The study presents the evaluation of a radiocarbon series, currently unparalleled
in the research of the early medieval Carpathian Basin, which comprises data from
the 7th to the 10th century AD. We provide a data set that, when combined with the
radiocarbon data available in the related literature, covers the period in focus.
The results of its analysis can be considered novel in several respects: 1) the radiocarbon
data sequence and the relative chronological framework established for the Late Avar
Period concord, 2) based on the radiocarbon sequence, the Middle Avar Period in certain
large cemeteries (i.e., Tiszafüred-Majoros) started considerably earlier than it was
assumed previously, based on ‘Middle Avar Period’ elite graves—and, interestingly,
earlier even than the coin-dated ‘Middle Avar’ elite grave horizon, and 3) the data
of the latest grave horizon in Avar cemeteries suggests a similar asynchronism between
the related sites. The data set allows one to draw preliminary conclusions about the
trends of the early medieval cultural and social transformations in the Carpathian
Basin and outline ‘innovative’ groups which, by maintaining contacts with diverse
regions outside the Carpathian Basin, played a central role in these processes.