Lány – ein Produktionsort gegossenener Bronzen der Spätawarenzeit in der awarisch-slawischen Kontaktzone des unteren Thayatals

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Title in English Lány - a production site of cast bronzes of the Late Avar period in the Avar-Slavic contact zone of the Lower Thaya Valley
Authors

MACHÁČEK Jiří EICHERT Stefan BALCÁRKOVÁ Adéla DRESLER Petr MĚCHURA Radek MILO Peter MEHOFER Mathias

Year of publication 2021
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

Citation
Web Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/072.2021.00014
Keywords early medieval archaeology; Avar belt accessories; bronze casting; transfer of technology; slavic pottery
Attached files
Description Interdisciplinary research, carried out by the Masaryk University Brno and the University of Vienna, at the site of Lány (CZ) at the border between Austria and Moravia has revealed a large settlement (~12ha) from the 6th century until the 8th/9th century in a contact zone between Slavonic and Avarian influences. Aside from pottery that ranges from early slavic finds of the Prague type to specimens of the middle-danubian tradition („mitteldanubische Kulturtradition“) and other finds such as spindle whorls etc. several dozen typical Avar belt accessories have been found. Most of them date to the late Avar III period, are brand new and do not show any traces of usage. Together with semi-finished products, miscast objects and remains of the bronze casting process, we interpret Lány as a production site/workshop for Avar belts. Lány is at the very Northwestern periphery of the Avar Khaganate. However, material culture, aside from the belt accessories, is much more associated with what we know from regions where Slavonic populations of the 7th/8th century had settled. We furthermore discuss the usage of Avar belts amongst the Slavic elites of the 8th century and possible explanations for the dense distribution of Avar finds outside of the Khaganate.
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