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

(Nandana) #1

360 CHAPTER 7


A similar process can also be observed in the case of polearms, and the


very small quantity of spearheads during the Middle phase is particularly


striking. 407 spearheads are dated to the Early phase, but only 39 spearheads


can be definitively dated to the Middle phase, while the number of Late Avar


polearms is 200.3 The very small quantity of Middle phase polearms can be


explained by the shortness (circa 50 years) of the, and therefore most of the


examples with uncertain chronology are usually dated to either the Early or


Late phase instead.


Polearms and edged weapons were rarely combined with one another: only


42 such cases are known from the whole Avar Age, 23 of which are dated to


the Early phase, seven to the Middle phase and twelve to the Late phase. It is


important to note that this weapon combination is characteristic only for some


regions, such as 16 of the 23 instances during the Early phase having been found


in Eastern Transdanubia, while nine of the twelve instances of the Late phase


were found on the northern periphery of the Qaganate. The Transdanubian


concentration of the Early phase can be explained by either the Merovingian


influence apparent in these cemeteries, while the same phenomenon in the


Late phase is a peripheral feature mainly related to burials with horses.


The study of the correlation of weapon burials and burials with horses


(including horse burials) can offer interesting results. More than quarter of the


Avar-age spearheads (171 examples, 25.99 %) were found in burials with horses,


and one fifth of them (143 cases, 21.73 %) are from horse burials. This is a rela-


tively high rate of occurrence, showing that half of the known Avar-age spears


(47.7 %) were buried next to a horse skeleton. The horse burials and burials


with horses show a significant chronological difference, since 86.7 % of horse


burials with spearheads are dated to the Early phase, while only the middle


course of the Tisza river has similar burials during the Late phase. Burials with


horses are predominant during the Late phase, 56.7 % (97 cases) of them dat-


ing to the 8th century, while the Early phase also has a high number of occur-


rences (54 cases, 31.58 %): most of these finds were found in Transdanubia.


Edged weapons are less linked to these burials with horses than that of the


polearms. Out of 704 burials with edged weapons only 119 contained a horse


(16.9 %) and only three of them are found in horse burials (0.44 %).


3 Spearheads/year values of each periods: Early Avar period: 4.52 spearhead/year, Middle Avar
period: 0.76 spearhead/year, Late Avar period: 1.96 spearhead/year.

Free download pdf