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The Pannonian Avars ( ) were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples were also known as the Obri (modern , Obry) in the chronicles of the Rus, С. М. Соловьев. книга I // История России с древнейших времён (в пятнадцати книгах) / отв. ред. Л. В. Черепнин. — 3-е изд. (в новой орфографии). — М.: Издательство социально-экономической литературы, 1959—1966. — Т. 1. — С. 122. the Abaroi or Varchonitai (), or Pseudo-Avars in Byzantine Empire sources, and the Apar () to the Göktürks. They established the Avar Khaganate, which spanned the Pannonian Basin and considerable areas of Central Europe and Eastern Europe from the late-6th to the early-9th centuries.
The name "Pannonian Avars" (after Pannonian Basin in the upper Danube basin where they eventually settled) is used to distinguish them from the Avars of the Caucasus, a separate people with whom the Pannonian Avars may or may not have had links. Although the name Avar first appeared in the mid-5th century, the Pannonian Avars entered the historical scene in the mid-6th century, on the Pontic–Caspian steppe as a people who wished to escape the rule of the Göktürks. They are probably best known for their invasions and destruction in the Avar–Byzantine wars from 568 to 626 and for their influence on the Slavic migrations to the Balkans.
Recent Archaeogenetics studies indicate that the Pannonian Avars were of primarily Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry similar to the forebears of modern-day people from Mongolia and the Amur region in Manchuria, pointing to an initial rapid migration of nomadic tribes into the centre of Europe from the Eastern Eurasian Steppe. The Pannonian Avars' core may have been descended from the remnants of the Rouran Khaganate, which were accompanied by other Eurasian steppe groups.
The next author to discuss the Avars, Menander Protector, appeared during the 6th century and wrote of Göktürk embassies to Constantinople in 565 and 568. The Turkic peoples appeared angry at the Byzantines for having made an alliance with the Avars, whom the Turks saw as their subjects and slaves. Tamgan, a Turk prince, calls the Avars "Varchonites" and "escaped slaves of the Turks", who numbered "about 20 thousand" ( Menander Fr 43).
Many more, but somewhat confusing, details come from Theophylact Simocatta, who in c. 629, describes the final two decades of the 6th century. In particular, he claims to quote a triumph letter from Turxanthos:
According to the interpretation of Dobrovits and Nechaeva, the Turks insisted that the Avars were only "pseudo-Avars", so as to boast that they were the only formidable power in the Eurasian steppe. The Göktürks claimed that the "real Avars" remained loyal subjects of the Turks, farther east. A political name * (A)Par 𐰯𐰻 was indeed mentioned in inscriptions honoring Kul Tigin and Bilge Qaghan, yet in Armenian sources (Elishe, Ghazar Parpetsi, and Sebeos) Apar seemingly indicated "a geographical area (Greater Khorasan), which might also intimate a political formation once there"; additionally, "'Apar-shar', that is, the country of the Apar" was named after possibly Hephthalites, who were known as 滑 Middle Chinese * ɦˠuɛt̚ > standard Chinese Huá in Chinese sources. Even so, * Apar could not be linked to the European Avars, notwithstanding any link, if there were, between the Hephthalites and Rourans. Furthermore, Dobrovits has questioned the authenticity of Theophylact's account. As such, he has argued that Theophylact borrowed information from Menander's accounts of Byzantine–Turk negotiations to meet political needs of his time–i.e. to castigate and deride the Avars during a time of strained political relations between the Byzantines and Avars (coinciding with Emperor Maurice's northern Balkan campaigns).
The 18th century historian Joseph de Guignes postulates a link between the Avars of European history with the Rouran Khaganate of Inner Asia based on a coincidence between Tardan Khan's letter to Constantinople and events recorded in Chinese sources, notably the Wei Shu and Bei Shi. Chinese sources state that Bumin Qaghan, founder of the First Turkic Khaganate, defeated the Rouran, some of whom fled and joined the Western Wei. Later, Bumin's successor Muqan Qaghan defeated the Hephthalites as well as the Turkic Tiele people. Superficially these victories over the Tiele, Rouran and Hephthalites echo a narrative in the Theophylact, boasting of Tardan's victories over the Hephthalites, Avars and Oghurs. However, the two series of events are not synonymous: the events of the latter took place during Tardan's rule, c. 580–599, whilst Chinese sources referring to the Turk defeat of the Rouran and other Central Asian peoples occurred 50 years earlier, at the founding of the First Turkic Khaganate. It is for this reason that the linguist János Harmatta rejected the identification of the Avars with the Rouran on this basis.
