The Bronze Age and the Celtic World

ved there at an early date, bringing with them from the east the custom of living in pile-dwellings and the germs of agriculture. Whether t

rived about 2200 B.C., especially in the Hungarian plain. Thus, though the population of the whole of the area, which we have termed the Celtic cradle, was to some extent alike,

G.

ITALIA

STELLAN

TRAN

d, at any rate to any considerable extent, for at a much later date we find skulls both of the long-headed and the broad-headed types, but few if any which show eviden

urous, devoted to the horse and accustomed on its back to drive bands of cattle over the grassy steppes. If we may judge from the views of many of their modern representatives, they despise menial work, such as ploug

time take place, marriage is strictly forbidden. In this we have the germs of the caste system so well known in India. Similar objections to such inter-marriages are a marked feature of the Briton throughout the empire. This custom has given rise to the strict marriage regulations, which existed until lately among all royal and many noble families in Europe, and among the descendants of the Visigoths in

IVETED DA

FOSSO

imagine the Nordics continued their nomadic existence, driving their cattle from one pasture to another. T

were trading for Transylvanian gold, or taking copper axes to the Tripolje folk. Or it may be that other ?gean folk had by this time reached the head of the Adriatic, and were making their way thence to the mines of the Erz-gebirge and the amber coasts of the Baltic. It is probable that both lines of trade began fairly early in the third mille

ppeared in the western Mediterranean, the Rhone valley was the main line of approach into Central Europe.[265] This we now know was not the case,[266] for th

G.

F-S

OR

Euxine areas. Perhaps, too, after the arrival of fresh hordes of steppe-folk into Hungary trade by the other route may also have ceased for a time. There is some evidence that this was the case, but in due course it w

also that the breadth of the butt diminished as the length of the blade increased. Sometimes, especially in North Italy, the sides remained straight, and grooves were cut in the blade parallel to the sides. The object of these grooves, which were three, five or even more in number, was not in the first instance a question of ornament, though in ti

etimes decorated with thin plates of gold. Such handles were riveted on to the blades, and so long as the butt of the latter was wide and the blade not too long, this method of attachment proved satisfactory. But, as we have seen, the tendency was for the butt to diminish in breadth and the blade to increase in length, which suggests that open combat was becoming more fashion

G.

ZE H

HAPED

mand was met, as such a demand always is, by an adequate supply. Thus we find these weapons, closely resembling those in use in the Mediterranean basin, especially in its western half, becoming increasingly common in Hungary, and growing to greater and greater dimensions. Plate IV. shows five daggers foun

kness at the riveted joint more apparent. The Nordics, fighters above all else, paid much attention to their weapons, and they set

eveloped by slow degrees in the west from the triangular copper daggers of Crete. In the ?gean and in Greek lands we find other types, which seem to be derived f

e rapidly, then very quickly to the point. This gives a shape not unlike the leaf of the lanceolate plantain, a form not uncommon in other leaves; hence the name leaf-shaped sword. But many examples from this group, in other respects indistingui

G.

TH FLANG

TO FIT

pages to describing them and tracing out their evolution.[268] They are not, however, very common outside Hungary, and in all cases are much rarer than the other types. The details of their form lead us to believe that they are contemporary with some, in fact with most of

adhering, and these rivets were used to secure on either side of the tang pieces of wood, bone or horn, which with it formed the hilt. In some cases such swords have been found with wood or horn still attached. These are obviously a che

to the more ornate forms, but also for another reason. It has hitherto been usual to classify swords mainly by the shapes of their blades or their sections; for reasons which will become

NVEX AND CO

will, I think, be apparent to anyone consulting the Plate, and which I give more fully below, I believe Type A to be the earliest of the series; Type G, on the other hand, occurs in the famous cemetery at Hallstatt, in the Salzkammergut, and as iron swords and implements were found in most of the graves there, we may consider these

G.

ION NOT U

SPEAR

MBOID SE

AVE

the blade, too, is of the same form, and the parallel incised lines are survivals of the grooves already described. These show that the prototype was of ogival shape. In two points only does it differ from the ancestral form: the blade has been lengthened considerably, till its form is of rather an unnatural shape, while at the other end a ta

of the distribution of this and of other types will be discussed in the next chapter; here it will be sufficient to summarise. As far as I have been able to ascertain, six specimens only of this type are known, and one of these is so unlike the others that we must look upon it as a later variant. Of

G.

IN

AP

CT

s were developed. The origin seems to have been in the plain rather than in the mountain zone, though subsequent types have been found frequently in the latter. It is the Hungarian plain, th

ed. The blades of this type usually diminish gradually from below the butt to the point, but occasionally we find a slight broadening of the blade into the true leaf-shaped form. The numerous parallel grooves of Type A disappear, and in their place appear a few, generally three, narrow grooves, very close together, parallel to both sides of the blade, and dividing it into three almost equal strips. Towards the butt these grooves bend outwards to the edge, forming an almost p

G.

TING ED

EGINS A

LOW TH

, but tend to disappear before reaching the point at which the butt passes into the blade. The blades of this type sometimes retain their parallel sides, but more often the breadth expands, usually about halfway between the butt and the point. The lines of parallel grooving are tending to disappear; they have been reduced as a rule to a single line on either side, and although these are sometimes found in the same position as in Type B, dividing the bl

fairly true in Type C, have been much flattened. In other respects it differs little from

G.

-SHAPED

ODIFIE

es in a beak or nose. The flanges of the tang are tending to disappear, and in many cases are nothing but an irregular thickening of the parts nearest to the outside. This type, as we shall see, is widely distributed, and has developed many local variants, which can readily be recognised but not easily described. The blade in this type, es

long slot. The conspicuous feature of this type and of Type G, though it may occasionally be absent from Type F, is that the cutting edge of the blade does not begin for an inch or two below the butt. The illustrations will explain this better than any words can do, but the point to note is that this portion, between the butt and the true

vets, which are usually found attached to the tang, are much smaller. The blade is rather narrower than in most of the preceding types, but the widest part is characteristically two-thirds of the way

ase with regard to the shape of the finial. But speaking generally this type must have survived for a long time with relatively little change, since it appears

ead us too far away from the main lines of our thesis, nor would it be easy to draw correct deductions until drawings of all such swords found throughout Europe were av