The monograph is devoted to the period of Tula history little studied until recently, namely the early Slavic stage of settlement between the Oka and Don rivers (late I - early II millennium AD). This was the time of the formation and development of a large tribal association of Vyatichi, when the Tula land first falls on the pages of Russian chronicles, and Vyatichi played an important political role in relations with Kievan Rus and the Khazar Khaganate. For the first time, the pages of the publication publish the most interesting results of the latest archaeological research of the early Slavic monuments of the Tula territory. In the face of a lack of written sources, the results of these scientific works open new pages in the complex and dramatic history of our distant ancestors.