Demeter Zsófia (szerk.): Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis - Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei. C. sorozat 42. (Székesfehérvár, 2014)
Tanulmányok - Szücsi Frigyes: Avar kori balták, bárdok, szekercék és fokosok. Baltafélék a 6-8. századi Kárpát-medencében
is originated from the Iron Age, and they were used commonly through Eurasia, thus individual objects cannot be counted as date determiner. The hammer axe type, which was used for both cutting and striking, was the most common type in the Avar period. Theye were used mostly as a weapon but they were good working tools too. We can reconstruct their shaft length between 50-80 cm. The first iron-built hammer axes of the Carpathian Basin are originated from the early Iron Age of the pre-Scythian findings (from around the 8. century' to 650 B. C.). That means they are among the oldest iron-built objects. Their useage can be followed to the Avar period and after. The cleaver type can be divied into two subtype based on the shape of the blade: cleavers with L-shaped and T- shaped blades. The L-shaped cleavers without shafting and butt were used both as working tools and weapons. Their large size indicates that the L-shaped cleavers with shafting were only used for work. The L-shaped hammer axes were used as weapons because of their small size. L-shaped cleavers from the early Avar period were found only in Pannonia and pardy in cemeteries with German presence. The origin of the L-shaped cleavers can be found in the late-antique „Roman—German” culture, and it is certain that they appeared again in the seventh century Carpathian Basin because of German influence. The early Avar L-shaped cleavers are buttless. From the mid-seventh century the L-shaped hammered axes were used by the Avars in the Carpathian Basin. In other regions theye were used from the late Roman period by people of other cultures. The T-shaped cleavers — originated from the late antique „Roman- German” culture — appeared in Avar burials only from the fourth quarter of the seventh century. Due to the lack of materials testing and the small amount of the connections it is still a mistery how and when T-shaped cleavers appeared among the Avars. Among the Avar period’s axes only the T-shaped cleavers’ neck or socket were ornamented. The shaft length of this type is between 40-60 cm. According to my collecting the specific T-shaped cleaver (8c blade), where the blade edge bottom part is longer than the upper part, is only appeared in the eighth century. The hatchet type has an extremely rare, short and tall-bladed subtype (10c) that appeared first in the first half of the eighth century and its youngest respresentative is from the border of the eighth-ninth century. This artifact ty'pe was used as a working tool. In the second half of the eighth century the long and tall-bladed subtype (10a) appeared on the North-Western borders of the Avar Khaganate. The long and low-bladed 10b subtype evolved from this subtype and was only used in the Carpathian Basin from the second half of the ninth century'. The long and tall-bladed subtype (10a) and the long and low-bladed subtype (10b) were mostly used as weapons because their heads are symmetric from top view, because of their shaft hole’s size (2,7 x 2,1 cm, 2,5 x 2,5 cm) and because most of them have butts. Their mid-long shafts (50-60 cm) also prove this, which is indicated by their placement in graves. The double hammer axe has very few respresentatives. Their special attribute is the lack of blade: there is butt on both sides of the socket. Double hammer axes can be differentiated from hammers with the help of the attachments and the shape attributes. Objects are considered as double hammer axes with (or above) 3,5 cm length of longer butt and with (or above) 2,5 cm length of shorter butt, and the longest and shortest diameters’ multiplicity is greater than 2,4 cm. There is no data regarding the shaft length of this type but we can assume a 50-80 cm long shaft size according to the relatively large shaft holes. Double hammer axes appeared in the Carpathian Basin in the mid-Avar period and lasted until the border of the eighth-ninth century.241 Szűcsi Frigyes: Avar kori balták, bárdok, szkénék és fokosok. Baltafélék a 6—8. s^á^adi Kárpát-medencében — Awaren^eitlicbe Streitäxte und Beik. Äxte im 6—8. Jahrhundert aus dem Karpatenbecken — Axes and hammer axes in the Avarperiod. Axes in the 6—8. century in the Carpathian Basin Frigyes Szűcsi (Translated by György Szilveszter Tóth) IRODALOMJEGYZÉK ADAM 2002 Archäologische Denkmäler der Awaren^eit in Mitteleuropa, I. (Szentpéteri, J. Hrsg.) Budapest. ALAPY Gyula 1933 Lovasnomád sírok a Vágduna alsócsallóközi jobbpartján. Nemzeti Kultúra, 1. Komárom. 36-43. BÁLINT Csanád 1971 X. századi temető a szabadkígyósi-pálligeti táblában. BMMK, 1. (1971) 49—84. 1995 Kelet, a korai avarok és Bizánc kapcsolatai. Szeged. 241 Az angol rezümé lektorálásáért Kondé Zsófiának tartozom köszönettel. 169
