Keszthely culture

[3] Historian Florin Curta mentions a second, more recent understanding of the material traces, namely "a deliberate imitation of West European fashions by the inhabitants of the western parts of the qaganate.

"[8] Research into the population's history is complicated due to a lack of written sources, so only archaeology can be relied upon.

[4][6][5] During the early Avar rule, a Christian basilica was built in the area, considered a religious centre of the culture.

[4] On the basis of grave goods and archaeological finds such as coins, József Hampel determined that the Keszthely culture was formed by the Christian Germanic population that settled there in the 5th century.

[3] In early stages of research, Roman-style jewellery and grave goods (basket pendants, clothespins, disc fibulae and snake-head bracelets) were found, and a few decades later, a piece of jewellery with Latin writing on it (the writing was BONOSA, meaning "good") was discovered.

According to some researchers, the population of the early Keszthely culture consisted mainly of local Christian Roman peoples.

[4] Even in the early stages of the research, some found it suspicious that more than 150 years had passed between the last Roman presence in Pannonia and the time when this culture was formed.

[14] Evidence of the settlers adding to and repairing prior architecture can be seen with the discovery of Avar-style iron picks found near the tower.

Archaeological techniques have established that the needle was added after the initial burial, which is confirmed by the fact that the tomb (and the surrounding 30 graves) otherwise contain typical Avar objects.

[17] Several researchers argue that the term "culture" is inappropriate to describe the activities of these peoples, as the archaeological evidence is not uniform, and apart from Christianity, there is nothing in common between the graves from the excavated cemeteries.

Archeologists once thought that the culture originated from a group of late Roman remnant and barbarian Christian immigrant populations, but today, this theory is challenged.