Avar-Age Polearms and Edged Weapons. Classification, Typology, Chronology and Technology

216 CHAPTER 3

predecessors of sabres.177 In addressing these problems, the study of weapon

combinations and the nature of their deposition is of significance, as well as

our primary concern with respect to how far these edged weapons were suit-

able for cavalry warfare.

A significant number of seaxes from Avar cemeteries remain unpublished

or are only partly published, whilst several publications offer only incomplete

or scant information. Several examples are fragmentary, and therefore their

full metric data are not available. The following table shows the available infor-

mation on these weapons.

177 András Alföldi (1932, 26), Joachim Werner (1956, 43) and István Bóna (1995) linked the

appearance of seaxes to the Hunnic invasion, while Bodo Anke (1998, 93) drew attention

to the fact that seaxes of the Hunnic period are usually too short to be the predecessors of

the later long seaxes.

Site No.PublicationExcavation
report

Anthr.

data

Grave

goods

Preservation Place in

grave

Metallogr.

Alattyán–Tulát 1 X X X Lost X

Bernolákovo–Sakoň 1 X X Good X
Bratislava–Čuňovo 1 X X X
Devinska Nová Ves 4 X X Good

Brunn a.d.
Schneebergbau–
Hochquellen-
wasserleitung

1 partially Lost

Budapest XIV. Zugló,
Népstadion

1 X X X Good

Čataj I.—Zemanské-
Gejzove

2 X Good

Csolnok–Szedres,
Kenderföldek

1 Partially X? X

Dormánd–
Hanyipuszta

1 Partially

Grabelsdorf bei

St. Kanzian am

Klopeinersee)

1 X X Good? X

Győr–Téglavető-dűlő 1 X X Fragmentary
Hédervár–Gyulamajor 1 X Good