Somogyvári Ágnes – V. Székely György szerk.: „In terra quondam Avarorum…” Ünnepi tanulmányok H. Tóth Elvira 80. születésnapjára - Archaeologia Cumanica 2. (Kecskemét, 2009)
Szentpéteri József: A Barbaricumból Pannoniába
archaeologia cumanica 2 TOMKA 2005 Tomka, Péter: Die Rolle des mittleren Donauschnittes in der Völkerwanderungszeit. In: Wasserwege: Lebensadern-Trennungslinien. Hrsg.: C. von Carnap-Bornheim-H. Friesinger. Schriften des Archäologischen Landesmuseums. Ergänzungsreihe 3. Schleswig-Neumünster, 2005,125-147. VIDA 1999 Vida, Tivadar: Die awarenzeitliche Keramik 1. (6-7. Jh.) Varia ArchHung VIII. Berlin-Budapest, 1999. József Szentpéteri From the Barbaricum to Pannónia (Germanic military auxiliary people in the centre of the Avarian Khaganate) One of the still unsolved questions of the Avarian Age is the precise determination of the power centres. Historical sources contain data on the Hring, the Khagan's seat only from the last period of the Avarian Empire, that is to say, the turn of the 8 t h-9 , h cent. Considering the earlier period we can only make suggestions, the most significant part of the archaeological evidence in question was found in warrior and equestrian graves. In the course of the analysis of the maps depicting more than 800 sites, it became clear that in the time reliably attributed to the dynasty of Baian (567—626) the richest sites are concentrated at the right bank of the Danube, at the eastern part of Transdanubia. In 1993 in the Topographical Institute of the Ministry of Defence I found an aerial photograph made in 1971 and showing a „feature" at the western bank of Tóközi-berek (marshy place) situated at the junction of Motorway M7 and road 70 at Lake Balaton. The name of the site is Zamárdi-Kútvölgyi-dűlő. It is 1000 m long and 350-400 m wide. The whole territory enclosed by wide ditches running towards the Balaton exceeds 30 hectares. The feature described as a suggested hillfort could be built using the temporarily drying out valleys collecting deposits, sloping towards the side of the lake. Since 2002 rescue excavations preceding the construction of Motorway M7 in Somogy County were conducted in the close vicinity of the site. They revealed an assemblage composed by a hillfort-servant village-forge settlement-cemetery. All these features together attest to a contemporary power centre. This suggestion make us revise our earlier views on the history of the Germans of Avarian Age. According to the literary sources we have to count with their presence during the whole period. However, the interpretation of their archaeological material is controversial. In the most part of Pannonian cemeteries of the Early Avarian Age archaeological evidence related to contemporary German population was found. The majority of these objects must have belonged to the defeated Gepidians, who - together with Slavic tribes also described in literary sources - became the ethnic elements of the Avarian Khaganate and served in the army as military auxiliary people. Their high number in Transdanubia (territory west of Danube) can be explained with planned resettlement. They could serve among the bodyguards of the Khagan (Zamárdi), but most of them continued to exist in servant villages charged with defence in the present Eastern Transdanubia. 244
