The Lake-Dwellings of Europe: Being the Rhind Lectures in Archæology for 1888Munro, Robert
History
The Lake-Dwellings of Europe: Being the Rhind Lectures in Archæology for 1888
Munro, Robert
Lake-dwellers and lake-dwellings -- Bibliography; Lake-dwellers and lake-dwellings -- Europe
_Swords._--The swords which belonged to these sheaths were all of
iron, a fact which probably accounts for their being in a more
dilapidated condition. Of four recovered up to this date only one
is in a good and perfect condition (=Fig. 124=, No. 1). Its total
length is 19½ inches, of which the handle takes up five inches,
measuring from the extremity of the tang to the nearest part of the
curved ridge which separates it from the blade. The blade has a
sharply defined ridge and tapers gracefully to a point. The other
swords are all fragmentary. One, as already mentioned, is still in
its sheath; another, portion of a blade 14 inches long, has a sharp
central ridge and otherwise corresponds exactly with the entire
weapon. Of the fourth there remains merely the handle (No. 2), the
blade having apparently disappeared by oxidation. So far it also
closely corresponds with the entire weapon. Both handles have bronze
mountings, which, though differing in some details, are so peculiar
in their plan and method of execution, that we have no hesitation
in recognising them as belonging to one and the same group--a group
which, so far as my knowledge goes, finds its parallel only in a
few examples from La Tène. (See =Fig. 87=, Nos. 7 and 8.) As to the
material of which the grip was made there is no evidence. The bronze
circlets and flanges on the tangs, if in their original position,
involve the necessity of having the handles, whether of bone or
horn, divided in several pieces. That these bronze sheaths and iron
swords were counterparts of each other there can be no reasonable
doubt. Their points of agreement, besides general dimensions and
style of manufacture, are too remarkable to be accidental. Thus
the peculiar curve at the opening of the sheaths fits that of the
band of separation between the handle and blade of the swords. Also
the prominent midribs in the two sword-blades have corresponding
prominences in two of the sheaths (Nos. 3 and 4).
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