Szabó Miklós, Petres F. Éva: Decorated weapons on the La Tene Iron Age in the Carpathian Basin. (Inventaria Praehistorica Hungariae 5; Budapest, 1992)

II. DRAGON-PAIR SWORDS

Fig. 16 Montigny-Lencoup, Type II dragon-pair on iron scabbard [after the original drawing by Bulard) Basin (Taliándörögd: Cat.no. 70; PL 74). According to A. Bulard this kind of interconnection is definite proof for their contemporaneity and perhaps also for assuming similar workshops (or the use of a similar template).

142 But since the find associations of both the eastern and the western Celtic swords remain unknown, there is no forthcoming answer to the question of whether these genetically related scabbards were current in three different regions of the Celtic world at the same time, the implication being that their relative chronology offers few clues for the location of their workshops. We must therefore assume that the variant of Type II under discussion appears roughly the same time in the west, in the south and in the east; and an absolute date can only be proposed on the basis of the Italian grave finds in the sense of the above. Unfortunately, the Liter 1 scabbard (Cat.no. 39; PI. 43,44) offers few clues: the Waldalgesheim tendrils on the reverse is of little dating value in itself.

143 It must nonetheless be emphasized that the dragon-pair which became mutilated following the reshaping of the front plate echoes the former, "international schema" although it was clearly not drawn from the same model. The fact that it is an imitation is clearly shown by the clumsiness of the contour as well as by the fact that the same tool was used for marking the eyes as for the dots filling the background. In terms of relative chronology this suggest the secondary position of the Liter scabbard compared to the Taliándörögd-Ameglia-Montigny series. The Type II dragon-pair on the iron scabbard from grave 31 of Kosd (Cat.no. 33; Pis 34, 35; 111. VI,1) follows a different prototype but, in contrast with the Liter specimen, it shows a more careful execution. The disappearance of the dotted background is rather conspicuous; A. Bulard has interpreted this phenomenon as a definite symptom of degradation.

144 One other important feature is that the mouth of this scabbard too appears to have been reshaped in the La Tène age. This kind of secondary treatment suggests, at least hypothetically, that the decorated metal plate of the scabbard was not necessarily manufactured in the same workshop where the weapon itself was assembled, which occasionally led to modifications in the original "concept". However, neither can the possibility be excluded that these two scabbards preserve traces of a simple repair. Taking as a starting point that an already developed schema began to be copied in the Carpathian Basin — the other document beside the Liter 1 scabbard being the clumsily engraved specimen from Muhi (Cat.no. 45; PL 52,1) — we can assume, with due caution, that the Taliándörögd-Ameglia-Montigny variant (as well as its template) had been invented not in the region with which we are concerned here, but in a workshop active in Italy or in France. It has been noted in the above that the Type II dragon-pair ornamenting the scabbard from grave 1 of the Sanislau/Szaniszló cemetery can be traced to Marnian prototypes. The associated finds cannot be dated before the end of the La Tène B period.

145 This scabbard can, incidentally, be regarded as being decorated with a distinct motif-variant, bearing in mind that it is a copy of a motif executed using a different technique. The scabbards from Drùa /Darnya (Cat.no. 81; Pl. 83), from grave 63 of the Kosd cemetery (Cat.no. 35; PL 38) and from grave 66 of Karaburma (Cat.no. 123; PL 117,2) — all three of which can be assigned to the La Tène B2 phase — carry a Type II dragon-pair variant which evolved through the simplification of the former schema. This can possibly be seen as a Carpathian development: the stamped circles between the two beasts on the Drna, scabbard also appear with Type I dragon-pairs in this region.

146 What needs to be mentioned in view of the Liter 1 sword is that the zoomorphic lyre motif does not belong a priori to the repertory of the Waldalgesheim Style, even if its derivation from Etrusco-Italian models does ultimately indicate a common origin for this motif.

147 The fragmentary Voivodina (or Mitrovica) scabbard (Cat.no. 127; PL 119,1) and the specimen from Dvorovi kod Bijeljine (Cat.no. 117; PL 117,1) to be discussed below nonetheless reflect attempts to "incorporate" them into a uniform syntax. A