Armament and Cavalry Warfare in the Avar-Age Carpathian Basin 399
and therefore the Carolingian double-edged swords were alien to Avar weap-
onry, and they never spread widely among the Avars.60
All of these changes happened so fast it is difficult to determine their actual
sequence: the growing popularity of light cavalry could have lead to the forma-
tion of the sabre but conversely it could have happened with the sabre as the
starting point. Either of these assumptions are valid, and probably this trans-
formation was as a result of a series of interactions resulting in the above men-
tioned developments.
The history of Avar-age weaponry cannot be described only by two close
combat weapons, for these comprised only a small proportion of the overall
ancient fighting equipment, and several fighting units are mentioned in the
written sources which cannot be detected by archaeological means, like for
example the torsion artillery.61
The effectivity of the Avar army changed considerably from the Early phase,
when it challenged the Byzantine Empire and lay siege to several important
cities, to the Late phase, when the Avar Qaganate became a regional power and
could not withstand the army of Charlemagne.
60 For the integration of long seaxes into Late Avar weaponry, see: Szőke 1992, 95; Szőke
1999, 85.
61 Besides stone-throwing siege-engines like the ‘Helepolis’ (Dennis 1998, 101; Kardaras 2005,
53–65), there were testudos and wall-breaking rams (Miracula St. Demetri; Lemerle 1979,
139, 148.26–149.6; Kardaras 2005, 55) and siege towers (Lemerle 1979, 203; Kardaras 2005,
56) being used as well, sometimes in great quantities like at Thessaloniki (Lemerle 1979,
151; Vryonis 1981, 384; Bóna 2000c, 167–170).