Edged Weapons 231
The development of seax blades follows the same general developmental
pattern with just some minor differences in the Avar settlement area. The dif-
ference between broad and long seaxes is not striking, and some transitional
forms are known. An interesting feature is the wide blade of the longest exam-
ples, which is not common on Merovingian seaxes. There appears to be no spe-
cific formal or metric pattern for the changes in seaxes recognisable amongst
the Avar burials.
1.4.3 Function and Burial Context
Seaxes are the most common weapons of foreign origin during the Avar Age,
though the reason for their popularity is not yet clear. The probable function
of broad and long seaxes will be discussed in the following chapter, with par-
ticular attention given to their burial contexts (belt-sets, weapon combina-
tions and horse burials) in order to achieve a better understanding for this
wide usage.
Eleven seaxes were found in burials with horses which is mainly character-
istic for long seaxes of the Late phase, but this custom had already appeared
during the Middle phase in respect of the deposition of broad seaxes.239 An
especially interesting burial is known from Kehida–Fövenyes where a long seax
was buried in a cremation burial with an inhumation of a horse. According to
its general interpretation, it was a burial of a Slavic warrior, combining the tra-
ditional Slavic burial rite of cremation with some Avar burial customs in the
case of the horse and weapon burial rite.240
The popularity of seaxes during the Late Avar period was explained by
Béla Miklós Szőke according to their having a similar function to single-edged
swords, drawing particular attention to the absence of such finds in contem-
porary Moravia, Eastern Alps, Slavonia and Dalmatia, where the spathae were
239 This burial rite is mainly characteristic to the northern and western periphery of the
Avar Qaganate: Bernolákovo–Sakoň grave No. 53 (Kraskovská 1962, 436–437; Obr. 11.
Tab. XI/5); Bratislava–Devinska Nová Ves–A–Tehel’ňa grave No. 124 (Eisner 1952, 41–42,
Obr. 19/5); Bratislava–Devinska Nová Ves–A–Tehel’ňa grave No. 412 (Eisner 1952, 94–95, Obr.
47/1); Bratislava–Devinska Nová Ves–A–Tehel’ňa grave No. 524 (Eisner 1952, 119–120, Obr.
71/1); Bratislava–Devinska Nová Ves–A–Tehel’ňa grave No. 840 (Eisner 1952, 180, Obr. 85/1);
Komárno–6 Hadovce grave No. 24 (Čilinská 1982, 361; T. XVII/1); Komárno–8 Shipyard
grave No. 78 (Trugly 1987, 268. Abb. 8. Taf. XX/6); Valalíky–Všechsvätých grave No. 42
(Pástor 1982, 307–308, Obr. 11/1); Valalíky–Všechsvätých grave No. 84 (Pástor 1982, 315,
Obr. 16/1); Zalakomár–Lesvári dűlő grave No. 144 (Szőke 1982–83, 70–72, 1. kép; Szőke 2000,
- Taf. 12).
240 Szőke 2004, 372.