Avar-Age Polearms and Edged Weapons. Classification, Typology, Chronology and Technology

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Edged Weapons 163


A double-edged sword with a three-lobed inlaid pommel and short, wide,


rounded crossguard, was found at Szigetvár as a stray find. This sword was


classified as Petersen type T by Attila Kiss who dated it to the 10th century,23


although the sword is probably dated to the second half of the 8th to first half


of the 9th century, as demonstrated by László Kovács.24 The sword belongs


to the 4th combination type of Geibig, and dated to the first half of the 9th


century.25


The fourth example was found as a stray find in the area of an Avar-age


cemetery at Brodski Drenovac. However, it belongs to Petersen’s ‘X’ type, with


its semicircular pommel and long, straight crossguard,26 which is dated to the


10th century and therefore cannot belong to the Avar-age cemetery.


The sword of grave No. 124 at Želovce is dated by its cast bronze belt-set


(rectangular mounts with griffons)27 to the 2nd stage of the Late Avar period,


in the first half of the 8th century. The sword was dated after 680 by Frauke


Stein based on the typology of Behmer but could still have been in use until


the middle of the 8th century.28 According to the Central European and


Scandinavian classification this sword belongs to Petersen B type,29 the pom-


mel can be described as the Niederrahmstadt–Dettingen–Schwabmühlhausen


type of F. Stein,30 while the sword belongs to the 1st combination type of Alfred


Geibig which is dated by the Pfullingen type spearheads to the first half of the


8th century, although a later date (second half of the 8th century) is equally


possible.31


The sword from Brodski Drenovac32 has a long, straight crossguard and


semicircular flat pommel, and belongs to the Petersen X type.33 Geibig clas-


sified swords of X type within his 12th combination type, and dated them


between the second half of the 9th and the end of the 10th century,34 meaning


that this weapon belongs to a later period. The sword was found as a stray find,


however, its connection to the cemetery is unclear.


23 Kiss 1983, 289–290; Kiss 1985, 303; Kiss 1990, 204.
24 Kovács 1994–95, 176. Abb. 12/4.
25 Combination type 4.3.2.2 (Geibig 1991, 37). For its dating: Geibig 1991, 141–142. 151.
26 Vinski-Gasparini – Ercegović 1958, 144–145. 157. Tabl. XV/8.
27 Čilinská 1973, 57, Taf. XXII.
28 Behmer 1939, 190–194; Stein 1968, 239; Zábojník 1978, 195.
29 Petersen 1919.
30 Stein 1967, 9.
31 Geibig 1991, 25–31. Abb. 2, 140.
32 Vinski-Gasparini – Ercegović 1958, 144–145. 157. Tabl. XV/8.
33 Petersen 1919.
34 Geibig 1991, 56–60, 144–145.

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