Type B is rare in Hungary, or at any rate very few specimens occur in the museums of that country. So far I have been able to find record of only one, and this has been much damaged. It was found in 1884 in a hoard at Orezi, in the county of Somogy.[277] A somewhat unusual form of this type is in the Vienna museum, but its provenance seems unknown. In Italy one has been found at Ascoli Piceno,[278] south of Ancona, and Naue figures another from an unknown site. He mentions a third, in his own collection, which is said to have come from Calabria, but as he does not figure it one cannot be certain that this belongs to Type B.[279] I can find no instances of the occurrence of this type in France, and though three specimens have been found in Britain which bear a superficial resemblance to it, a more careful inspection convinces me that they are local variants of a later type, perhaps C or D. This type does not appear to occur in southern Germany, but the swords of this region have not yet been catalogued with thoroughness. It has been found, however, in the Baltic region, and specimens have been recorded from Brandenburg, Pomerania and East Prussia.[280] A type closely resembling this occurs in Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark, but most of the specimens show certain local features, some of which, like the T-shaped finials, suggest a later date. In Schleswig-Holstein Splieth mentions four examples,[281] all isolated finds, which he dates considerably later than his example of Type A.
Type C, with the oval butt, is relatively common in Hungary. I have been able to trace at least eight specimens. Three of these are from unknown sites,[282] two from Kis-köszey (Battina) in Baranza county,[283] one from Sajo-Gömör,[284] one from Hajdu-böszörmény in Hajdu county, which was found with a hoard containing three of Type D,[285] and one was dredged up out of the Danube at St. Margaret’s island in Buda-Pest.[286] Two have been found in Lower Austria, one at Petronell,[287] east of Vienna and the other, which was found in a barrow with a skeleton, a long pin and two bracelets, at Winklarn.[288] One has also been figured by Dr. Šmid as having been found in Carniola, though its discovery is not described in the text.[289] In Italy one specimen has been found near Lake Trasimene,[290] a neighbourhood which has produced several examples of Type D, but this type does not seem to have been found in France, and only one very doubtful specimen is recorded for the British Isles. This type seems also to be rare or absent from Germany, except in the extreme north, for the only specimens which I can find recorded are from Mecklenburg and Brandenburg.[291] One or two have been recorded from Denmark.[292]
Type D, as we have seen, does not differ much from Type C. It is one of the commonest types found in Hungary, and I have been able to trace seventeen examples. Of these two are from unknown sites,[293] three from the Hajdu-böszörmény hoard,[294] two from the hoard at Podhering in the county of Bereg,[295] two from Sajo-Gömör in the county of Gömör,[296] two from Munkacs in Upper Hungary,[297] one, found with two of Type E, at Rima-Szombat in the county of Gömör,[298] one from Endrod in the county of Békés,[299] one, found with four others, from Magyarorszag,[300] one from Gross-Steffelsdorf near Sajo-Gömör,[301] one, found with a sword of Type E, from near Plattensee or Lake Balaton,[302] and one from the Danube near Buda-Pest.[303]
One has been found at Bürkanow in Galicia,[304] one in Upper Austria, one near Linz,[305] five in Lower Austria, two at unknown sites, one at Mannersdorf,[306] one with a hoard including Type E swords at Wollersdorf,[307] and one in a wood near Wimpasting. One comes from Grübegg near Aussee in Styria,[308] and two from Carniola, one of which is from Mihovo near St. Barthelmä, and the other from an uncertain site.[309] Szombathy figures two fragments from a swallow-hole near St. Kanzian, not far from Trieste.[310]
In Italy the type is of common occurrence, but in a definitely restricted area. One has been found on the bank of the Chiano by the bridge of Frassineto near Arezzo and is in the Arezzo museum,[311] two near Lake Trasimene,[312] where a specimen of Type C was found, one of slightly aberrant form at Alerona, in the commune of Ficulle, near Orvieto, and which is now in the Prehistoric Museum at Rome,[313] and another, which also presents unusual features, in Rome itself.[314] Two specimens have been found at Lake Fucino,[315] and a third close by at Dintorni del Fucino,[316] one a little to the east at Sulmona,[317] and one rather further afield at Apulia.[318] Thus all these specimens, ten of Type D and one of Type C, have been found in a very restricted area, almost all of them lying in a valley or rather a fold of the Apennines between the lakes of Trasimene and Fucino. This distribution is of great importance for our thesis and will be referred to again in a later chapter.
