Runica Bulgarica

       According to Bulgarian archaeologists, the stone quarry was built in the first quarter of the 10th century to supply stone blocks to a building of a 39 km-long stone wall stretching from the Danube to the Black Sea coast. Known are six panels of Rock art carved in the soft walls of the chalk  quarry. They are available either  as photos. Figure 1 , General plan of Murfatlar Cave Complex. or/and sketches, and their quality and accuracy vary significantly.  In the first of them is carved a unique cross, boot and a figure of an animal, probably  a horse .  The cross here consists of a square and four V signs. Since the signs can be seen as phallic symbols, and the square - the vulva of an agrarian goddess, the image will symbolise the fertilisation of the earth and the expected abundance of food as a result (Fig. 3a). The second rock image  Figure 2 , Section of the rock massif showing the location of some of the temples. consists...

            The early history of the Bulgars in Europe has yet to be discovered. More than a few mentions must be left by medieval historians to cover their political history or spiritual and material culture. Many of the issues related to them have never been resolved positively. What does their name mean? Where do they come from in Europe? What language did they speak? Archaeology also needs help to fill the gaps in our knowledge. Being nomads, Bulgarians were archaeologically invisible until the 8th century. The Bulgarian diaspora stretches from the Middle Volga through the Ponto-Caspian steppes to the Balkan Peninsula, Central Europe and Italy. It seems that parts of the “Gens Bulgarorum” participated in the ethnogenesis of several European nations in the early Middle Ages, leaving no trace. Typical of many nomadic tribes. But is that the case? Unlike many other Eurasian nomads, Bulgars have a unique culture: they use an archaic type of Runifo...

      The Miraculous Hunt     The   Bulgarian village of Tsarevets is situated on the left bank of river Iskar, not far from the small regional centre Mezdra. Between the village and the river, nature dug several small caves. It is hard to say when, but it's very probable that already in antiquity people considered the place holly and used it for spiritual practices. The cave complex was discovered in 1962, but for some time was appreciated mostly for Cyrillic inscriptions found there. Its value though comes from hundreds of rock picture and Bulgar Runiform inscriptions carved there. This work presents one of the panels incised on the soft limestone, named as the title suggests "The Magic hunt".     The panel is carved in a cave called by locals "Biyarnitzata". The name come, not surprisingly, from the Bulgar word "bij" (god, master) and its meaning can be roughly translated as "The place where gods were worshipped". "The Magic hunt...