174 CHAPTER 3
Single-edged swords were very popular during the Avar Age, with 236 exam-
ples known from the Carpathian Basin. Of these, the majority, 111 examples,
are dated to the Early phase, 46 to the Middle and 70 examples to the Late
phase. Single-edged straight blades remained continuously in use from the
Early phase until the end of the Avar Age.
1.2.1 Simple Single-edged Sword-blades (E.II.A)
The majority of Avar-age single-edged swords (E.II) belong to the type E.II.A
(fig. 64): 182 edged-weapons out of 236 are classified to this type, which is
77.11% of all single-edged blades. Such blades begun to be used during the Early
phase (90 swords) and remained popular during the Middle (37 examples)
and Late (51 pieces) phases (maps 29–30). The main difference between the
examples from the Early phase and the single-edged swords of the later peri-
ods is the existence of the crossguard: most of the early examples are without
a crossguard, while during the Middle and Late phase the use of a crossguard
became common.
1.2.1.1 Single-edged Swords without Crossguard (E.II.A/1)
The majority of the examples of type E.II.A belong to the sub-type without
crossguard (E.II.A/1): 135 such single-edged swords were found in the Avar-
age Carpathian Basin (57.2 per cent of all single-edged swords). Most of these
weapons are dated to the Early phase (90 examples, 66.66%). Only sixteen
swords are dated to the Middle phase, while 25 examples belong to the Late
phase, which means that 43.7 per cent of all Middle phase single-edged swords
did not have a crossguard, while the rate for the examples from the Late Avar
period is only 49.01 per cent. These single-edged swords were frequently deco-
rated with precious metal sheets on their hilt and scabbard during the Early
phase, as demonstrated by 41 swords (E.II.A/1.b) which such ornamentation,
whilst this practice was unknown during the Middle and Late phases (map 30,
figs. 65–68).
Their geographical distribution in the Early phase is uniform, 35 examples
(44.8%) being known from Transdanubia, 27 from the Danuba-Tisza inter-
fluve (34.6%) and 16 swords from Transtisia (20%) (map 30). The example of
Sânpetru German is of considerable chronological significance, since it was
dated by a solidus of Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine (613–643) which
suggests a 7th century date.79
79 Besides the coin, a similar date is suggested by the earring of great globular pendant and
the belt-set of type Fönlak (Garam 1992, 144. Taf. 53–55).