Pages: 163-216

The studied area, situated at the eastern extremity of the Carpathian basin, was not uniform in terms of earlier evolutions, matching the current state of investigations. While the region situated in western Romania, closely related to the Tisa plain, was located closer to the nucleic territory of the Gepid Kingdom, than of the early Avar Khaganate. Transylvania evolved in a peripheral region and the north-western part, anchored in the basin of the Upper Tisa, was almost always found outside the direct control of these power factors. According to the currently available data, a clearer image can be constructed in the latter territory, with the so-called “Lazuri-Pişcolt horizon” (middle of the 6th century — the first third of the 7th century). The situation is more complicated in Transylvania which was under Avar control from the middle of the 6th century. At its south-eastern extremity, a horizon of habitation similar to the one in the north-western part of Romania was delimited (the last half or third of the 6th century and the first half of the following century). The entire archaeological situation indicates demographic changes in the evolution of Transylvania, and partly, the course of an acculturation process in the domain of material culture, probably accompanied even by certain ethnic transformations. With regard to the Slavs, the situation of the plain between the Crişuri rivers and the Danube remains unclear, although there are some mentions in literary accounts to more or less certain discoveries grouped on the northern shore of the Danube in the Romanian Banat.

Keywords: Intra-Carpathian Romania, Early Slavs, Avar Khaganate, late Reihengräber horizon, pottery, artifacts, chronology, inter-cultural relations.

Information about author:

Ioan Stanciu (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). PhD. Institute of Archaeology and History of Art of Cluj-Napoca, Romanian Academy. M. Kogălniceanu Str., 12–14, Cluj-Napoca, 400084, Romania
E-mail: [email protected]