Following the collapse of the Avar Khaganate, swords and other elements of Frankish military equipment became popular in territories to the north of the Middle Danube. A new archaeological horizonthe so-called "Blatnica-Mikulčice horizon"emerged in the valley of the northern Morava river and its wider region in the same period. This horizon of metalwork represents a synthesis of "Late Avar" and Carolingian art. One of its signature items is a sword found in a grave in Blatnica in Slovakia, which is dated to the period between 825 and 850. According to the archaeologist Florin Curta, the sword was produced by a Frankish artisan from the Carolingian Empire. On the other hand, Ján Dekan writes that it represents how Moravian craftsmen selected "elements from the ornamental content of Carolingian art which suited their aesthetic needs and traditions".