In the late Avar period (eighth to ninth century ad), vast quantities of utilitarian artefacts were produced in series in the Carpathian Basin, a phenomenon not seen since the end of the Roman period. The distribution of these articles reflects not only the region's settlement pattern, but also how these artefacts were disseminated. The communication network in the Carpathian Basin underwent a significant transformation between the early and late Avar period: its major nodes, equated with population centres but not necessarily with elite centres, contributed to moulding a social and cultural milieu that included specialized craftsmen. An early single hub in southern Transdanubia was replaced by multiple centres by the late Avar period. Around ad 700, a bipolar settlement pattern emerges in the southern part of the Carpathian Basin. It seems that the Great Hungarian Plain began to play an equal, if not dominant, role in the communication network of the Carpathian Basin at this time.

Innovation transfer can be described as a process of communication and integration. Its success depends on two conditions: first, the information flow itself and, second, the acceptance and implementation of this information. In this article, it is assumed that both aspects are influenced by certain factors that can stimulate or constrain the transfer of innovation. This hypothesis is tested in a case study concerning the spread of copper metallurgy in Central Europe. A contextual analysis shows that its transmission can be reconstructed as a slow integrational process. Further, the spread of copper metallurgy occurred in fits and starts, with repeated breaks that, in some cases, lasted for several hundred years. These halts are key for analysing the mechanisms of innovation transfer. In this context, the role of those variables which influenced this transfer will be analysed.