Edged Weapons 215
1.4 Seaxes (E.IV)
The study of seaxes is a neglected field of Avar weaponry, with very little
research having been done on these weapons, largely as a consequence of
them being treated as a peripheral phenomenon. Seaxes were most popular
during the Middle and Late phases, although they were already known during
the Early phase. Altogether 78 seaxes are known from 44 sites from the area of
the Avar Qaganate.
The objective of this chapter is to examine whether Western or Central
European classifications of these weapons can be applied to the examples
from the Carpathian Basin, and to what extent their occurrence in these dif-
ferent regions can be related to one another chronologically. These problems
are of particular significance, not only for the study of Avar weaponry itself but
also in respect of the chronological synchronisation of Avar, late Merovingian
and early Carolingian archaeology.176
The exact role and function of these weapons during the Avar Age has gone
largely unaddressed. The exact processes behind its transmission (import,
booty or copies) is also not clear. Some have suggested an eastern steppe ori-
gin of these weapons, whilst some even suppose that these weapons were the
176 See: Stein 1968; Zábojník 1978; Daim 1987; Stadler 2005. These issues will be discussed in
chapter VI.3.
DIAGRAM 6 Chronological distribution of sabre blades.