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

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328 CHAPTER 6


These spearheads cannot be regarded as special Byzantine artefacts, although


they were generally used in this area.


Reed-shaped spearheads with connecting chap and grid-patterned rings


can be connected to the Byzantine only by speculation, since it is a for-


eign type for both Merovingian Germanic kingdoms and the Avars.160 The


Mediterranean contacts of this type is emphasised by the numerous Italian


examples (map 53).161


Openwork spears (P.III.E) are extremely rare in the Carpathian Basin,


with only one example dated to the Early phase,162 with all known examples


(P.III.E/1.f ) being probably from the Late Avar period. This latter group is


only known from Transylvania, from the Mureş valley, and therefore it can be


regarded as a local type. The early variant of this type is known mainly from


Italy, from the Po valley, and they are frequent finds in Lombard burials but the


type is also known from Albania.163 All of the above mentioned occurrences


suggest a Mediterranean origin for these spearheads.


2.1 Crossguards Cast of Copper Alloy


Double-edged swords with crossguard cast of copper alloy is a distinct type in


the Avar Age but such swords are known from the 9th century (Carolingian


period)164 and from the 10th century.165 Byzantine swords were identified in


a weapon burial of the cemetery of the South Stoa in Corinth.166 The study of


these swords in Hungarian research was first undertaken by Attila Kiss who


identified similar swords of Byzantine origin from the Carpathian Basin.167


According to Kiss the common characteristics of these swords are that all


of them are double-edged, they are equipped with a crossguard cast of copper


alloy, their pommel is also cast, and they are extremely rare in the Carpathian


Basin.168 He later altered this view, wherein he now regarded the crossguard


160 von Freeden 1991, 616–619.
161 The map is based on the lists of Uta von Freeden (1991, 627) and Mechtild Schulze-
Dörlamm (2006, 494–497) with additions.
162 Kölked–Feketekapu B grave No. 82 (Kiss 2001, 28, II. 42, Taf. 28/9).
163 Szentpéteri 1984, 243.
164 Szőke 1992a, Taf. 20.
165 Sîntu Gheoghe, Kunágota grave No. 1 (Kiss 1987a, 200–201).
166 Gladys Davidson-Weinberg (1974. fig. 4) published the burial as a ‘wandering soldier’s
grave’, and held him to be a mercenary of Barbarian origin.
167 Kiss 1987a, 192–210.
168 Kiss 1987a, 194.

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