According to Edwin G. Pulleyblank, the name Avar is the same as the prestigious name Wuhuan in the Chinese sources. Several historians, including Peter Benjamin Golden, suggest that the Avars are of Turkic origin, likely from the Oghur branch. Another theory suggests that some of the Avars were of Tungusic peoples origin. A study by Emil Heršak and Ana Silić (2002) suggests that the Avars were of heterogeneous origin, including mostly Turkic (Oghuric) and Mongolic groups. Later in Europe some Germanic and Slavic groups were assimilated into the Avars. Heršak and Silić concluded that their exact origin is unknown but stated that it is likely that the Avars were originally mainly composed of Turkic (Oghuric) tribes.
Increasing evidence supports a relationship between the elite of the Pannonian Avars and the Inner Asian Rouran Khaganate; however it remains unclear to what extent the European Avars descent from the Rouran population. It is argued that the initial elite core of the Pannonian Avars spoke a Para-Mongolic language (Serbi-Avar), which is a sister lineage to contemporary Mongolic languages.Shimunek, Andrew (2017). Languages of Ancient Southern Mongolia and North China: a Historical-Comparative Study of the Serbi or Xianbei Branch of the Serbi-Mongolic Language Family, with an Analysis of Northeastern Frontier Chinese and Old Tibetan Phonology. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. . OCLC 993110372.
1. Many steppe empires were founded by groups who had been defeated in previous power struggles but had fled from the dominion of the stronger group. The Avars were likely a losing faction previously subordinate to the Ashina tribe in the Western Turkic Khaganate, and they fled west of the Dnieper.
2. These groups usually were of mixed origin, and each of its components was part of a previous group.
3. Crucial in the process was the elevation of a khagan, which signified a claim to independent power and an expansionist strategy. This group also needed a new name that would give all of its initial followers a sense of identity.
4. The name for a new group of steppe riders was often taken from a repertoire of prestigious names which did not necessarily denote any direct affiliation to or descent from groups of the same name; in the Early Middle Ages, Huns, Avars, Bulgars, and Ogurs, or names connected with -(o)gur (, Utigurs, Onogurs, etc.), were most important. In the process of name-giving, both perceptions by outsiders and self-designation played a role. These names were also connected with prestigious traditions that directly expressed political pretensions and programmes, and had to be endorsed by success. In the world of the steppe, where agglomerations of groups were rather fluid, it was vital to know how to deal with a newly-emergent power. The symbolical hierarchy of prestige expressed through names provided some orientation for friend and foe alike.
Such views are mirrored by . "The ethnogenesis of early medieval peoples of steppe origin cannot be conceived in a single linear fashion due to their great and constant mobility", with no ethnogenetic "point zero", theoretical "proto-people" or proto-language. Moreover, Avar identity was strongly linked to Avar political institutions. Groups who rebelled or fled from the Avar realm could never be called "Avars", but were rather termed "Bulgars". Similarly, with the final demise of Avar power in the early 9th century, Avar identity disappeared almost instantaneously.
Savelyev and Jeong (2020) in " Early nomads of the Eastern Steppe and their tentative connections in the West" concluded that the initial Pannonian Avars formed in Central Asia from various ethno-linguistic groups, including Iranian peoples, Ugrians, Oghur-Turkic, and Rouran Khaganate tribes. They further note that "the broadly East Asian component in the archaeological record of the European Avars is limited even in the earlier period of their history; elements originating from West Asia, the Caucasus, the Southern Russian steppes and the local Central European cultures can be traced alongside each other".
Subsequent analyses from 2022 on Avar remains however confirmed their Ancient Northeast Asian origin, and support a possible ethnogenesis of the Avar Elite from the former Rouran Khaganate.
A genetic study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in 2018 examined 62 individuals buried in the 8th and 9th centuries at an Avar-Slavic burial in Cífer‐Pác, Slovakia. Of the 46 samples of mtDNA extracted, 93% belonged to west Eurasian lineages, while 6% belonged to east Eurasian lineages. The amount of east Eurasian lineages was higher than among modern European populations, but lower than what has been found in other genetic studies on the Avars. The mtDNA of the examined individuals was found to be quite similar to medieval and modern Slavs, and it was suggested that the mixed population examined had emerged through intermarriage between Avar males and Slavic females.. "The most probable explanation of our findings could be that the assimilation rate of Avars and Slavs was already relatively high in theanalyzed mixed ancient population, where a majority of the inter-ethnic marriages involved Avar men and Slavic women."
