. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. PALAFITTES, OR LACUSTEIAN CONSTRUCTIONS. with a rim of iron skilfully adapted, and embracing the two edges of the scab- bard. It is furaishcd at top with a special plate, which bears the ring of sus- pension, and whose border serves as a frame for the very remarkable designs which characterize these sheaths. These designs had from the first attracted the attention of M. F. Keller, as being equally foreign to Roman art and to the age of bron
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. PALAFITTES, OR LACUSTEIAN CONSTRUCTIONS. with a rim of iron skilfully adapted, and embracing the two edges of the scab- bard. It is furaishcd at top with a special plate, which bears the ring of sus- pension, and whose border serves as a frame for the very remarkable designs which characterize these sheaths. These designs had from the first attracted the attention of M. F. Keller, as being equally foreign to Roman art and to the age of bronze.* Most of them are engraved with the oscillating biu'in, (trtmulirstich,) so that, on close examination, we recognize the reciprocating movement of the instrument by which they ai"e traced. Some of the scabbards are ornamented with figures wrought with the punch; this is particularly the case with a unique specimen of our owTi collection which represents the charac- teristic emblem of the Gauls, (Fig. 75,) namely, the horned horse, such as occurred also on the coinage of the Tene. There is seen, moreover, on the face opposite to that which bears the clasp of suspension a sort of granulation, which sometimes reminds us of shagreen skin, and at Figure 75. other times of such damaskeened work as modern armorers obtain by the use of acids. These ornaments and designs have, in an ethnographic point of view, a much greater importance than the swords themselves, seeing that thus far they are exclusively pe- culiar to the age of iron, while the form of the blade has been preserved during the subsequent epochs. Together with swords and lances, we find at the T^ne consider- ;ible numbers o? javelins of iron, of small dimensions, (10 to 12 centimetres,) and of much less finished workmanship, without the median ridge, but with a simple socket, (Fig. 76,) in which is -ometimes found the nail which fastened it to the staff. These (javelins are in all respects similar to those of the
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Keywords: ., bookauthorsmithsonianinstitutio, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840
