Lyubichev M. Ethno-cultural history of Dnieper-Donets forest-steppe in 1st-5th AD.

In the paper, an essay on ethnocultural history of the Dnieper-Donets forest-steppe in the middle 1st - middle 5th centuries AD is introduced for the first time, created on the basis of archaeological and written sources. Postzarubinzy/early Kievan records (which are identified by us with the Wends) existed here in the 50s-250s. The monuments of the Boromlya horizon with Chernyakhiv elements belong to the 250s - first quarter of the 4th century. Their appearance is due to the migration of a part of the population (veneti) from the region of the Upper Dniester. These sites are areas of the "proto-Slavonic" cultural province in the forest-steppe of Eastern Europe. The "classical" mature Chernyakhiv culture appears in the coastal area of the left bank of the Dnieper in the first quarter of the 4th century, but most of its records dates to the middle - second half of the 4th century. In this archaeological equivalent of "Hermanarich's state", north-west and late Scythian/Sarmatian elements have been traced. Despite the Hun invasion in 375, Chernyakhiv monuments still existed in the first quarter of the 5th century. However, the "prince burials" or "treasures" of the second - third quarters of the 5th century do not have Chernyakhiv context.