A.N. Bernstein's Interest in the Ethnogenesis of Turkic Peoples
During the war years, A.N. Bernstein was in Frunze (due to a severe illness he suffered in his youth, he was not drafted into the ranks of the Red Army, where he actively engaged in the history of the Kyrgyz people, participated in the organization of the Kyrgyz branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, conducted extensive scientific and educational work, and prepared local scientific personnel). The result of this work was an unpublished doctoral dissertation titled "The History of the Kyrgyz and Kyrgyzstan from Ancient Times to the Mongol Conquest," defended in 1942. For his outstanding contributions to the history and archaeology of Kyrgyzstan, he was awarded the title of Honored Worker of Science of the Kyrgyz SSR, Red Banner, in 1946. At that time, he was also awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
A.N. Bernstein dedicated many of his works to the history of the Kyrgyz. He developed a periodization of the ancient medieval culture of Kyrgyzstan, which has stood the test of time and remained largely unchanged. Alexander Natanovich paid particular attention to the problem of the ethnogenesis of the Kyrgyz people, suggesting several stages of the migration of Kyrgyz tribes from the Yenisei to the Tien Shan as early as his early works, starting from the 1st century AD. At a scientific session dedicated to the issue of the migration of the Kyrgyz people, held in Frunze in November 1956, Bernstein returned to this topic in his report "The Formation of the Turkic-speaking Population in Central Asia and the Origin of the Kyrgyz People," emphasizing the complexity of this issue and believing that in the history of the Kyrgyz, it is necessary to distinguish between the moments of the migration of tribes and issues of cultural heritage. In the discussion that unfolded at the meeting, the stages of the migration of the Kyrgyz to the Tien Shan proposed by A.N. Bernstein were not accepted, but it was noted that the issues of the ethnogenesis of the Kyrgyz largely remain contentious. However, the position that the Kyrgyz are the heirs of the cultures of the ancient population of the Semirechye and Tien Shan territories was supported by many participants in the discussion.
A.N. Bernstein logically pursued his interest in the ethnogenesis of Turkic peoples and the problem of interaction between the nomadic and settled populations of Central Asia by studying Turkic runes, analyzing written sources, initially familiarizing himself with the archaeological monuments of the regions where these processes took place, and then systematically researching the entire northeastern part of Central Asia - the homeland of many Central Asian nomads. A.N. Bernstein later wrote: "Continuing and deepening our research on the culture of the nomads of Central Asia, we had to delve deeper into the history of these peoples and engage with increasingly ancient monuments." The very names of the expeditions led by A.N. Bernstein - Tien Shan (1944-1946, 1949); South Kazakhstan (1947-1949), Pamir-Alai (1947-1948), Pamir-Fergana (1950-1952) - illustrate the path A.N. Bernstein took to achieve his scientific goals. During those years, his expeditions were characterized by a predominance of reconnaissance routes over excavations. He himself referred to them as "archaeological journeys." He wanted to see firsthand the natural geographical conditions in which the tribes mentioned in written sources lived: to verify the possibility of passing roads and passes, to see pastures and wintering grounds, to follow the paths of nomads.
The routes of the expeditions totaled about 40,000 km.
One of the main questions became the issue of the settlement and culture of the Saka tribes. The Sakas, mentioned by ancient, Persian, and Chinese sources, had been the subject of study and discussion long before A.N. Bernstein's work began. However, these studies were limited to the analysis of sources, and based solely on them, various options for the settlement of the Sakas in Central Asia were indicated, but no one knew their culture, and no one could realistically judge the territories and conditions in which they lived.
A.N. Bernstein discovered the Saka culture of Central Asia, about which A.I. Terenozhkin wrote back in 1947: "Now the Saka culture is open, and the credit for this most important archaeological discovery in Central Asia belongs to A.N. Bernstein."
The excavations of archaeological monuments in the Pamirs were particularly significant. Based on an analysis of natural conditions, a combination of data on the movements of the Sakas, or Sē, and the results of his own preliminary reconnaissance routes, A.N. Bernstein concluded that Saka monuments should be sought in the southern Pamirs. And so, in 1948, at an altitude of 3,800-4,200 m above sea level, the first burial mounds of the Sakas who inhabited the Pamirs - "the Roof of the World" - were discovered and excavated. This was a scientific sensation: the first "real Sakas" and where - in the Pamirs! Weapons, horse gear, Scythian "animal style" images on artifacts - the entire "Scythian triad" testified to the belonging of the discovered monuments to the culture of early nomads of the Saka circle.
Following the Pamirs and Alai - the exploration of the Tien Shan. Now the expedition routes passed through the Issyk-Kul region and Central Tien Shan, uncovering more and more monuments of nomads. For us, at that time, student interns, such "archaeological journeys" sometimes seemed extraordinarily easy: you travel through mountain valleys and discover burial grounds. But one had to possess an excellent knowledge of the landscape of these great mountain ranges, have a good understanding of the living conditions of nomads, and have brilliant intuition to find the monuments of ancient herders so accurately. A.N. Bernstein truly walked the paths of nomads.
The mountain ranges of the Tien Shan and Pamir-Alai systems ceased to be "white spots" on the archaeological map. The monuments were mapped and partially studied. The result of this work was the creation of a historical-archaeological periodization of the cultures of all regions of Northeast Central Asia.
A.N. BERNSTEIN - researcher of ancient cultures of Central Asia. Part - 1