332 CHAPTER 6
loop is known: the so-called David plate of the Cyprus treasure, the sword of
Goliath being suspended at two points with P-shaped suspension loops.198
The Mediterranean influences found among the Avar weaponry were likely
deeper and more numerous but the variable state of regional research and the
different nature of their sources makes it difficult to describe these infleunces
in more detail. Hopefully the growing number of archaeological finds and the
changing orientations in research perspectives will eventually result in a more
detailed and complex view of this subject.
3 Western Germanic Area
The identification of western, Merovingian contacts is much easier, since it is
facilitated by the great number of finds, the better state of research, elaborated
chronology, and the horizontal stratigraphic analyses of a series of cemeteries,
all of which make it more suitable for comparative analysis.199 Western influ-
ences reached Avar weaponry from the beginning of the Early phase and did
not stop until the end of the Late phase but with the intensity of these rela-
tions changing constantly.
3.1 Early Phase
3.1.1 Polearms
Reed-shaped spearheads with connecting chap (P.I.A) are well-known from
Merovingian cemeteries of South Germany and Italy (map 53). These weap-
ons were originally regarded as Avar imports into Bavaria from the Carpathian
Basin. Ursula Koch classified them into four regional types based on grooves on
the blade and the facetting of the socket: 1. Untermassing type being character-
istic of south Bavaria and Württemberg; 2. Szentendre type which was mainly
known from Danubian sites from the Avar settlement area, 3. Nocera Umbra
type was mainly characterised by its two grooves on the blade and facetted
socket, and primarily distributed in Italy and south Germany, 4. Steinheim
type which was exclusively distributed in south Germany, having spread first
198 See fig. 96. The plate was probably hidden around 629–630 as a silver hoard in Cyprus. The
plate is now in the Metropolitan Museum. (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/06/
eusb/ho_17.190.396.htm).
199 Hübener 1977, 510–527. For the chronology Koch 2001, 61–63.