Arms-bearers in separate graves from Great Moravia and the emergence of the Early Medieval military-aristocratic organization in East-Central Europe
Abstract
Great Moravia existed from the ninth to the first half of the tenth century AD between the Carolingian West and Slavic "outer Europe". The powerful polity was considered the first state of the Slavs, and it copied the military-aristocratic organisation of Western Europe.
However, recently discovered separate burials with weapons and spurs challenge the existing historical concept. While the graves, with their extravagant burial rites, are reminiscent of the separate cemeteries of Frankish landlords or independent peasant warriors, in Moravia, they represent a different social phenomenon, as shown by our archaeological and osteobiographical analysis.
It is hoped that it could be one of the keys to understanding the specific historical and cultural features of this part of the continent at the divide between East and the West.