This type has been found, though very rarely in France, and six specimens have been recorded in Britain, all from the mouth of the Thames, or from the south and east coasts. I can find no records of its occurrence in Germany or Denmark.
But if Type D occurs rarely if at all in the west and north, we find it not uncommonly in the south-east. Two swords of this type have been found at Mycenæ, one by Schliemann[319] and the other by Tsountas,[320] one has occurred at Levadia in Boeotia, a few miles south of Orchomenos, while two more have been discovered in a grave at Muliana in Crete.[321] The upper half of a sword, which has probably been influenced by this type, though the butt and tang are different, comes from Cyprus, where it was rifled from a tomb some thirty years ago.[322] Lastly, we have records of two swords of this type from Egypt, both from the Delta.[323] One of these, found at Zag-a-zig, is certainly of this type, the other, found at Tell Firaun in the Delta, appears to be so also, but the butt seems to have been slightly damaged. This sword bears upon it the cartouch of Seti II., which seems to have been engraved upon it in or about 1205 B.C. These occurrences of Type D swords in the south-east are specially interesting, and will be referred to again, as they give us some basis on which to establish a chronological scheme. They may also help us to bring our archæological evidence into line with historical and legendary matter.
Type E is also common in Hungary, from which eleven specimens have been recorded. These usually attain to very great dimensions. One is from an unknown site,[324] three from Podhering, found with swords of Type D,[325] two from Rima-Szombat, also with swords of Type D,[326] one from Magyarorbzag,[327] one from Gyula-fehérvar in the county of Fejér,[328] one from the Schatze near Hajdu-böszörmény,[329] one from Oreszka in the county of Zemplén,[330] and one, also found with swords of Type D, from near the Plattensee or Lake Balaton.[331] Three come from Bohemia, from Gross-Tschernitz, Siebenburgen and Wodnian;[332] one from Salza-Bach, near the Grübegg saw-mills in Styria,[333] and one from a hoard, which contained swords of Type D, found at Wollersdorf in Lower Austria.[334] One comes from Zuojuica in Herzegovina and one was found in a lake-dwelling at Auvernier on Lake Neuchâtel.[335] The type also occurs in Germany, though, I believe, not plentifully. In Greece two specimens only have been discovered, in a hoard outside the city of Tiryns.[336]
None have been found in Italy, but in France they occur abundantly, and there are thirty-one specimens of this type in the museum at St. Germain-en-Laye. They occur more abundantly still in these islands; fifty-eight have been found in the Thames basin, fifteen in the Fens, many of these in the famous Wilburton hoard, while fourteen others come from other counties washed by the North Sea; from the rest of England and Wales only eleven have so far been noted. In Ireland this type has not been found, but there are a considerable number of swords, found in that island, which are intermediate between this type and Type F, and will be dealt with under that heading.
It seems likely that some swords of this type have been found in the Rhine Valley, but so far I have failed to find any recorded, while elsewhere in Germany, in Schleswig-Holstein and in Denmark, they seem to be absent. This type, as we have seen, is found mainly in the west, so that it is extremely interesting to find a single example from an eastern site. This was found at the village of Zavadyntse, near Gorodak, in the government of Podolia in South-west Russia.[337] The occurrence of this sword so far east is strange, but taken in conjunction with the distribution of a certain type of pin, with which I shall deal in a later chapter, it will help to provide an important link in the chain of our argument.