The article discusses the vagueness of the concept of the "Early Middle Ages", which when settling for the "tyranny of the historical record" and the disregard of the subjectivit y of historical and archaeological sources, moulds Slovene archaeological classifications and interpretations. The commitment of Slovene archaeology to the culture-history paradigm codifies the Early Medieval Ages with chronological and cultural-ethnic studies and deviates from the on-going modern theoretical debates. Furthermore, the Early Medieval archaeology, as "historical archaeology", incessantly emphasises traditional privileges for the written record.Članek obravnava nejasnosti koncepta zgodnjega srednjega veka, ki ob pristajanju na "tiranijo historičnega zapisa" in neupoštevanju subjektivnosti zgodovinskih ter arheoloških virov, kroji okvir slovenski arheološki klasifikaciji in interpretaciji. Zavezanost slovenske arheologije kulturno-historični paradigmi ga opredeljuje s kronološkimi in kulturnoetničnimi študijami, odmika od sodobnih teoretskih debat, zgodnjesrednjeveški arheologiji pa, kot eni "historičnih arheologij", neprestano poudarja tradicionalno privilegiranost pisnih virov
