A Byzantine coin weight found in the upper reaches of the Voronezh river

The paper publishes a bronze exagion (coin weight) used to weigh goldcoins such as early Byzantine gold solidus. The exagion weighs 3.76 g, the loss of weightcaused by oxidation in soil is 0.3-0.5 g. This coin weight was discovered at the settlement of Staevo-5, Michurinsk district, Tambov Region, located in the upper reaches of theVoronezh River. The 2014-2017 excavations found out that settlements near the villageof Staevo had preserved traits of various productions. For example, numerous remains offerrous metallurgy were recorded at Staevo-4, while remains of jewelry (bronze casting)production were documented at Staevo-5. Judging by a set of prestige jewelry pieces(fibulae, mirrors, amulets, details of belt sets, the inhabitants of the settlement had ratherclose links with the south (the Black Sea maritime steppes, the North Caucasus). Thecoin weight is, presumably, dated to the 7th century. A series of items of Byzantine origin,including coins discovered in the Oka River basin and the upper reaches of the VoronezhRiver, is dated to the 6th-7th centuries. It is quite possible that the settlement near thevillage of Staevo was a key location in the upper reaches of the Voronezh River on thetrade route which linked the south of Eastern Europe to the Oka River basin.