 The preliminary results of the new excavations also imply that the known and largely accepted theory of the destruction of the Avar settlement area is outdated, the disastrous depopulation of the Avar Khaganate has never happened.Byzantine records, including the ""Notitia episcopatuumî"", the ""Additio patriarchicorum thronorumî"" by Neilos Doxopatres, the ""Chronica"" by Petrus Alexandrinus and the ""Notitia patriarchatuum"" mention the 9th century Avars as an existing Christian population.The Avars had already been mixing with the more numerous Slavs for generations, and they later came under the rule of external polities, such as the Franks, Bulgaria, and Great Moravia.