The article considers the ethnical situation in remote regions of Eastern Europe at the edge of Antiquity and Middle Ages as it was reflected in Jordan’s Getica. It shows limits and capabilities of traditional philological and historical analysis of this source. The most doubtful are the ethnonyms mentioned in the list after Merens (‘Merya’), Mordens (‘Mordva’) и Imniskaris (‘Cheremis’). The author demonstrates capabilities of a new approach to the problem with the use of archaeological data.
