Abstract
This presentation introduces the already ongoing interdisciplinary project "Interlinking language and material culture", funded through Charles University's START initiative. This involves the investigation of the settlement and cultural history of three early medieval contact zones (so-called Bavaria Slavica, Schleswig-Holstein and the area between Lake Ilmen and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia) between early Slavs and peoples speaking other languages.
The current state of research as well as the research goals of the project are outlined. Afterwards, preliminary results of a comparative analysis of toponomastic and archaeological data on Bavaria are presented, which challenge the common attribution of a certain type of pottery to the early Slavs.