Most of the early Hungarian tribes originated from the Volga-Kama and South-Ural regions, where they were composed of a mixed population based on historical, philological and archaeological data. Here we present the uniparental genetic makeup of the medieval era of these regions that served as a melting pot for ethnic groups with different linguistic and historical backgrounds. Representing diverse cultural contexts, the new genetic data originates from ancient proto-Ob-Ugric people from Western Siberia (6-13th century), pre-Conquest period and subsisting Hungarians from Volga-Ural region (6-14th century) and their neighbours. By examining the Hungarian prehistory's eastern archaeological traits, we also study their genetic composition and origin in an interdisciplinary framework. We analysed 110 deep sequenced mitogenomes and 42 Y-chromosome haplotypes from 18 archaeological sites from Russia. The results support the studied groups' genetic relationships regardless of geographical distances, suggesting large-scale mobility. We detected long-lasting genetic connections between the sites representing the Kushnarenkovo and Chiyalik cultures and the Carpathian Basin Hungarians and confirmed the Uralic transmission of several East-Eurasian uniparental lineages in their genepool. Based on phylogenetics, we demonstrate and model the connections and splits of the studied Volga-Ural and conqueror groups. Early Hungarians and their alliances conquested the Carpathian Basin in the 890s AD. Re-analysis of the Hungarian conquerors' maternal genepool reveals numerous surviving maternal relationships in both sexes, therefore we conclude that men and women came to the Carpathian Basin together, and although they were subsequently genetically fused into the local population of the area, certain eastern lineages survived for centuries.

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The development of landscapes of the central part of the Middle-Volga region in the last 2500 years was a discontinuous process of the explosive growth of population and land utilization alternating with stages of depopulation and desolation. The periods of depopulation and transitions of cultures occurred at similar times to climate changes. Some cultures were associated with distinct climatic episodes, such as the association of the Dark Ages Cold Period with Hun, post Hun, Heraldic, and Khasarian times, and the Medival Warm Period with the time of Volga Bulgaria. A combination of archaeological and paleoecological analyses allowed us to reconstruct a sequence of landscape and land use changes in relation to the historical development of the region. The first millennium CE was a time of major changes in population, agricultural technologies, social structure, and settlement patterns in the forest-steppe zone. The MiddleVolga region underwent a transition from a non-populated, mainlyforested landscape of first centuries CE to a highly deforested agricultural landscape of the Volga Bulgarian state by the 11th century CE. Within several centuries, the landscape was transformed by shifting cultivation, wood and ore extraction, and the formation and expansion of pastures and road networks. The process of deforestation in the region was facilitated by the relatively warm climates of the Medieval Warm Period.

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