1990: Uli Schamiloglu notes that research on the ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars largely remains trapped in the paradigm of 19th-century romantic nationalism, while the “Volga Bulgars → Kazan Tatars” continuity functions as a dogma not only in politics, but in scholarship as well.

Our project on documenting Turkic runiform inscriptions has just published its first article in Turkish, devoted to our 2024 fieldwork. A good moment to recall that season: Southern Khakassia, searching for Yenisei Turkic inscriptions at local burial grounds, and life in a wooden yurt.

Claims exaggerating ancient West Eurasian roots of the Chuvash stem from a broader idea: their ancestors were never in East Asia, with a homeland supposedly in the Caucasus. Today this view is marginal, represented mainly by A. K. Salmin.

Yupa grave post. Cemetery of unbaptized Chuvash near my native village of Lachaka. Jan 2026.
I last documented this site about 15 years ago. Since then, the number of yupa has decreased by an order of magnitude; today, only a few remain.

The phonetic reshaping of earlier Taŋrï has significantly obscured the etymology of Chuvash Tor(ă) ~ Tur(ă) and, in the process, produced a rather curious history of interpretations.

A recently published 12th-century work by Sulaymān al-Suwārī al-Saksīnī preserves a Bulghar form of the divine name “Tengri”. In my view, this is a genuinely remarkable piece of evidence.

Well, this account will post short notes on historical linguistics and related topics, mainly covering the area from the Volga–Kama region to Southern Siberia, based on my Russian-language Telegram channel.