A genetic study published in Scientific Reports in November 2019 examined the remains of fourteen Avar males. Eleven of them were dated to the early Avar period, and three were dated to the middle and late Avar period. The eleven early Avar males were found to be carrying the paternal haplogroups N1a1a1a1a3 (four samples), N1a1a (two samples), R1a1a1b2a (two samples), C2, G2a, and I1. The three males dated to the middle and late Avar period carried the paternal haplogroups C2, N1a1a1a1a3 and E1b1b1a1b1a. In short, most carried "East Eurasian Y haplogroups typical for modern north-eastern Siberian and Buryats populations". The Avars studied were all determined to have had dark eyes and dark hair, and the majority of them were found to be primarily of East Asian origin.. "All Hun and Avar age samples had inherently dark eye/hair colors... 8/15 Avar age individuals showed predominantly East Asian origin with both methods, 4 individuals were definitely European, while two showed evidence of admixture."
A genetic study published in Scientific Reports in January 2020 examined the remains of 26 individuals buried at various elite Avar cemeteries in the Pannonian Basin dated to the 7th century. The mtDNA of these Avars belonged mostly to East Asian haplogroups, while the Y chromosome was exclusively of East Asian origin and "strikingly homogenous", belonging to haplogroups N-M231 and Q-M242. The evidence suggests that the Avar elite were largely Patrilineality and Endogamy for centuries, and entered the Pannonian Basin through migrations from East Asia involving both men and women. Another 2020 study, but of Xiongnu remains in East Asia, found that the Xiongnu shared certain paternal (N1a, Q1a, R1a-Z94 and R1a-Z2124) and maternal haplotypes with the Huns and Avars, and says on this basis that they were descended from Xiongnu, who they in turn suggested were descended from Scytho-Siberians.
A genetic study published in scientific journal Cell in April 2022 analyzed 48 Pannonian Avar samples from the early, middle and late period, and found nearly all of them to have a high level of Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) ancestry. The paternal lineage N1a1a1a1a3a-F4205 was most common (today highest percent of haplogroup N-F4205 was found in Dukha people of Mongolia with 52.2%), with Q1a, Q1b, R1a, R1b and E1b subclades present in smaller numbers. The samples had a strong affinity with modern peoples inhabiting the region from Mongolia to the Amur, with a historical Rouran Khaganate sample, and with samples from Xiongnu-Xianbei periods in the eastern Asian steppe. The Avar individuals showed their highest genetic affinity with present-day Mongolic and Tungusic peoples, as well as Nivkh people. A genetic study published in scientific journal Current Biology in May 2022 examined 143 Avar samples from various periods, including Avar elites and local commoners. It confirmed the Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) paternal and maternal origin for the Avar elite, with N1a-F4205 being their predominant and characteristic paternal lineage, alongside incorporated Q1a2a1 and R1a-Z94 Hunnic-Iranian remnants, and the rest belonging to local haplogroups found among surrounding populations. Autosomally, the Elite Avar samples " preserved very ancient Mongolian pre-Bronze Age genomes, with ca 90% Ancient ancestry", shared deep ancestry with European Huns, but although since Early Avar period started mixing with local and immigrant Hunnic-Iranian related populations, " people with different genetic ancestries were seemingly distinguished, as samples with Hun-related genomes were buried in separate cemeteries". The majority of the Avar Khaganate general population consisted of local European peoples (EU_core) but did not display Northeast Asian admixture, supporting a model of elite dominance of arriving horse nomads over a large sedentary population, with at least some subsequent admixture events. Genetic data on later Avar elite samples showed continuity with earlier Avars and the long-term presence of Northeast Asian ancestry among the Avar elite, suggesting a possible endogamous social system. There was however an increase of Northeast Asian and Saka associated ancestry among the total population, suggesting either further migration from the Eurasian Steppe and admixture between local and Avar groups, or substructure among the overall population not observed before.
