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 - Zoomorphic stamps

virtually matches a tetradrachm type current in the Carpathian Basin, which has a profile head facing left on the reverse and a horseman on its obverse. This coin type can be assigned to Pink's northwestern group; coins of this type have been found at Sopron and Dőr.

428 Zoomorphic stamps The lower stamps of the Káloz-Felsőtöbörzsök swords (Cat.no. 26; PL 25) depicts a boar. Eleven of the fifty swords listed by Drack have a comparable stamps. The closest analogy to the FelsőtöbörzsÖk stamp is the boar mark on a sword from Mandach which was recovered from an inhumation burial.

429 The interpretation of the anthropomorphic mark on this latter sword is still debated for Drack sees it as an antithetic double boar stamp, whilst Filip considers it to be an anthropomorphic mark on the basis of Wyss' drawing. The latter interpretation appears more plausible in view to the FelsőtöbörzsÖk stamp.

430 An unprovenanced sword in the collection of the Milan museum (no. A 5040) is ornamented with the double stamp of a boar and a half-moon. The half moon-shaped upper mark is inlaid with silver, the lower boar mark with gold.

431 A sword from Basadingen in Switzerland ornamented with a single boar mark compares well with the Hungarian specimen also in terms of associated finds (spearhead and armring).

432 Aside from the Basadingen find, swords ornamented with a single boar stamp have also been found at Magenta and Nosate in Italy.

433 A similar sword has been reported from grave 1 of Veliko Mraáevo in Yugoslavia (Cat.no. 140; PL 126) which also lies in the eastern Celtic territory. On the basis of the associated grave finds (a spearhead and a large Hiebmesser). Güstin assigned the assemblage to phase 3 of the Mokronog group, which corresponds to the mature La Tène C period (mid-2nd century).

434 A survey of the grave goods accompanying these stamped swords shows that these include spearheads (Kálóz-FelsőtöbörzsÖk, Odáaci/Hódság, Veliko Mrasevo) shield bosses (Odáaci/Hódság), as well as Hiebmesser and simple knives (Veliko Mraáevo, Odfcaci/Hódság). The Swiss swords have similar associations (spearhead: Mandach, Basadingen; shield boss: Mandach; armring: Basadingen). The spearheads are of the type current in the period between the last quarter of the 3rd century and the mid-2nd century B.C. (Rapin's Type lib: Kálóz-FelsőtöbörzsÖk, Veliko Mraáevo, Odáaci/Hódság; Rapin's Type Ile: Odzaci/Hódság).

435 The shield boss compares well with La Tène C2 forms and with types of the mid-2nd century B.C. (Rapin's Gournay Type VI, Domaradzki's Group III: Odáaci/Hódság).

436 The Italian swords date to the Middle La Tène (Magenta, 4766; Nosate, A 5121, unprovenanced, A 4768) or to the La Tène period (Magenta, 4766; Mariano a Brembo; unprovenanced, A 5040) 437 The sword bearing a moon-shaped stamp from Mariano a Brembo (Bergamo) can be dated to the 1st century B. C. on the basis of its associated finds, a Nauheim type fibula and a "trottola" vase of late shape deposited in the cremated warrior's grave.

438 Aside from the associated grave goods, the stylistic features of these swords also offer invaluable clues for dating. This is primarily true of the series of Swiss swords. The boar stamp tends to adorn short swords, whilst anthropomorphic marks are more common on long swords, suggesting that the latter are relative latecomers to the Middle La Tène period, appearing only in the latter half of the 2nd century B. C, whereas the other stamps were current throughout the 2nd century B.C.

439 The Pannonian swords too belong to the category of long swords. The Swiss swords indicate also the chronological sequence of stamp types. In the La Tène C period anthropomorphic and boar stamps were both used, whilst anthropomorphic stamps disappear by the La Tène D period.

440 These swords stamps are linked to decorated scabbards by some technical details too. The pleats of the garment indicated on anthropomorphic bust marks of group I and II were made with the same technique as the hatched motifs of the early phase of the Hungarian Sword Style (cp. Cat.no. 15, Suppl. 1; Cat.no. 41, Pis 46-47, Lovasberény). The triple dot motif of the Hungarian Sword Style compares well with the eyes and nose made using a ring punch of group III (cp. Liter 1: Cat.no. 39; Pis 43-44; Radostyán). Triple dots occasionally appear on other stamped swords as well, under the boar marks, and also on coins. This motif has been thought to serve a magical, apotropaic purpose, but it has also been seen as a mark of a workshop or an individual craftsman.

441 The interpretation of sword marks is still open to controversy, with opinions ranging from workshop or smith's marks to a sign of ownership, vested with apotropaic properties, or even a combination of both: a symbol of the workshop as well as an individual emblem according to the wishes of the customer. A purely magical and religious function has also been suggested.

442 The fact that stamped swords re-