In the article, a medieval hoard of silver payment ingots discovered in 2019 in the vicinity of Dernove village, Ukraine (Vorsklytsia River basin), is considered. The treasure consists of five stick-shaped ingots with a total weight of 981.95 g. The weight of the ingots is 194.56–198.98 g, length 14.3–15.4 cm, silver content is 98.1–98.5 %. An XRF elemental analysis of the metal’s composition and its comparison with medieval coins revealed the Central European origin of the pure silver. In the typological analysis, such ingots are most often classified by researchers as Novgorod type ingots, used as a means of payment during the coinless period in the history of Rus. However, the predominance of copper over lead in the ligature brings these ingots closer to Old Rus hexagonal ingots of the Kyiv type and short stick-shaped ingots of the Lithuanian type, rather than to similarly shaped “short” ingots of the Novgorod type. Long stick-shaped ingots not only differ in terms of production technology, but also have a slightly higher silver content on average than the short ones. This confirms N. Bauer’s opinion about the chronological significance of the length of Old Rus ingots, but it also supports the opinion of the researchers who distinguish long stick-shaped ingots as a separate type. The authors critically examine the chronological basis of ingots dating and conclude that the change of both types occurred no earlier than the 1340s. Each of the ingots from the Dernove hoard had from five to eight cuts or even two rows with different amount of cuts. The authors examine different hypotheses about the meaning of cuts rows on ingots. To conclude, the assumption that the proportion of ingot weight and the number of cuts on them can be used as a chronological indicator is supported. However, the hypothesis of a direct link between the cuts and the Golden Horde system of measuring the ingots value with coins of different weight lacks sufficient evidence. The unit of measuring marked with cuts on ingots changed its value much more often than any silver coins of the 13th and 14th centuries. The Dernove hoard forms one chronological group with treasures from Putyvl and Starikovo based on the shape and size of the ingots, as well as the cuts on the ingots. The appearance of these hoards is possible as a result of the historical events of the winter of 1289/1290 AD and the conflict between the Rus local princes and the Tatars over the Akhmat’s settlements.

The origins of the early medieval Magyars who appeared in the Carpathian Basin by the end of the 9th century CE remain incompletely understood. Previous archaeogenetic research identified the newcomers as migrants from the Eurasian steppe. However, genome-wide ancient DNA from putative source populations has not been available to test alternative theories of their precise source. We generated genome-wide ancient DNA data for 131 individuals from archaeological sites in the Ural region in northern Eurasia, which are candidates for the source based on historical, linguistic, and archaeological evidence. Our results tightly link the Magyars to people of the early medieval Karayakupovo archaeological horizon on both the European and Asian sides of the southern Urals. The ancestors of the people of the Karayakupovo archaeological horizon were established in the broader Urals by the Late Iron Age, and their descendants persisted in the Volga-Kama region until at least the 14th century.

The archaeology of the East European steppes and forest-steppe from the 3rd to the 9th centuries comprises historical, social and economic processes, migrations and interactions, involving numerous and diverse population groups in this vast area, recorded in a permanently transforming mosaic of patterns of material culture. Throughout the 700 years, the appearance of the region changed dramatically, gradually acquiring the character that survived in the forthcoming Middle Ages. The steppes entered the 3rd century populated by almost exclusively Iranian speakers, and found themselves dominated by a Turkic-speaking majority in the end. The forest-steppe evidenced several waves of migration, accompanied by agricultural development, and in the end, they were populated by the Slavs, who emerged and formed during this period, and by Turkic and Finnish groups, in the east. Several attempts at creating stable formations were made during this period. The Chernyakhiv under Gothic dominance during the Late Roman period, the Hun confederation of the 5th century, Pen'kivka-Kolochin, and Imen'kovo, set up by mostly Slavic populations in the 5th–7th centuries are to be mentioned as the most impressive ones. None of them was successful enough, collapsing under the stress of political and environmental challenges. Only at the end of the period, instability was finally overcome with the establishment of the Medieval states of the Khazars, Rus, and the Volga Bulgarians.

During the Hungarian Conquest in the 10th century CE, the early medieval Magyars, a group of mounted warriors from Eastern Europe, settled in the Carpathian Basin. They likely introduced the Hungarian language to this new settlement area, during an event documented by both written sources and archaeological evidence. Previous archaeogenetic research identified the newcomers as migrants from the Eurasian steppe. However, genome-wide ancient DNA from putative source populations has not been available to test alternative theories of their precise source. We generated genome-wide ancient DNA data for 131 individuals from candidate archaeological contexts in the Circum-Uralic region in present-day Russia. Our results tightly link the Magyars to people of the Early Medieval Karayakupovo archaeological horizon on both the European and Asian sides of the southern Urals. Our analyes show that ancestors of the people of the Karayakupovo archaeological horizon were established in the Southern Urals by the Iron Age and that their descendants persisted locally in the Volga-Kama region until at least the 14th century.

Most of the early Hungarian tribes originated from the Volga-Kama and South-Ural regions, where they were composed of a mixed population based on historical, philological and archaeological data. We present here the uniparental genetic makeup of the mediaeval era of these regions that served as a melting pot for ethnic groups with different linguistic and historical backgrounds. Representing diverse cultural contexts, the new genetic data originate from ancient proto-Ob-Ugric people from Western Siberia (6th-13th century), the pre-Conquest period and subsisting Hungarians from the Volga-Ural region (6th-14th century) and their neighbours. By examining the eastern archaeology traits of Hungarian prehistory, we also study their genetic composition and origin in an interdisciplinary framework. We analyzed 110 deep-sequenced mitogenomes and 42 Y-chromosome haplotypes from 18 archaeological sites in Russia. The results support the studied groups' genetic relationships regardless of geographical distances, suggesting large-scale mobility. We detected long-lasting genetic connections between the sites representing the Kushnarenkovo and Chiyalik cultures and the Carpathian Basin Hungarians and confirmed the Uralic transmission of several East Eurasian uniparental lineages in their gene pool. Based on phylogenetics, we demonstrate and model the connections and splits of the studied Volga-Ural and conqueror groups. Early Hungarians and their alliances conquered the Carpathian Basin around 890 AD. Re-analysis of the Hungarian conquerors' maternal gene pool reveals numerous surviving maternal relationships in both sexes; therefore, we conclude that men and women came to the Carpathian Basin together, and although they were subsequently genetically fused into the local population, certain eastern lineages survived for centuries.