398 THE PREHISTOKIC ANTIQUITIES OF HUNGARY. 



to deprive the museums of their entire collections ; and the private 

 persons who were desirous of contributing their share in rendering the 

 exposition more perfect had to abstain from sending all their objects, 

 considering that the corridors of the National Museum, which alone 

 were at our disposal, are already too narrow for a really complete exhi- 

 bition representing the entire kingdom. 



Objects of stag-horn and bone occur in prodigious number in some 

 counties, more especially among the remains of repasts, and they are 

 fashioned with a degree of skill which could only be acquired by long 

 practice in the leisure hours of savage life. One may see, for instance, 

 atMagyarad, at Szihalom, at Toszeg, at Szelev^ny, and at Cs^pa, objects 

 of deer-horn and bone by the hundred and thousand, while articles of 

 bronze and iron are but singly and sporadically met in these localities. 



Our characteristic bronze articles are known throughout Europe : it 

 has been sufficiently demonstrated that they are distinguished by pecu- 

 liar forms. The numerous utensils, weapons, and ornaments of bronze 

 bear witness that the Danubian countries had a civilization of their 

 own, a fact becoming still more apparent by the quantity of tlie raw 

 material and the number and size of the objects of copper. Is it neces- 

 sary, gentlemen, to recall to your memory that these very articles of 

 bronze and copper induced you at Stockholm to choose the capital of 

 Hungary as the place of meeting for this year ? 



It is known that among semi-savage and warlike nations the nobility 

 indulges in an excessive love of show. Their horsemen carry nearly all 

 their treasure on their persons and horses, and hence they exhibit an 

 extravagant taste in their offensive and defensive weapons, as well as 

 in their armlets, fibulae, necklaces, diadems, and horse-trappings, all of 

 which are profusely embellished with spirals, with bells of different 

 forms, with pendants presenting the shape of funnels, &c. Certain 

 tubes, often overloaded with the ornaments peculiar to our districts, 

 also should be mentioned. 



In addition to the weapons and ornaments, there are utensils of cop- 

 per and bronze, designed for digging the ground, for felling trees, and 

 for cutting crops and brushwood. You will further see the metallic 

 raw material, numerous fragments collected for being melted, ingots, 

 molds, and unfinished objects, all of which are indicative of work per- 

 formed in loco. Indeed, hearths for melting metals are not rare in our 

 country.* 



* During the fourth session of the congress, September 7, Mr. De Pulsky spoke of a 

 copper age, which, he thinks, can be traced in Hungary. He believes that many imple- 

 ments in the National Museum, which are supposed to pertain to the age of bronze, 

 consist in reality of copper. Nine of those instruments having been analyzed, it was 

 found that they contain no trace of tin. Some consisted of pure copper, corresponding 

 to the native copper of Hungary ; others contained a little silver, like certain copper 

 ores found in the same country. The implements in question most frequently resemble 

 either the hatchets of woodcutters or the pickaxes still used by miners. These forms 

 differ, according to Mr. De Pulsky, from the types characteristic of the bronze age, and 