Wang et al. 2025 analyzed 722 remains from the periphery of the Avar Khaganate in Austria dating to 650–800 CE, specifically from sites in present-day Leobersdorf and Mödling, Lower Austria. Although both sites displayed a shared material culture, the remains from Leobersdorf displayed mostly East Asians ancestry, while the remains from Mödling displayed mostly European-like ancestry. The archaeogenetic data revealed that even after 200 years since the arrival of the 'core Avars' from present-day Mongolia, East Asian ancestry remained dominant among their elite, but apparently also among non-elite groups in periphery areas, as is the case for Leobersdorf. According to the authors, this can primarily be explained via "systematically choosing partners with similar ancestry from other sites in the Avar realm", until the assimilation of the Avar Khaganate into the Frankish empire starting at 800 CE, with the last Avar prince being mentioned in 822 CE. The male Avar remains from Leobersdorf carried primarily the paternal haplogroup C-M217, while a minority carried haplogroup O-M175 and haplogroup R1a, in contrast, the male remains from Mödling displayed a more heterogeneous variation, including mostly local haplogroups, and only a minority carrying haplogroup C-M217 or N1a. The authors note that "what the evidence from Leobersdorf crucially shows is that entire groups of mostly Asian ancestry did not display elite or warrior status any more in the 8th century, and had moved out of the core area of the Avar realm", beyond that, non-Asian locals were fully assimilated into 'Avar culture', indistinguishable in terms of material culture.
By 562 the Avars controlled the lower Danube basin and the steppes north of the Black Sea. By the time they arrived in the Balkans, the Avars formed a heterogeneous group of about 20,000 horsemen. After the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I bought them off, they pushed northwestwards into Germania. However, Franks opposition halted the Avars' expansion in that direction. Seeking rich pastoral lands, the Avars initially demanded land south of the Danube in present-day Bulgaria, but the Byzantines refused, using their contacts with the Göktürks as a threat against Avar aggression. The Avars turned their attention to the Carpathian Basin and to the natural defenses it afforded. The Carpathian Basin was occupied by the Gepids. In 567 the Avars formed an alliance with the of the Gepidsand together they destroyed much of the Gepid kingdom. The Avars then persuaded the Lombards to move into northern Italy, an invasion that marked the last Germanic mass-movement in the Migration Period.
Continuing their successful policy of turning the various barbarians against each other, the Byzantines persuaded the Avars to attack the Sclaveni in Scythia Minor, a land rich with goods. After devastating much of the Sclavenes' land, the Avars returned to Pannonia after many of the khagan's subjects deserted to the Byzantine emperor.
In the 580s and 590s, many of the imperial armies were busy fighting the Persians, and the remaining troops in the Balkans were no match for the Avars. By 582, the Avars had captured Sirmium, an important fort in Pannonia. When the Byzantines refused to increase the stipend amount as requested by Bayan's son and successor Bayan II, the Avars proceeded to capture Singidunum (Belgrade) and Viminacium. They suffered setbacks, however, during Maurice's Balkan campaigns in the 590s.
By 600 the Avars had established a nomadic empire ruling over a multitude of peoples and stretching from modern Austria in the west to the Pontic–Caspian steppe in the east. After being defeated at the Battles of Viminacium in their homeland, some Avars defected to the Byzantines in 602, but Emperor Maurice decided not to return home as was customary. He maintained his army camp beyond the Danube throughout the winter, but the hardship caused the army to revolt, giving the Avars a desperately needed respite and they attempted an invasion of northern Italy in 610. The Byzantine civil war prompted a Persian invasion in the Byzantine–Sasanian War, and after 615 the Avars enjoyed a free hand in the undefended Balkans.
While negotiating with Emperor Heraclius beneath the walls of Constantinople in 617, the Avars launched a surprise attack. While they were unable to capture the city centre, they pillaged the suburbs and took 270,000 captives. Payments in gold and goods to the Avars reached a sum of 200,000 solidi shortly before 626. In 626, the Avars cooperated with the Sasanian Empire force in the failed siege of 626. After the defeat, the political and military power of the Avars declined. Byzantine and Frankish sources documented a war between the Avars and their western Slav clients, the Wends.
