Origins And Cultural Contacts 347
Basin and that of the Eastern European steppes, and any change would
make the latter even longer.301
3) The chronology of the Late Merovingian—Early Carolingian (8th cen-
tury) cemeteries of south Germany is too early. The main chronological
argument for the end of these cemeteries is the disappearance of
‘Reihengräberfelder’. This process could have happened across a range of
dates throughout the western area, meaning that some degree of chrono-
logical shift is possible. The internal chronological scheme for the Avar
Age, however, still agrees with the chronology of Frauke Stein.302
The weapon trade of the Late Avar period is also been described in written
sources. A capitulare of Charlemagne issued in 805 prohibited the weapon
trade with Slavic tribes and the Avars, and named two checkpoints for control-
ling the fulfilment of this order along the Danube: at Passau and Regensburg.303
Both of these cities are situated in Bavaria on the Danube suggesting the river
as the main route towards the Avars, though the finds in Zala county would
also seem to suggest the existence of a southern route.
301 The absolute chronology of the Middle Avar Tótipuszta – Igar horizon and their eastern
analogies contradicts this theory.
302 Stein 1967, 110.
303 Capitulare 44, 7 p. 123. see: Szádeczky-Kardoss 1992, 307; Pohl 2002, 195.