Recent archaeogenetic studies indicate that the Pannonian Avars were of primarily Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry similar to those of modern-day people from Mongolia and the Amur River region in Manchuria, pointing to an initial rapid migration of nomadic tribes into the centre of Europe from the Eastern Eurasian Steppe.

[…] When the Barsils, Onogurs, Sabirs, and other Hun nations in addition to these, saw that a section of those who were still Var and Chunni had fled to their regions, they plunged into extreme panic, since they suspected that the settlers were Avars.

[21][24] A political name *(A)Par 𐰯𐰻 was indeed mentioned in inscriptions honoring Kul Tigin and Bilge Qaghan, yet in Armenian sources (Egishe Vardapet, Ghazar Parpetsi, and Sebeos) Apar seemingly indicated "a geographical area (Khorasan), which might also intimate a political formation once there"; additionally, "'Apar-shar', that is, the country of the Apar" was named after possibly Hephthalites, who were known as 滑 MC *ɦˠuɛt̚ > Ch.Huá in Chinese sources.

[26] According to some scholars, the Pannonian Avars originated from a confederation formed in the Aral Sea region, by the Uar (also known as the Ouar, Warr or Var) and the Xionites.

The 18th-century historian Joseph de Guignes postulates a link between the Avars of European history with the Rouran Khaganate of Inner Asia based on a coincidence between Tardan Khan's letter to Constantinople and events recorded in Chinese sources, notably the Wei Shu and Bei Shi.

The Avars were likely a losing faction previously subordinate to the (legitimate)[clarification needed] Ashina clan in the Western Turkic Khaganate, and they fled west of the Dnieper.

"The ethnogenesis of early medieval peoples of steppe origin cannot be conceived in a single linear fashion due to their great and constant mobility", with no ethnogenetic "point zero", theoretical "proto-people" or proto-language.

[38][page needed] Savelyev and Jeong (2020) in "Early nomads of the Eastern Steppe and their tentative connections in the West" concluded that the initial Pannonian Avars formed in Central Asia from various ethno-linguistic groups, including Iranian peoples, Ugrians, Oghur-Turks, and Rouran tribes.

[46][page needed] Several theories suggest that the ruling class of the Avars were of Northern East Asian origin resembling the "Tungid type" (common among Tungusic speaking peoples).

[56] A genetic study published in Scientific Reports in January 2020 examined the remains of 26 individuals buried at various elite Avar cemeteries in the Pannonian Basin dated to the 7th century.

[58] The evidence suggests that the Avar elite were largely patrilineal and endogamous for a period of around one century, and entered the Pannonian Basin through migrations from East Asia involving both men and women.

[60] A genetic study published in scientific journal Cell in April 2022 analyzed 48 Pannonian Avar samples from the early, middle and late period, and found nearly all of them to have a high level of Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) ancestry.

The paternal lineage N1a1a1a1a3a-F4205 was most common (today highest percent of haplogroup N-F4205 was found in Dukha people of Mongolia with 52.2%[61]), with Q1a, Q1b, R1a, R1b and E1b subclades present in smaller numbers.

The archaeogenetic data revealed that even after 200 years since the arrival of the 'core Avars' from present-day Mongolia, East Asian ancestry remained dominant among their elite, but apparently also among non-elite groups in periphery areas, as is the case for Leobersdorf.

[citation needed] Continuing their successful policy of turning the various barbarians against each other, the Byzantines persuaded the Avars to attack the Sclavenes in Scythia Minor, a land rich with goods.

According to Menander, Bayan I commanded an army of 10,000 Kutrigur Bulgars and sacked Dalmatia in 568, effectively cutting the Byzantine terrestrial link with northern Italy and western Europe.

[citation needed] After being defeated at the Battles of Viminacium in their homeland, some Avars defected to the Byzantines in 602, but Emperor Maurice decided not to return home as was customary.

At about the time of Samo's realm, Bulgar leader Kubrat of the Dulo clan led a successful uprising to end Avar authority over the Pannonian Plain, establishing Old Great Bulgaria, or Patria Onoguria, "the homeland of Onogurs".

Hungarian archaeologists Laszló Makkai and András Mócsy attribute this culture to an internal evolution of Avars resulting from the integration of the Bulgar émigrés from the previous generation of the 670s.

A large Frankish army, led by Charlemagne, crossed from Bavaria into the Avarian territory beyond the Enns, and started to advance along the Danube in two columns, but found no resistance and soon reached the region of the Vienna Woods, near the Pannonian Plain.

Modern historians and archaeologists until now proved the opposite, that Avars never lived in Dalmatia proper (including Lika),[97] that statement occurred somewhere in Pannonia, and the information belongs to the 9th century.

In addition to hoards of gold coins that accompanied the burials, the men were often buried with symbols of rank, such as decorated belts, weapons, stirrups resembling those found in central Asia, as well as their horse.

There also appeared to have existed semi-independent "client" (predominantly Slavic) tribes which served strategic roles, such as engaging in diversionary attacks and guarding the Avars' western borders abutting the Frankish Empire.

[66] Scholars have identified a fused Avar-Slavic culture, characterized by ornaments such as half-moon-shaped earrings, Byzantine-styled buckles, beads, and bracelets with horn-shaped ends.

[66] Paul Fouracre notes, "[T]here appears in the seventh century a mixed Slavic-Avar material culture, interpreted as peaceful and harmonious relationships between Avar warriors and Slavic peasants.

[102][103][104][105] Classical philologist Samu Szádeczky-Kardoss said that most of the Avar words used in contemporaneous Latin or Greek texts appear to have their origins in possibly Mongolian or Turkic languages.

[3] According to Szádeczky-Kardoss, many of the titles and ranks used by the Pannonian Avars were also used by Turks, Proto-Bulgars, Uighurs and/or Mongols, including khagan (or kagan), khan, kapkhan, tudun, tarkhan, and khatun.

[35] Some scholars like Omeljan Pritsak, Horace Lunt, Florin Curta speculate that Proto-Slavic became the lingua franca of the Avar Khaganate, which helped spreading the Slavic language in the Southeastern Europe.

[114][115][116] The assumption is problematic for several reasons, as Alan Timberlake notes that there was no "radical loss of grammar that accompanies creolization" neither the Avars and Slavs had specific social and economical mechanisms for spreading lingua franca.

[119][page needed] Upon subjugating the Slavic tribes in Pannonia, they often allied with the Slavs and employed them as foot soldiers even together laying siege to Constantinople, along with large numbers of Persians.