The bronze age and the Celtic world - Universal History Library

WE have
Chapter X
THE IRON SWORD
seen that every type of sword, from Tj^pe A to Type E, has been
found in the Hungarian plain, though Type B is not common there. On
the other hand. Types F and G are -entirely absent. It is unreasonable to
suppose that, while the people of the mountain zone were developing more useful
types of swords, the men of the plain were continuing for some centuries to use swords
of T5^e E. Even were this the case we should expect to find that the swords of this
type were vastly more numerous than those previously in use. But we have seen
that only ten have been recorded for Hungary, whereas we have nineteen of Type D.
There remain only two possibilities : either the people left the plain uninhabited, or
they had found some weapon more useful than the bronze sword.
It is true, as we have seen, that steppe-lands may be deserted in times of excessive
drought, and there is some reason for believing that such a dry period occurred somewhere
about this time, for it was in 1350 or 1300 B.C. that we must place the Aramean
invasion from the Arabian steppe, which was such a serious menace to Shalmaneser I.'
But this drought, even could we be sure that it affected a small upland steppe like that
of Hungary, occurred somewhat too early for our purpose. There is also the alternative
theory that too heavy a rainfall in the mountain regions might have made life
unpleasant.* But this would have left a more marked effect upon the mountain zone
than on the plain. There may, indeed, have been an exodus, in fact, we shall find
reason for beheving that this was so, but it is unlikely that the rich Hungarian plain
was left long uninhabited. There remains the alternative explanation, the discovery
of a new weapon, and I hope to give reasons for believing that this is the true solution,
and that the new weapon was the iron sword.
Peake (1916) 1. 170 ; Myres (1911) 117. ' Myres (1913) 534, 535.
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