Обрезанные в круг куфические дирхемы (ветвь Радимичи-Киев) времени княжения Святослава Игоревича и его сына Ярополка - предтеча чекана сребренников Владимира Святославича

Numerous hoards of Kufic dirhams allow scientists to trace the advancement of Arabic silver coins across the territory of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages. Scholars know that there were two streams of Arabic coin penetration – the early southern one and the main eastern one. The functioning of the southern stream of dirhams continued until the end of the 9th century. In its hoards, dirhams are mostly intact with a certain proportion of fragments of arbitrary shape and size, and, which is essential – non-Slavic consumers broke them. Whole specimens performed the monetary function at that time, which, if necessary, were cut strictly in half.

However, by the middle of the 10th century, due to the increase in the proportion of fragments, there was an almost universal refusal to accept dirhams by count and a transition to acceptance by weight. But not all Slavic tribes of Eastern Europe switched to the weight reception. The exception was the East Slavic union of the Severians that clipped the coins to fit the local weight standard, which decreased over time – from 1.9 g to about 0.4 g.

Recently, the author and his colleagues have identified another territorially isolated line of hoards – Radimichi-Kyiv, where clipped coins were also found in a significant number. Their weight decreased over time from 2.5 to about 0.8 g. V.P. Lebedev’s research allows us to take a fresh look at the genesis of Eastern Slavs’ monetary systems development in the period preceding the beginning of the Ancient Rus’ sovereign coinage.