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

V. SWORDS WITH STAMP MARKS - Anthropomorphic bust marks

V. SWORDS WITH STAMP MARKS Archaeological research had taken note of Celtic swords with stamp marks as early as the second half of the last century; the first publications surveyed the Swiss swords, which remain by far the largest body of material.

414 The Swiss swords were reviewed in full by W. Drack in his study of the Middle La Tène sword with gold inlaid boar mark from Böttstein.

415 In his monograph on the swords from the site of La Tène De Navarro did not devote any particular attention to swords with stamp marks, aside from a few cursory remarks on boar and anthropomorphic bust marks.

416 In his publication of the sword from Ostrovo/Dunasziget (Yugoslavia) B. Milleker wrote that the stamp can be seen as a "smith's mark". I. Hunyady quoted another stamped sword with half moon-shaped mark from Skorba (near Marburg, now housed in the museum of Pettau), in the chapter devoted to La Tène D swords in her monograph. She noted their links with the Swiss swords, and attributed the appearance of similar swords in the Carpathian Basin to influences from the Swiss Celts.

417 Four stamped swords, all bearing anthropomorphic marks are known from Hungary. One of these, the sword from Káloz-Felsőtóbörzsök bears a double stamp: an anthropomorphic bust mark and a boar mark (Cat.no. 26; PL 25). Anthropomorphic bust marks The different groups of anthropomorphic bust marks were distinguished on the basis of W., Drack's study in our publication of the stamped swords from County Fejér.

418 Group I is characterised by individual figures with a mask-like head and half moon-shaped shoulders; the marks of Group II have the entire figure set within a half moon-shaped frame; Group III marks the disappearance of the head and shoulders, with facial features indicated with dots and circles; and finally only the empty frame remains in Group IV. The anthropomorphic nature of the latter is dubious, but if these groups are seen as distinct phases of a general tendency towards simplification — comparable to the stylistic phases of Celtic coinage —, this assumption is perhaps more plausible. The stamp on the sword dredged up from the Danube near Tahitótfalu (Cat.no. 11; Pl. 11,1; 111. 11,2) can be assigned to Group II: the mask-like face and the shoulders, as well as the lines indicating the pleats of the garment are set within a half moon-shaped frame. Comparable stamps can be quoted from Speyer

419 and Augsburg.

420 Swords bearing similar stamp marks have also been published from Yugoslavia.

421 The Tahitótfalu stamp is distinguished from these by a triangular protuberance in the centre of the lower part of the arched frame, as if to suggest a bearded mask. The upper stamp of the Káloz-Felsőtöbörzsök sword (Cat.no. 26; PL 25) can be assigned to Group III: a double concentric circle marks the face set within the half moon-shaped framework, also of double lines. Similar stamp marks are known from the La Tène site,

422 and a matching stamp enclosing three dots ornaments a sword from the Nosate cemetery in Lombardy.

423 The stamp mark on one of the swords found in the chariot burial at Odáaci/Hódság is probably also a member of the same class of stamps. Only faint traces remain of the facial features of this stamp (Cat.no. 131; PL 121,1) 424 Two other swords (Aka: Cat.no. 1; PL 1; 111. 11,3 and Csákberény: Cat.no. 9; PL 11,2) have highly similar anthropomorphic stamps made with a compound punch. The Aka sword (Cat.no. 1; PL 1) with its half moonshaped frame enclosing eyes and nose made with a ring punch belongs to the third group of anthropomorphic stamps. The upper part of the stamp on the Csákberény sword (Cat.no. 9; PL 11,2) forms an oval mask with a face made with a ring punch. The lower part of these two stamps is rather abraded, but roughly half moon-shaped in form an recalling, at the same time, the form of a human body. There are close similarities also in the positioning of these stamps for in contrast with the more general, "upside-down" position, these are placed in an upright position on the sword blade. Beside anthropomorphic bust marks and compound upright anthropomorphic marks, there is yet a third type of human depictions: a male head shown in profile. One of the most outstanding specimen of this rare stamp comes from the Carpathian Basin, on a sword from the Odíaci/Hódság chariot burial

425 (Cat.no. 132; PI. 121,2) which compares well with the stamp of a sword from Courgenay near Sens (Yonne).

426 Drack saw this latter stamp as wholly alien from the anthropomorphic stamps described in the above and suggested a link with contemporary coinage.

427 This is definitely valid for the stamp of the Odáaci/Hódság sword, whose depiction