In the 630s, Samo, the ruler of the first Slavic polity known as Samo's Tribal Union or Samo's realm, increased his authority over lands to the north and west of the Khaganate at the expense of the Avars, ruling until his death in 658.The fate of Samo's empire after his death is unclear; it is generally assumed to have disappeared. Archaeological findings show that the Avars returned to their previous territoriesat least to southernmost part of present-day Slovakiaand entered into a symbiotic relationship with the Slavs, whereas to the north of the Avar empire was purely Wend territory. The first specific knowledge of the presence of Slavs and Avars in this area is the existence in the late 8th century of the Moravian and Nitrian principalities (see Great Moravia) that were attacking the Avars and the defeat of the Avars by the Franks under Charlemagne in 799 or 802–803. The Chronicle of Fredegar records that during Samo's rebellion in 631, 9,000 Bulgars led by Alcek left Pannonia to modern-day Bavaria where Dagobert I massacred most of them. The remaining 700 joined the Wends.
At about the time of Samo's realm, Bulgar leader Kubrat of the Dulo clan led a successful uprising to end Avar authority over the Pannonian Plain, establishing Old Great Bulgaria, or Patria Onoguria, "the homeland of Onogurs". The civil war, possibly a succession struggle in Onoguria between the Kutrigurs under Alciocus on one side and Utigurs forces on the other, raged from 631 to 632. After Alciocus fled to Bavaria, the power of the Avars' Kutrigur forces was shattered, and Kubrat established peace between the Avars and Byzantium in 632. According to Constantine VII's 10th century work De Administrando Imperio, a group of Croats who had separated from the White Croats in White Croatia had also fought against the Avars, after which they organized the Duchy of Croatia. The Unknown Archon's people from Samo's realm were also resettled at this time.
Although the Avar empire had diminished to half its original size, the Avar-Slav alliance consolidated their rule west from the central parts of the mid-Danubian basin and extended their sphere of influence west to the Vienna Basin. The new ethnic element marked by hair clips for pigtails; curved, single-edged sabres; and broad, symmetrical bows marks the middle Avar-Bulgar period (670–720). New regional centers, such as those near Ozora and Igar appeared. This strengthened the Avars' power base, although most of the Balkans lay in the hands of Slavic tribes since neither the Avars nor Byzantines were able to reassert control.
There are very few sources that cover the last century of Avar history. They only talk about the relations between the Avars and Lombards but little about the internals of the khaganate, so information about the Carpathian Basin is mostly from archaeology. Even here, elites are almost invisible, and there is little evidence of nomadic behavior. This transformation is little understood, but may have something to do with population growth.
A new type of ceramics—the so-called "Devínska Nová Ves" pottery—emerged at the end of the 7th century in the region between the Middle Danube and the Carpathians. These vessels were similar to the hand-made pottery of the previous period, but wheel-made items were also found in Devínska Nová Ves sites. Large inhumation cemeteries found at Holiare, Nové Zámky and other places in Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia from the period beginning around 690 show that the settlement network of the Carpathian Basin became more stable in the Late Avar period. The most popular Late Avar motifs— and decorating belts, mounts and a number of other artifacts connected to warriors—may either represent nostalgia for the lost nomadic past or evidence a new wave of nomads arriving from the Pontic steppes at the end of the 7th century. According to historians who accept the latter theory, the immigrants may have been either Onogurs or Alans. Anthropological studies of the skeletons point at the presence of a population with mongoloid features.
In the early 8th century, a new archaeological culture—the so-called "griffin and tendril" culture—appeared in the Carpathian Basin. Some theories, including the "double conquest" theory of archaeologist Gyula László, attribute it to the arrival of new settlers, such as early Hungarians, but this is still under debate. Hungarian archaeologists Laszló Makkai and András Mócsy attribute this culture to an internal evolution of Avars resulting from the integration of the Bulgar émigrés from the previous generation of the 670s. According to Makkai and Mócsy, "the material culture—art, clothing, equipment, weapons—of the late Avar/Bulgar period evolved autonomously from these new foundations". Many regions that had once been important centers of the Avar Empire had lost their significance while new ones arose. Although Avaric material culture found over much of the northern Balkans may indicate an existing Avar presence, it probably represents the presence of independent Slavs who had adopted Avaric customs. Radovan Bunardžić dated Avar-Bulgar graves excavated in Čelarevo (near Sirmium), containing skulls with Mongolian features and Judaic symbols, to the late 8th century and 9th century.Exhibition Menoroth from čelarevo : Jewish Historical Museum in Belgrade, Museum of the City of Novi Sad = Izložba Menore iz čelareva. Authors:Exposition itinérante nationale, Radovan Bunardžić. Fedération of Jewish Communities in Yugoslavia, Belgrade, 1980.
