The issue of dates is an interesting one. Historians from the 18th and 19th century place the ''settlement'' of the Slavs into the Western Balkans in the 7th century but the more modern research undertaken by scholars and archaeologists<ref>[http://books.google.com.au/books?id=6UbOtJcF8rQC&pg=PA52&dq=croatian+graves+medieval+dalmatian+dating&hl=en&ei=LA6HTan-IsGHcYbf3Y4D&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Becoming Slav, Becoming Croat:] Identity Transformations in Post-Roman and Early Medieval Dalmatia by Danijel Dzino (p52).</ref> cannot confirm this. The settlement of the Slavs in small groups has now been thought to be more in the region of the 8th century .<ref>Historians of this school of thought are D. Dzino, L.Margetic, Ancic, Rapanic and V.Sokol.</ref> The early sources must have reflected the '''raid''' and mercenary activity of the Slavic tribes within Roman Dalmatia. Also there are no '''contemporary''' written records about the invasion/migration/settlement, about the events as a whole ''and'' the area itself. | The issue of dates is an interesting one. Historians from the 18th and 19th century place the ''settlement'' of the Slavs into the Western Balkans in the 7th century but the more modern research undertaken by scholars and archaeologists<ref>[http://books.google.com.au/books?id=6UbOtJcF8rQC&pg=PA52&dq=croatian+graves+medieval+dalmatian+dating&hl=en&ei=LA6HTan-IsGHcYbf3Y4D&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Becoming Slav, Becoming Croat:] Identity Transformations in Post-Roman and Early Medieval Dalmatia by Danijel Dzino (p52).</ref> cannot confirm this. The settlement of the Slavs in small groups has now been thought to be more in the region of the 8th century .<ref>Historians of this school of thought are D. Dzino, L.Margetic, Ancic, Rapanic and V.Sokol.</ref> The early sources must have reflected the '''raid''' and mercenary activity of the Slavic tribes within Roman Dalmatia. Also there are no '''contemporary''' written records about the invasion/migration/settlement, about the events as a whole ''and'' the area itself. |