406 CHAPTER 9
also politically the centre of the Qaganate. These ostentatious weapons were
probably distributed by the Qagan or his immediate retinue as gifts, and they
can therefore be identified as prestige goods.25 This assumption leads us to the
question of the retinue of the Avar ruler, a subject well studied for Merovingian
gentile kingdoms.26
The reconstruction of social hierarchies is very difficult on the basis of
close combat weapons or combinations of grave goods. The sabres with star-
shaped crossguards covered with gold or silver foils were distributed in Eastern
Transdanubia, and therefore István Bóna identified the qagan’s seat in this
region. However, such combinations and artefacts are also known from other
regions of Transdanubia. The distribution of these burials in this region might
instead represent differences in various social groups and communities. It is
more likely that the seat remained in the Danube-Tisza interfluve, where new
representative media emerged and developed without the need for the deposi-
tion of large amounts of gold or silver, this region being characterised by a lack
of weapon burials during the Late phase.
The geographical distribution of close combat weapons shifted towards the
peripheries (first of all toward the northwest) during the Late phase, where
such weapons were deposited until the beginning of the 9th century. The
weapon burial rite and horse offerings were probably important parts of their
identity, emphasising their integrity and warrior-like nature against the vari-
ous neighbouring ethnic groups, cultures and Christianity. Consequently, this
burial rite can be considered a forced representation under an outer pressure,27
while no or only very few traces of close combat weapons are known from the
central area during the Late phase.
The transformation of this representational approach led to changes in the
geographical distribution of weapons and their mode of social representa-
tion. The second half of the 6th and first third of the 7th century is charac-
terised by a Merovingian type of representation, while from the second third
of the 7th century a Byzantine type representation appeared in the Danube-
Tisza interfluve, probably inspired by the loss of Byzantine gold and under
a new demand to parade wealth and power in imitation of a more complex
25 The role of the gift was also emphasised by Walter Pohl (2002, 182–84).
26 The retinue has been studied archaeologically by Heiko Steuer (1992, 203–257).
27 The outer pressure as force of cohesion was emphasised by Abner Cohen (1969) on ethnic
identity, and it even affected archaeology: Ian Hodder (1982) described archaeological
cultures as a compition between symbols emphasising the role of conflict in the forma-
tion of communities.