. Archaeological findings of prestigious nature of the post-Hunnic era (second half of the 5th – middle of the 6th c.) and items that testify to the spread of the ‘military’ material culture in the Upper and Middle Dnieper basin, on the territory of the Slavic cultures of Kolochin and Penkovka are considered. These findings enable to determine the geography of possible centres of power. One of them was on the left bank of the Dnieper, somewhere between the Upper Psel and the Desna, and the second on the right bank of the Dnieper, in the Ros-Tiasmina area. Findings of prestigious weapons (helmets of the Baldenheim type, an early Byzantine sword and a ‘prestigious’ horse bridle) and characteristic elements of a belt set indicate the formation of a military elite. Data from written byzantine sources of 530 – 570 confirm the existence of military leaders and professional soldiers in the Slavic society