Editing Pannonian Avars (section)

===Steppe empire dynamics and ethnogenesis===
[[File:Pontic steppe region around 650 AD.png|thumb|The [[Pontic steppe]], c. 650, showing the early territories of the [[Khazars]], [[Bulgars]], and Avars]]

In 2003, [[Walter Pohl]] summarized the formation of [[nomadic empire]]s:{{sfn|Jarnut|Pohl|2003|pp=477–478}}

1. Many steppe empires were founded by groups who had been defeated in previous power struggles but had fled from the dominion of the stronger group. The Avars were likely a losing faction previously subordinate to the {{clarify|text=(legitimate)|date=November 2022}} [[Ashina tribe|Ashina clan]] in the [[Western Turkic Khaganate]], and they fled west of the [[Dnieper]].

2. These groups usually were of mixed origin, and each of its components was part of a previous group.

3. Crucial in the process was the elevation of a khagan, which signified a claim to independent power and an [[expansionist]] strategy. This group also needed a new name that would give all of its initial followers a sense of identity.

4. The name for a new group of steppe riders was often taken from a repertoire of prestigious names which did not necessarily denote any direct affiliation to or descent from groups of the same name; in the [[Early Middle Ages]], [[Huns]], Avars, [[Bulgars]], and Ogurs, or names connected with -(o)gur ([[Kutrigur]]s, [[Utigurs]], [[Onogurs]], etc.), were most important. In the process of name-giving, both perceptions by outsiders and self-designation played a role. These names were also connected with prestigious traditions that directly expressed political pretensions and programmes, and had to be endorsed by success. In the world of the steppe, where agglomerations of groups were rather fluid, it was vital to know how to deal with a newly-emergent power. The symbolical hierarchy of prestige expressed through names provided some orientation for friend and foe alike.

Such views are mirrored by {{ill|Bálint Csanád|hu|Bálint Csanád|lt=Csanád Bálint}}. "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.{{sfn|Bálint|2010|p=150}}{{page needed|date=August 2022}} Moreover, Avar identity was strongly linked to Avar political institutions. Groups who rebelled or fled from the Avar realm could never be called "Avars", but were rather termed "[[Bulgars]]". Similarly, with the final demise of Avar power in the early 9th century, Avar identity disappeared almost instantaneously.{{sfn|Pohl|1998}}{{page needed|date=August 2022}}

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-Turkic|Oghur-Turks]], and [[Rouran Khaganate|Rouran]] tribes. They further note that "the broadly East Asian component in the archaeological record of the European Avars is limited even in the earlier period of their history; elements originating from West Asia, the Caucasus, the Southern Russian steppes and the local Central European cultures can be traced alongside each other".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Savelyev |first1=Alexander |last2=Jeong |first2=Choongwon |date=2020 |title=Early nomads of the Eastern Steppe and their tentative connections in the West |journal=Evolutionary Human Sciences |language=en |volume=2 |page=e20 |doi=10.1017/ehs.2020.18 |pmid=35663512 |pmc=7612788 |hdl=21.11116/0000-0007-772B-4 |issn=2513-843X}}</ref>

Subsequent analyses from 2022 on Avar remains however confirmed their [[Ancient Northeast Asian]] origin, and support a possible ethnogenesis of the Avar Elite from the former [[Rouran Khaganate]].<ref name="GAGR" /><ref name=":0" />