Abstract

This paper addresses the problems of the “Keszthely culture” in the sixth and early seventh centuries in Pannonia. Presented here are other possible readings of the transformations instead of the former static explanations and ethnic constructs about this phenomenon in the Keszthely region in the Early Avar Age. The concept of the “Keszthely culture” traditionally covers four artefacts recovered solely from female graves. Here, I shall demonstrate that these artefacts occur in other regions of Pannonia too and that the former concept of the “Keszthely culture” is no longer tenable. The main question raised here is why exactly the Keszthely region was so intensely used and what is the reason for the concentration of basket earrings, pins, snake-headed bracelets and disc brooches in this region. The central place theory is proposed as an alternative explanation.