Migration-Period Culture and Changes in the East European Forest-Steppe Zone

In the chapter authors consider the archaeological situation that developed in the Eastern European forest-steppe during the Great Migration period. This time is associated with the final stage of the existence of Chernyakhiv Culture, which is determined by the period D1, possibly D2. This time is characterized first of all by the existence of barrow burials containing Chernyakhiv artefacts. They are evidence of the contacts of the local population with the population of southern and southeastern borderlands of Chernyakhiv Culture. With the Great Migration period finds at the cemeteries of the Chernyakhiv Culture of individual burials with weapons of the Sarmato-Alanic tradition are also associated, possibly related to the changes in the closing phase of the Chernyakhiv Culture. Finally, a special group consists of hoards and “princely burials”, concentrated in the region of the rivers Sudzha and Oboyan. They are probably connected with the existence of an Ostrogothic political formation of the Hunnic time – the “kingdom of Vinitarium”. The authors note that after the disappearance of Chernyakhiv’s Culture in the region of the East European forest-steppe, the morphology of archaeological communities is changed: the bulk of finds can now be grouped, not into large-scale cultures but only into a great number of diverse, short-lived cultural groups occupying a limited territory. By this time, there are separate burials and finds of objects attributed to the „East Germanic” cultural circle with evidence of Pontic and Danubian influence, as well as separate burials of the nomadic circle. Numismatic material largely confirms the observations made during the analysis of archaeological sources. In particular, one can see a sharp decrease in the supply of copper and gold coins in the second half of the fourth and first half of the fifth centuries. And the almost complete cessation of their revenues in the middle – third quarter of the fifth century.