272 CHAPTER 3
of Pannonia459 and their use continued throughout the Avar Age.460 Avar
examples were usually decorated with interlace ornament.461 The spatha
belt was usually twisted on the blade of the sword462 which is known from
Merovingian Europe as well.463 Weihmörting type spatha belt-sets were used
from the last third of the 6th to the first third of the 7th century in Central
Europe.464
Spatha belts known as ‘Herrlisheim-Schwarzrheindorf type’ are character-
ised by their rectangular shape, cast technique and openwork (rectangular)
decoration, with the frame of these mounts being pointed. These mounts
were fixed by six rivets (three on each side) to the belt, representing an Italian
workshop tradition.465 Examples of this type are only known from the cem-
etery at Szekszárd–Bogyiszlói út.466 Its chronology is similar to that of the
Weihmörting type.
Spatha belts of ‘Civezzano type’ are known from the Jankovich collection at
the Hungarian National Museum but are unfortunately of unknown origin,
though are probably from an elite burial of the Carpathian Basin, as a rhombic
459 Masque type decoration is known from Lombard pieces: Szentendre grave No. 34 (Bóna
1974, 122, 62–63). Wilfried Menghin (1983, 359) classified this artefact to his Bülach –
Nocera Umbra type (Menghin 1983, Liste C II.1). This type is also known from grave No. 65
at the Pottenbrunn cemetery (Stadler et al. 2003, 267. Abb. 3).
460 Three pieces of rectangular belt-mounts cast of copper alloy and decorated with double-
interlace ornament were found together with a buckle and a strap-end in grave No. 390 at
the Szekszárd–Bogyiszlói út cemetery. The belt was twisted onto the spatha (Rosner 1999,
54, Taf. 28/1). For its reconstruction: Vida Tivadar (2000, 163, Abb. 2). An exact analogy of
the spatha belt is known from grave No. 268 at Kölked–Feketekapu A (Kiss 1996, 78–79,
Taf. 59).
461 Kölked–Feketekapu A grave No. 268 (Kiss 1996, 78–79, Taf. 59); Szekszárd–Bogyiszlói
út grave No. 390 (Rosner 1999, 54, Taf. 28) For similar pieces from Central Europe, see:
Menghin 1983, 147.
462 Szekszárd–Bogyiszlói út grave No. 390 (Rosner 1999, 54, Taf. 28): a similar custom
was observed in the Gepid burial at Tiszaroff (http://www.hnm.hu/tud/hu/kozle/
Announcement.php?ID=2586; http://nol.hu/cikk/424087/; http://www.mult-kor.hu/cikk.
php?article=15458).
463 Koch 1990, 176; Clauß 1976, 55–56.
464 Menghin 1983, 40–46; Koch 1990, 176; Reiß 1994, 56.
465 Menghin 1983, 253; Vida 2000, 164–165.
466 Szekszárd–Bogyiszlói út grave No. 16 (Rosner 1999, 13, Taf. 2) and grave No. 29 (Rosner
1999, 11. Taf. 3/3).