Szabó Miklós, Petres F. Éva: Decorated weapons on the La Tene Iron Age in the Carpathian Basin. (Inventaria Praehistorica Hungariae 5; Budapest, 1992)
III. THE HUNGARIAN SWORD STYLE - The classification of the material
the poor state of preservation of the scabbard does not allow the reconstruction of the entire design. Finally a scabbard from Pavlovce in Bulgaria must be mentioned which, in spite of its published inaccurate drawing, supports the claim that the patterns discussed here spread to the southeastern fringes of the Celtic world. 282 The distribution of the finds discussed in the above and their connections definitely link this body of material to the Carpathian Basin. It is highly conspicuous, however, that several pieces which can be assigned here have been reported from France. We shall not attempt here a reconstruction of the possible route of these weapons from their assumed workshop(s) to their distant findspots, 283 but shall only refer to the historical background. Recent research has furnished archaeological evidence for the ancient tradition according to which Celtic groups migrated to the region of presentday France from the Middle Danube Basin after the abortive Balkanic campaigns of the mid-3rd century B.C. These groups settled in Champagne and it southern France. 284 It is thus slightly less surprising that the above discussed pieces should have come to light in the Marne and in the Saône region. We have discussed the former group at greater length owing to the exceptional skill and artistic ability of the master-engravers and the surprising distribution of their products. However, this group is by no means unique as regards the combination of the characteristic Sword Style design with Waldalgesheim motifs and the occasional dragon-pair. The Batina/Kiskőszeg sword scabbard (Cat. no. 102; PI. 99) 285 mentioned in the above belongs to the another group. There is still some controversy over the chronological position of the Batina/Kiskőszeg grave which also includes an eastern Celtic iron helmet. After the rejection of Vinski-Gasparini's concept, 286 most scholars now agree on the La Tène B2 nature of the find association. 287 This means no less than that the Batina scabbard can be regarded as one of the earliest documents of the Hungarian Sword Style. 288 Jacobsthal has convincingly demonstrated that the vegetal motifs of the diagonal tendril pattern are lotus flower derivatives which can be directly related to the Waldalgesheim Style. 289 He also cited the Voivodina (Mitrovica) scabbard (Cat.no. 127; PL 119,1) in this context which has a zoomorphic lyre combined with a floral ornament. The chronological position of the Voivodina scabbard has provoked much debate. 290 The form of its reinforce and suspension-loop is readily comparable to the Drfia scabbard (Cat.no. 82; Pis 84, 85) suggesting a date in the earliest phase of the La Tène C period. 291 The scabbard fragment from Dvorovi kod Bijeljine (Cat.no. 117; PL 117,1) is closely allied to the former, its upper part bearing a dragon-lyre embellished in the same decorative concept. 292 These three findspots would — at least hypothetically — suggest an early southern workshop of the Hungarian Sword Style. However, two contradictory points must be considered. The first calls for caution, for it is extremely precarious to determine the geographical location of workshops on the basis of the distribution of weapons in the period of the Balkanic invasions, as shown by the above analysis of the Cernon-sur-Coole scabbard. On the other hand, the zone between the Srem and Slovenia has a clear concentration of decorated Middle La Tène weapons which are characterised by a fusion of the Sword Style design and the dragon-pair motif, with the former playing a complementary role. In other words, this concept corresponds to the decorative system of the scabbard from the Voivodina (Cat.no. 127) and Dvorovi kod Bijelnije (Cat.no. 117). This group which illustrates a different stylistic phase than the pieces discussed here will be analysed in detail later on. 293 The connection outlined here, however, supports the localisation in both directions. The diagonal main ornament of the Tapolca-Szentkút sheath (Cat.no. 71; PL 75,2) has much in common with the decoration of the Batina scabbard: in fact, the former can best be understood through the latter. At the same time, the Waldalgesheim tendril of the Tapolca scabbard — which can hardly be dated earlier than the beginning of the La Tène C period — illustrates directly the most important dialect of the early Sword Style. 294 The question of whether obvious similarities between motifs can be interpreted as reflecting workshop connections cannot be answered yet, even less so since the Tapolca scabbard also bespeaks the tradition of weapons from Transdanubia — especially of those from the Balaton region. As an example we can cite the inner, filler spiral motif of the Halimba sword (Cat.no. 15): certain elements of this pattern recur in an isolated position on the Tapolca scabbard, the basic difference being the lack of a syntax and the absence of the distinctive hatched leaves on the latter in comparison with the Halimba sheath. 295 The scabbards from Liter (Cat .nos 39-40) and Jutas (Cat. nos 21-22) would suggest that the zone to the north of Lake Balaton was the most important distribution territory of the
