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

which survived into the early Middle La Tène period. According to the current interpretation of absolute chronology this can grosso modo be defined as a 3rd century B. C. trend which made its first appearance at the beginning of the century and barely survived until the turn of the 3rd and 2nd centuries B. C.

306 However, it must be repeatedly emphasized that most of the relevant pieces are stray finds (such as the all Jutas scabbards),

307 and also that some have survived in an extremely bad state of preservation (e.g. Jutas 4), the obvious implication being that all chronological conclusions are based on one specific — and, moreover, small — group of the relics belonging to this category. We must here also refer to the fact that the early and late phases of Hungarian Sword Style do not succeed each other, but overlap slightly. We shall return to this issue later on. Another distinct group can be outlined on the basis of finds from Transdanubia, Slovenia and the territory lying east of the Danube, whose chronological position — especially as regards its commencement date — is slightly later than that of the former group. This is primarily suggested by the analysis of decorated weapons from grave finds, but is also supported by the morphological and typological study of these sword scabbards. The Szob burial (Cat.no. 60; Pis 61, 62; 111. 11,1; No. I. in Hunyady's numbering)

308 mentioned in the Introduction whose finds were until recently considered lost, is especially important. The remains of the scabbard and the sword have recently been found in the Hungarian National Museum, and the plaster casts of several grave finds are housed in SaintGerman-en-Laye.

309 The decorated Middle La Tène fibula and the weapon types support a dating to the La Tène Cl period. The design of the sheath shows that the filler motifs of the intricate tendril pattern combined with "trumpet flowers" became considerably simplified in comparison to the previous group, and include mostly S-motifs and triskeles (as on the lower part of the suspension-loop).

310 The slightly raised relief line ornament set against a deepened background gives interesting effects. This so-called "champ-levé" technique which, as we have seen, already appears on scabbards of the previous group,

311 gains a new emphasis here. Taking the Szob scabbard as a starting point the second phase of the Hungarian Sword Style can be outlined with some degree of confidence. This phase is characterised by the marked transformation of the decorative style and by a high degree of abstraction. The relevant finds do not form a homogeneous group and it would be more appropriate to speak of a stylistic tendency. Two oft-discussed masterpieces of this group were found at Bölcske-Madocshegy (1: Cat.no. 5; Pl. 7; 111. V; 2: Cat.no. 6; PL 8); their conservative, linear ornament without deepened details suggests the same engraver.

312 The composition on the lower fragment of one of these scabbards (Cat.no. 5) has already been described in the above; the method of transforming the symmetric design was first noted by O.-H. Frey.

313 The upper part of the other Bölcske scabbard (Cat.no. 6; PI. 8) has a more freely executed version of one half of this composition.

314 The upper symmetrical pattern on the first scabbard (Cat.no. 5; PL 7) has recently been compared to the openwork belt-hook from Este by A. Bulard. No matter how bizarre this comparison might seem owing to the divergent chronological position of the two pieces, it is quite apparent that the two ornaments share numerous common elements such as the fishbladder pattern or the incorporation of a longbeaked bird protome into the composition. It must also be recalled that this type of design could have been inspired by sword scabbards with openwork mounts.

315 The long survival of certain iconographie motifs in Celtic art must also be reckoned with. To quote Bulard 's apt words: "L'écriture évolue mais le signifiant demeure" .

316 The conservative tendency is especially characteristic of the second phase of the Sword Style and, particularly, of the two Bölcske scabbards. This is generally described as a return to the Early Style of La Tène art, although it is highly questionable whether this can be regarded as a conscious decision on the part of the engravers. The departure from vegetal decoration which is more radical on the Szob scabbard than on the specimens from Bölcske could have been ultimately inspired by the geometric ornament of stamped pottery which had survived into the Middle La Tène period.

317 This tendency is best illustrated by the filler motifs: the voids within the tendril frame are generally filled with figures-of-eight and S-motifs. The composition on the lower half of scabbard 1 from Bölcske (Cat.no. 5; Pl. 7) appears to have been elaborated further in the pattern on a Szob scabbard (Cat.no. 63; Pis 6566) on which — in contrast to the former —, a key has been found for solving the continuity of the diagonal ornament (PL 65). A further simplification of the filler motifs can also be