Origins And Cultural Contacts 325
Gavritukhin dated the Voznesenka horizon to the last third of the 7th century,
contemporary with the Ozora—Igar horizon in Hungary; and according to him
the Galiat—Romanovskaja horizon is somewhat later, dated to the first half of
the 8th century.137 The chronology of Oleksij Komar is similar but he used dif-
ferent chronological boundaries based on historical arguments.138
1.4.1.5 Sabres in Inner and Central Asia
Sabres appeared in Inner Asia relatively late, during the 9th–10th century, and
therefore contradicting the theory of an Inner Asian origin for this weapon
type.139 The first edged weapon cited in Hungarian literature140 as an anal-
ogy of Avar sabres was a single-edged sword from Srotstki, with ogee-shaped
suspension loops (see the loops of the sabres from Ozora and Gyenesdiás).
However, this weapon is dated to the so-called ‘Kimak’ period, i.e. the 9th–10th
century.141 The first real sabres with curved blade only appear in the Kimak
culture in Western Siberia during the 10th century. However, these sabres dif-
fer considerably from the sabres of the Avar-age Carpathian Basin, since their
hilt curved towards the edge of the straight or slightly curved blade which is
characteristic of the early Hungarian sabres of the 10th century.142 The first
sabres with slightly curved blades in Transoxiana appear on the wall paintings
of Afrasiab which date to second half of the 7th century.143
Representations of edged weapons with curved blades are found on Turkic
stone statues known as ‘kamennye baby’.144 The chronology of these statues
is based on the chronology of the represented artefacts, and therefore these
stone statues with representations of curved blades cannot be earlier than
the 9th–10th century.145 The first sabre known from Kazakhstan was found in
Zevakino and is also dated to the 9th century.146
Sabres with curved blade first appeared in the Carpathian Basin during the
second half of 7th century and parallelly depictions of slightly curved blades
137 Gavritukhin 2005, 406–413.
138 Komar 2006, 124–125.
139 Only single-edged swords are mentioned in the most recent study on Inner Asian Turkic
antiquities (Kubarev 2005, 100–101).
140 Fettich 1937, 61. Taf. XXXI.
141 Gavrilova 1965, 60. 105–106; Khudyakov 1986, 191.
142 Khudiakov 1986, 192–195.
143 Al’baum 1975, ris. 17, 18, tabl. XXXIV–XXXVI; Arzhantseva 1987, 127.
144 Каменные бабы or каменные изваяания.
145 Khudiakov (1986, 156) dated the appearance of single-edged swords (palash) on stone
statues, see Kubarev 1984, 111–112.
146 Arslanova 1972, 56–76, ris. 2.