Saltovo-Mayaki or Saltovo-Majaki is the name given by archaeologists to the early medieval culture of the Pontic steppe region roughly between the Don and the Dnieper Rivers, flourishing roughly between the years of 700 and 950. The culture's type sites are Mayatskoye (aka Mayaki) near the Don and Verkhnii Saltov by the Donets. History Saltovo-Mayaki influence was strong in the area of the Volyntsevo culture to the northwest of the main Saltovo-Mayaki territory. There is no consensus as to what ethnicity to assign to this culture, if any at all. Characteristics The Saltovo-Mayaki material culture was "fairly uniform" across the various tribes. Ethnicity Their culture was a melting pot of Onogur, Khazar, Pecheneg, Magyar, Alan, and Slavic influences. Genetics A genetic study published in Nature in May 2018 examined three males of the Saltovo-Mayaki culture buried in Belgorod Oblast, Russia between ca. 700 AD and 900 AD. The sample of Y-DNA extracted belonged to haplogroup R1. The three samples of mtDNA extracted belonged to the haplogroups I, J1b4 and U7a4. References Sources Nomadic groups in Eurasia Medieval Ukraine Early Middle Ages Archaeology of Ukraine Archaeology of Russia Medieval Russia Archaeological cultures of Eastern Europe Iranian nomads