Nye fund af »La Tène«-sværd i Sydvestjylland

During the last few years, several newswords of the La Tène-type have beenfound in Southwestern Jutland. They are,like most of the earlier finds, found inurn graves or firepit graves from the firstcentury BC. This article presents threenew finds from two locations, Erisvængetand Tjæreborg Nord, and puts them intotheir military and social contexts.The new finds expand our numbersof La Tène-swords in the region. Furthermore,the new finds are part of largeexcavations, and thus it is possible to relatethe finds to the cultural landscapearound them.The production, distribution, and useof the swords will be discussed. Analysesof one of the swords, from TjæreborgNord, and the metal analysis hint at apossible local production of La Tèneswords,though using foreign resources.Further, the article discusses whyLa Tène-type swords spread to the Germanicarea at the very end of the periodwhen the La Tène-swords were used. Itseems that the swords do not signify acertain social class, but rather a new militarydevelopment which is incorporatedinto a social network of relationships between people.