The end of the 4th century A.D. in Eastern Europe was marked by mass migration of the barbarian tribes of the Sarmatians, Alans and Goths to Danube river region caused by Hunnic expansion into Northern Black Sea region. The first wave of migration belonged to the 370s, when the barbarians, persuaded by the Huns, crossed the Danube and occupied territories of Thracia and Moesia with the permission of Roman Emperor Valens, as it was mentioned by written sources. And having reached Danube, the Huns turned away into "South Russian" steppes, united the local population of Sarmatian-Gothic origin under their authority. Nevertheless, some parts of the Hunnic tribes led by Uldin stayed in the Danube region and in the 400s were at war at first against the Goths - that resulted the occupation of Thracia - and then against the Romans. But having been defeated by the Romans and banished from Thracia, the Huns of Uldin took to flight and crossed the Danube. New invasion of the Huns to the left bank of the Danube took place during Bleda's and Attila's reign (433-454 A.D.). The latter captured the territory of the Great Hungarian Plain and moved his headquarters there.

That comparatively short and rich in events historical period known in the literature as the Great Migration Period in archaeological sources of Eastern Europe consists mainly of burial assemblages. In can be distinguished among them the sites of nomadic culture of Novogrigorievka-Pécsüszög type formed in "South Russian" steppes on the basis of local Sarmatian-Alanian and allied Hunnic cultures, and a group of European assemblages of Regöly-Untersiebenbrunn type which were called by the researchers the sites of the "Untersiebenbrunn horizon".

Widely known burial assemblage found in 1910 in Untersiebenbrunn (Austria) is characterised by significant diversity of objects. As it was mentioned by several researchers, there are finds reflecting traditions of German and Iranian peoples and Classical and Roman cultures in it. In this connection, first of all, the problem of ethnic affiliation of this assemblage arose. The whole diversity of opinions on this problem was expounded in details in a work by Attila Kiss who outlined six main directions of the resolving of this problem.

Leaning on some common signs of burial objects, J. Tejral (1973) was the first to outline most completely the circle of Untersiebenbrunn type burials. He related to them the following sites: Regöly, Bakodpuszta, Taska, Papkeszi, Morbisch, Furst, Rábapordány, Lébény, Airan, Hochfelden. The same list with some variations was mentioned in the work by A. Kiss. Both authors noticed the close connection of those assemblages with the North Pontic Region sites and, on the first hand, with the Kerch burial vaults of the Late Classical period (it should be mentioned that many researchers beginning with the author of the first publication, points out that). That is why we consider taking up the materials of the Late Classical Bosporus necropolis and their analysis to be an important stage for distinguishing of ethnocultural traditions in Regöly-Untersiebenbrunn type assemblages.

Both the material of the Bosporus burial vaults of the first chronological group (the last quarter of the 4th - the first half of the 5th century A.D.) and the Untersiebenbrunn type burials are heterogeneous from chronological and ethnocultural points of view. But in contradiction to burials of European assemblages the Bosporus family burial vaults functioned for several decades and consequently contained burials that took place in different time. Side by side with undoubtedly earlier assemblages and finds reflecting the Bosporan Greek-Sarmatian culture of the second half of the 4th century A.D. there are burials belonging to the turn of the 4th-5th centuries, the first half of the 5th century and up to the middle of the 5th century.

From ethnocultural point of view in the materials of the Bosporus burial vaults the following traditions can be traced: Classical ones - existence of golden crowns with indications of coins of Roman Emperors and Bosporan rulers, golden earrings and rings, the famous golden necklaces etc.- Sarmatian-Alanian ones - golden plaques, torques and bracelets with heads of fantastic beasts on their ends - Gothic-Germanic ones - fibulas, combs, earrings with polyhedrons on their ends, a bone pendant with concentric circles, probably, cover plaques from horse harness with pole-axe-shaped pendants. Moreover, in the Bosporus burials there are also objects which are characteristic for the nomads of the North Pontic region steppes of the Hun Age - bits and cheek-pieces of special construction, bone cover plaques from complex bows and typical Hunnic arrow-heads of Central Asiatic origin, and also decorative objects of Byzantine work: silver vessels and ornaments made in cloisonné technique. The presence of different cultural traditions in the Bosporus materials of the Great Migration Period testifies the mixed composition of its population and the mixed character of its culture representing the symbiosis of Greek-Sarmatian-Gothic traditions of the age.

In the light of the studied problem such finds as a golden necklace, bracelets with beasts on their ends, golden plaques decoration clothes and fibulas are of major interest. All of them in different combinations were found both in the Untersiebenbrunn type assemblages and, as a rule, in female burials (Hochfelden, Untersiebenbrunn, Regöly, Airan etc.). Despite of some difference in absolute dates of these burials, they are undoubtedly the reflections of the unite historical process connected with the migration of some part of the Bosporan population to the west after the Hunnic conquest of the North Pontic region. The beginning of the formation of such assemblages mentioned above dates, probably, from the turn of the 4th(5th centuries, first decades of the 5th century, that is to say before the invasion of Ruga and Attila into the Carpathian basin. However, the time of complete formation of European assemblages is a longer period including the whole of the first half of the 5th century.

As an example, let us compare the female burials from Untersiebenbrunn (Austria) and Regöly (Hungary), where analogous decorations were found: bracelets with beast heads on their ends, golden plaques, fibulas of polychrome style pointing out the presence of materials of common ethnocultural traditions there. At the same time, if we accept the date of the Untersiebenbrunn burial: 410(430 (by J. Tejral), the Regöly assemblage, despite of the presence of undoubtedly earlier objects which are synchronous with the date mentioned above (golden plaques, bracelets, a glass beaker with blue soldered details), by other finds - fibulas, belt buckles - typologically later than analogous objects from Untersiebenbrunn will date to the period within the first half - middle part of the 5th century (I. Kovrig).

The problem of ethnic origin of the Untersiebenbrunn type burials, as we consider, cannot have a single solving and demands an individual approach for every concrete case. Only one fact seems to be undoubtable: in some Untersiebenbrunn type sites the cultural traditions of the Bosporan population with its Greek-Sarmatian-Gothic roots preserved, and I underline the last word: preserved. Probably, some of them belong to the Sarmatian-Alanian nobility, others to Goths, and in some burials, for example in Untersiebenbrunn, most likely the representatives of two different ethnic groups were buried: a Goth - male burial and Sarmatian-Alanian (Bosporan variant) - female burials.