288 CHAPTER 3
Origins and cultural contacts of the above enlisted suspension loops will be
described in chapter VI.1 in detail.
4 Conclusions
More than 80% of the known corpus for edged weapons (582 examples,
82.67%) were suitable for classification, though it should be noted that in many
cases (24 examples) only the sword fittings survived (such as the gold or silver
coverings for the hilt, the scabbard or the suspension loops), and therefore this
number can be regarded as largely representative.
Amongst these 582 edged weapons, 132 (22.68%) were double-edged swords,
236 (40.55%) are single-edged swords, 136 (23.36%) have been classified as
sabres and 78 (13.4%) as seaxes. The proportion of different blade types, how-
ever, was not evenly represented across the Avar Age, with significant develop-
ments occurring throughout the period. Most of the double-edged swords are
dated to the Early phase, whilst the majority of sabres and seaxes are dated to
the Middle and Late phases.
beginning of this horizon is in the 620s in their opinion (Martin 2008, 167; Gavritukhin
2001, 154–155; Gavritukhin 2005, 406–411; Gavritukhin 2008, 82–85).
E.I
E.II
E.III
E.IV
DIAGRAM 8 Proportions of blade types of Avar-age edged weapons.
