ABSTRACT
The seventh century represents a crucial period in the transition from late antique to early medieval Dalmatia. In the first decades of this century something happened, which caused the simplification of social networks, depopulation, the abandonment of many sites, the shrinking of urban life, even the death of some coastal cities. Written sources for seventh-century Dalmatia are scarce and problematic, especially those supporting a Sclavene settlement in this period. All contemporary sources could fit into a single paragraph. It is abundantly clear that written sources on their own cannot help us establish that the Sclavenes caused the collapse of Byzantine Dalmatia and settled there in the seventh century. Cremation is of paramount significance to the argument that a foreign group migrated into Dalmatia, as it represents a new burial custom that did not exist in the later stages of Late Antiquity.
