This is a Cuman stone figure of a woman from Russia. The Cumans were a Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation until the Mongol invasion (1237) forced them to seek asylum in Hungary, and consequently to Bulgaria, although there were Cumans there before the Mongol invasion. Being related to the Pechenegs, they have inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea known as Cumania along the Volga River. They eventually settled to the west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of Kievan Rus’, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Moldavia, Georgia and Wallachia (Romania today). Cuman and Kipchak tribes joined politically to create a confederation known as the Cuman-Kipchak confederation. The Cuman language is attested in some medieval documents and is the best-known of the early Turkic languages. The Codex Cumanicus was a linguistic manual which was written to help Catholic missionaries communicate with Cumans.