The Climate of the Khagan. Observations on palaeo-environmental Factors of the History of the Avars (6th-9th century AD)

TL;DR

This study explores how palaeoenvironmental factors, including climate changes, influenced the rise, stability, and decline of the Avar Khaganate in the Carpathian Basin from the 6th to 9th centuries AD.

Contribution

It integrates palaeoenvironmental, historical, and archaeological data to analyze climatic impacts on the Avar Khaganate's development and decline, offering new insights into historical climate-human interactions.

Findings

Avars established in a cold, dry climate during the Late Antique Little Ice Age.

Climatic stability after 626 AD may have supported regional autonomy.

Environmental changes coincided with the disintegration of the Khaganate.

Abstract

Based on palaeoenvironmental, historical and archaeological data, the paper proposes possible climatic impacts on the history of the Avar Khaganate, which comprised the Carpathian Basin between the late 6th and the early 9th century AD. While the establishment of the Avars in East Central Europe took place within a period characterised by cold and dry climatic conditions (recently identified as Late Antique Little Ice Age), more stable climatic parameters may have favoured the stabilisation of Avar rule after a crisis in the aftermath of 626 AD. Data indicates growth of settlement and agricultural activity up to the mid-8th century. These developments did not necessarily strengthen central power, but may have contributed to a greater autonomy of various groups on the basis of increased resources. The Khaganate quickly disintegrated faced by the Carolingian advance of the 790s; the last decades of documented Avar presence were again accompanied by environmental vicissitudes.