Editing Pannonian Avars (section)

== Avar-Hungarian continuity theory ==
[[Gyula László]] says that the late Avars, arriving to the khaganate in 670 in great numbers, lived through the time between the destruction and plunder of the Avar state by the Franks during 791–795 and the [[Hungarian Conquest of the Carpathian Basin|arrival of the Magyars]] in 895. László points out that the settlements of the [[Hungarians]] (Magyars) complemented, rather than replaced, those of the Avars. Avars remained on the plough fields, good for agriculture, while Hungarians took the river banks and river flats, suitable for pasturage. He notes that while the Hungarian graveyards consist of 40–50 graves on average, those of the Avars contain 600–1,000. According to these findings, the Avars not only survived the end of the Avar polity but lived in great masses and far outnumbered the Hungarian conquerors of [[Árpád]].

He also shows that Hungarians occupied only the centre of the Carpathian basin, but Avars lived in a larger territory. Looking at those territories where only the Avars lived, there are only Hungarian geographical names, not Slavic or Turkic as would be expected interspersed among them. This is further evidence for the Avar-Hungarian continuity. Names of the Hungarian tribes, chieftains and the words used for the leaders, etc., suggest that at least the leaders of the Hungarian conquerors were Turkic speaking. However, Hungarian is not a Turkic language, rather [[Uralic languages|Uralic]], and so they must have been assimilated by the Avars that outnumbered them.

László's Avar-Hungarian continuity theory posits that the modern [[Hungarian language]] descends from that spoken by the Avars rather than the conquering Magyars.{{sfn|László|1978}}{{page needed|date=August 2022}} Based on DNA evidence from graves, the original Magyars most resembled modern [[Bashkirs]], a Turkic people located near the Urals, whereas the [[Khanty people|Khanty]] and [[Mansi people|Mansi]], whose languages most resemble Hungarian, live some ways to the northeast of the Bashkirs.{{sfn|Neparáczki|2017|pp=61–65}}{{sfn|Neparáczki|et al.|2017|pp=201–214|ps=:According to Neparáczki: "From all recent and archaic populations tested the [[Volga Tatars]] show the smallest genetic distance to the entire conqueror population" and "a direct genetic relation of the Conquerors to Onogur-Bulgar ancestors of these groups is very feasible."}}{{sfn|Neparáczki|et al.|2018|p=e0205920}}