In 790, the Avars tried to negotiate a peace settlement with the Franks, but no agreement was reached. A Frankish campaign against the Avars, initiated in 791, ended successfully for the Franks. A large Frankish army, led by Charlemagne, crossed from Bavaria into the Avarian territory beyond the Enns, and started to advance along the Danube in two columns, but found no resistance and soon reached the region of the Vienna Woods, near the Pannonian Plain. No pitched battle was fought, since the Avars had fled before the advancing Carolingian army, while disease left most of the Avar horses dead. Tribal infighting began, showing the weakness of the khaganate.
The Franks had been supported by the Slavs, who established polities on former Avar territory. Charlemagne's son Pepin of Italy captured a large, fortified encampment known as "the Ring", which contained much of the spoils from earlier Avar campaigns. The campaign against the Avars again gathered momentum. By 796, the Avar chieftains had surrendered and became open to the acceptance of Christianity. In the meantime, all of Pannonia was conquered. According to the Annales Regni Francorum, the Avars began to submit to the Franks in 796. The song " De Pippini regis Victoria Avarica" celebrating the defeat of the Avars at the hands of Pepin of Italy in 796 still survives. The Franks baptized many Avars and integrated them into the Francia. ...(sc. Avaros) autem, qui obediebant fidei et baptismum sunt consecuti... In 799, some Avars revolted.
In 804, Bulgaria conquered the southeastern Avar lands in Transylvania and southeastern Pannonia up to the Middle Danube, and many Avars became subjects of the Bulgarian Empire. Khagan Theodorus, a convert to Christianity, died after asking Charlemagne for help in 805; he was succeeded by Khagan Abraham, who was baptized as the new Frankish client (and should not be assumed from his name alone to have been Kabar rather than Pseudo-Avar). Abraham was succeeded by Khagan (or Tudun) Isaac (Latin Canizauci), about whom little is known. The Franks turned the Avar lands under their control into a frontier march. The March of Pannoniathe eastern half of the then granted to the Slavic Prince Pribina, who established the Lower Pannonia principality in 840.
Whatever was left of Avar power was effectively ended when the Bulgars expanded their territory into the central and eastern portions of traditional Avar lands around 829. According to Pohl, an Avar presence in Pannonia is certain in 871, but thereafter the name is no longer used by chroniclers. Pohl wrote, "It simply proved impossible to keep up an Avar identity after Avar institutions and the high claims of their tradition had failed", although Regino wrote about them in 889." Et primo quidem Pannoniorum et Avarum solitudines pererrantes" The growing amount of archaeological evidence in Transdanubia also presumes an Avar population in the Carpathian Basin in the late 9th century. Archaeological findings suggest a substantial, late Avar presence on the Great Hungarian Plain; however, it is difficult to determine their proper chronology. The preliminary results of the new excavations also imply that the known and largely accepted theory of the destruction of the Avar settlement area is outdated; a disastrous depopulation of the Avar Khaganate never happened.
Byzantine records, including the " Notitia episcopatuum", the " Additio patriarchicorum thronorum" by Neilos Doxapatres, the Chronica by Petrus Alexandrinus and the " Notitia patriarchatuum" mention the 9th century Avars as an existing Christian population. The Avars had already been mixing with the more numerous Slavs for generations, and they later came under the rule of external polities, such as the Franks, Bulgaria, and Great Moravia. Fine presumes that Avar descendants who survived the Hungarian Conquest in the 890s were likely absorbed by the Hungarian population. After the mid to late 8th-century Frankish conquest of Pannonia, Avar and Bulgar refugees migrated to settle in the area of Bulgaria and along its western periphery. The Avars in the region known as solitudo avarorumcurrently called the Great Hungarian Plainvanished in an arc of three generations. They slowly merged with the Slavs to create a bilingual Turkic-Slavic-speaking people who were subjected to Frankish domination; the invading Magyars found this composite people in the late 9th century. The De Administrando Imperio, written around 950 and based on older documents, states that "there are still descendants of the Avars in Croatia, and are recognized as Avars". Modern historians and archaeologists until now proved the opposite, that Avars never lived in Dalmatia proper (including Lika),Maja Petrinec (2026). 9789538143588, Arheološki muzej u Zagrebu, Gradski muzej Vinkovci. ISBN 9789538143588 that statement occurred somewhere in Pannonia, and the information belongs to the 9th century. There has been speculation that the modern Avar people of the Caucasus might have an uncertain connection to the historical Avars, but direct descent from them is rejected or doubted by many scholars.
