because of its iconic usage in Nazi Germany.

Similarly, arcaheologists explained that the symbolism of the ancient bronze, phallus-decorated medallion included in the exhibition isn't necessarily translated to contemporary meanings.

Other interesting artefacts displayed as part of the exhibition are the bronze instruments to make silver and gold plates and cups and the Christian crosses found in the early medieval settlement near the village of Harlets.

Other of the exhibition's accents are the small horse amulets, as well as the bracelet fragments with Celtic signs, an ancient black-figured skyphos - a two-handled deep wine-cup and votive tablets of Heracles and the Thraciant god, which serve as an example of votive tablet iconography.

After the display in Vratsa, which is to stay for one month, the archaeologists, according to national media, intend to take the exhibition on tour at least in the northwestern part of Bulgaria
http://www.balkantravellers.com/en/read/article/1975

[boredva]

this is more proof that bulgarians are just as indo european as any other euros

[hajduk]

The Turkic theory is based on really nothing more that the political agenda. and just want to represent the Bulgarians as some wild barbarian invaders from Asia.

Pamir Mountains in central Asia and not western Siberia was the motherland of Bulgarians' ancestors, prominent historian and Sofia University professor Georgi Bakalov was quoted as saying by mediapool.bg on October 6 2008. Bakalov presented the findings of a group of Bulgarian scientists who spent a month in Afghanistan searching for evidence. Until now, the official version leaned towards the notion that proto-Bulgarians' have come into Europe from lands in central Asia, with Pamir being just a theory. The group of scientists have found similarities in the music and languages between contemporary Bulgarians and the people living in Pamir, Bakalov said. Next to that he said that Bulgarian and Farsi languages were closely linked and words that today are considered from a Turkish origin in Bulgaria were actually coming from Farsi. We don't belong to Iran, but we do have a connection with it while there is hardly an evidence of Bulgarians in Siberia, Bakalov was quoted as saying by mediapool.bg. The group has collected a lot of research that could change what has been thought in contemporary history books, he noted. For this to happen, Sofia University had to send researches to work in Pamir and gather more material, he said. The Pamir Mountains are spread among Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and China.
Interview with Professor Bakalov:
- Prof Bakalov, what did you find out during your expedition to the Pamir Mountains?
- The media spread incorrect information that I have taken part in this expedition. I have neither participated, nor organized, nor inspired it. I was invited after the return of its members to comment on the results.
- Which of the theories on the origin of the Bulgars are now questioned?
- The deepest-rooted concepts on the origin of the Bulgars are the so-called "Hun" theory by Vassil Zlatarski and the Turkic-Altaic theory. No data have been discovered in Siberia and the Altai Mountains about the presence of Bulgars in that period. This theory aimed at the creation of the image of the Bulgars as savage nomads who appear on the banks of the Danube in the 7th century out of the depths of history and supported by a multitude of Slavs established the first Bulgarian Kingdom in 681.
- Didn't this definition serve certain political and imperial doctrines?
- It started gaining ground in public consciousness as early as the beginning of the Bulgarian National Revival - in the 18th century, when Bulgarians regarded Russia and the Slavdom as a whole with pride and respect. Lately, however, many data have been accumulated - different kinds of data ethnographic, archeological and epigraphic - that evidence to the fact that the place of origin and route of the Bulgars were completely different - from Pamir and Hinu Kush, along the rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya, via the Caucasus and the southern Russian steppes to the lands of present day Bulgaria. Some of the evidence speaking of this course is the language relics remaining from the vernaculars in present day Eastern Iran, Tadzhikistan, Northeastern Afghanistan.
- Does it mean the Bulgars were Indo-Iranians?
- With the Indians and Iranians of today, we of course, have nothing in common. The Bulgars were definitely of Indo-Iranian origin.
- What about the Huns?
- There is no such a nation. It is the same to say just Europeans today. The Huns were a huge tribal union that the Bulgars took part in the 5the century.
http://samoistina.com/2/wheredidwecamefrom.htm