ПРОМЕНИТЕ В МОРФОЛОГИЯТА НА ЛИЦЕВИЯ ДЯЛ НА ЧЕРЕПА - ИЗТОЧНИК НА ИНФОРМАЦИЯ ЗА ЕТНОГЕНЕТИЧНИТЕ ПРОЦЕСИ В СРЕДНОВЕКОВНА БЪЛГАРИЯ
The changes in the facial part of the skull - a source of information about the ethnogenetical processes in medieval Bulgaria

Summary/Abstract: Changes affecting the facial part of the skull during the different stages of the Middle Ages in Bulgaria are subject to anthropological analysis in the present study. The facial dimensions especially the ones taking into account the profile bring about to the understanding of the tribute renered by the various ethnic entities to the formation of the Bulgarian nation. In 627 male crania from 26 necropoles 8 dimensions and 3 indices characterizing the zygomatic breadth, the upper face height, the breadth and the flatness of the nasal base, breadth of the nasal orifice, depth of fossa canina, orbital height, the horizontal profile of the face and the protrusion of the nasal bones were investigated. Intragroup and intergroup differences in the values of the studied features during four consecutive stages of the Medieval Epoch were traced. The early Middle Ages (8th-10th C) exposed on the background of late antiquity stand out by substantial alterations in the facial part of the skull. The upperiace neight and the nasal breadth become significantly higher together with the decrease of the nasal bone profile angle and the depth of fossa canina. The greatest intergroup variations - between the North-East Bulgarian populations and the ones from the extreme South-West territories of today's Bulgaria, have been recorded in this period. During the next periods, nasal and orbital sizes are the ones least subject to change. Certain variations are shown by the nasomallary and zygomaxillary angles. Significant differences are noted in the upperface height, the zygomatic breadth, dacrial and simotic indices and in the profile angle of the nose. The presence of mongoloid admixtures such as wide and flat nasal base, high and rounded orbits and weakening of the facial profile was registered. In none of the populations under study however, the fully shaped complex of the specific mongoloid features was observed. The analysis performed indicates to a diversity in the anthropological characteristics of the facial part of the skull during the entire Middle Ages especially pronounced in the 8th-10th C and 12th-14th C periods mainly under the influence of the enhanced migration processes.

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