A few exceptionally rich burials have been uncovered, confirming that power was limited to the khagan and a close-knit class of "elite warriors". In addition to hoards of gold coins that accompanied the burials, the men were often buried with symbols of rank, such as decorated belts, weapons, stirrups resembling those found in central Asia, as well as their horse. The Avar army was composed from numerous other groups: Slavic, Gepidic and Bulgar military units. There also appeared to have existed semi-independent "client" (predominantly Slavic) tribes which served strategic roles, such as engaging in diversionary attacks and guarding the Avars' western borders abutting the Frankish Empire.
Initially, the Avars and their subjects lived mostly separately. Eventually, the Germanic and Slavic peoples were included in the Avaric social order and culture, which was Persian-Byzantine in fashion. Scholars have identified a fused Avar-Slavic culture, characterized by ornaments such as half-moon-shaped earrings, Byzantine-styled buckles, beads, and bracelets with horn-shaped ends. Paul Fouracre notes, "There appears in the seventh century a mixed Slavic-Avar material culture, interpreted as peaceful and harmonious relationships between Avar warriors and Slavic peasants. It is thought possible that at least some of the leaders of the Slavic tribes could have become part of the Avar aristocracy". Apart from the assimilated Gepids, a few graves of Carolingian peoples have been found in the Avar lands. They perhaps served as mercenaries.
Consistently described as a nomad society by the 19th and 20th century historians, this label is being challenged recently by archeological findings which show a more complex image, with signs of sedentarism and pastoralism such as bones of cows, pigs, or fowls, or tools used for harvesting crops such as sickles found in Avar burials in the Carpathian Basin.
Historian Gyula László has suggested that the late 9th-century Pannonian Avars spoke a variety of Old Hungarian, thereby forming an Avar-Hungarian continuity with then-newly arrived Hungarians. Based on archeologic and linguistic data, Florin Curta and Johanna Nichols considered that there is no convincing evidence for the presence of any Turkic or Mongolic languages among the Avars, but evidence for the presence of Iranian languages, further strengthened by Iranian-derived loanwords and toponyms in the region and among languages within the range of the Avars.Curta, Florin (2004). "The Slavic lingua franca (Linguistic notes of an archaeologist turned historian)". East Central Europe/L'Europe du Centre-Est. 31: 125–148. Retrieved 29 May 2015. Shimunek (2017) proposes that the elite core of the Avars spoke a "Para-Mongolic language" of the "Serbi–Awar" group, that is a sister branch of the Mongolic languages. Together, the Serbi–Awar and Mongolic languages make up the Serbi–Mongolic languages.
Some scholars like Omeljan Pritsak, Horace Lunt, Florin Curta speculate that Proto-Slavic became the lingua franca of the Avar Khaganate, which helped spreading the Slavic language in the Southeastern Europe. This assumption is problematic for several reasons, as Alan Timberlake notes that there was no "radical loss of grammar that accompanies creolization" and that neither the Avars nor the Slavs had specific social and economical mechanisms for spreading a lingua franca. Jouko Lindstedt asserts that Late Proto-Slavic/Common Slavic had a complex morphological and accentological system and therefore "shows no trace of a possible lingua-franca function".
The Byzantine Emperor Maurice wrote of the Avars and other nomad peoples in the Strategikon:
He also shows that Hungarians occupied only the centre of the Carpathian basin, while Avars lived in a larger territory. Looking at those territories where only the Avars lived, there are only Hungarian geographical names, not Slavic or Turkic as would be expected interspersed among them. This is further evidence for the Avar-Hungarian continuity. Names of the Hungarian tribes, chieftains and the words used for the leaders, etc., suggest that at least the leaders of the Hungarian conquerors were Turkic-speaking. However, Hungarian is not a Turkic language but Uralic languages, so they must have been assimilated by the Avars who outnumbered them.
László's Avar-Hungarian continuity theory posits that the modern Hungarian language descends from that spoken by the Avars rather than the conquering Magyars. Based on DNA evidence from graves, the original Magyars most resembled modern Volga Tatars, a Turkic people located in the Volga-Ural region, whereas the Khanty people and Mansi people, whose languages most resemble Hungarian, live some ways to the northeast of the Volga Tatars.
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