Armament And Society 359
2 The Deposition of Polearms and Edged Weapons in Burials—
Chronology and Combinations
As only around 1 % of the graves from the examined cemeteries contained
polearms or edged weapons, the deposition of close-combat weapons in graves
can be regarded as a rare phenomenon. 704 edged weapons and 658 polearms
are known from the Avar Age, and although there is a decline in weapon depo-
sition during this period, the end of this era still saw some weapon burials.
The above diagram shows the number of edged weapons and polearms by
each phases of the Avar Age. While 315 edged weapons are dated to the Early
phase, only 162 examples are known from the Middle phase and 188 examples
from the relatively long Late phase.2 Taking into consideration the relative
shortness (c. 50 years) of the Middle phase compared to the Early (c. 80 years)
and Late phases (c. 100 years), a continuous process whereby there is a decreas-
ing number of such weapons can be observed.
2 Edged weapon/year values of each period: Early Avar period: 3.91 edged weapons/year,
Middle Avar period: 3.16 edged weapons/year, Late Avar period: 1.92 edged weapons/year.
050100150200250300350400450EA MA LAedged weapons
polearmsDIAGRAM 13 Chronological distribution of Avar-age edged weapons and polearms.