Armament and Society in the Mirror of the Avar Archaelogy The Transdanubia-Phenomenon Revisited

Abstract

One of the most significant problems of the A var archaeology is the question of Germanic (mainly Gepidic) continuity in Transdanubia. In my paper I would like to make some comments on the so-called Transdanubia-phenomenon of the Early A var Carpathian Basin based on the analysis of weapon-combinations found in six cemeteries of Eastern Transdanubia. I intend to answer the following questions: I. How far the weapon-combinations of the East-Transdanubian cemeteries of the early Avar Period (568-650) are identical or similar to the general picture of Avar armament drawn by contemporary cemeteries? 2. Are the weapon-combinations or armament of these cemeteries similar to that of the earlier Gepidic and Langobardic sites from the early 6th centuries or to the contemporary Germanic (Alemannic, Frank or Bavarian) cemeteries of the present-day Germany? As a result, the early A var cemeteries of Transdanubia are characterized by the relatively high number of close-combat weapons compared to other sites of the Avar Khaganate. However, comparing to Merovingian sites the burials containing only close-combat weapons are very low and in most of the cases the weapon-combinations characteristic to this culture is missing