Orlat Battle Plaque\'s Importance

[Robert Vermaat]

There are a lot if of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ among the dates proposed here.

2. As far as the swords are concerned, this type of sword, like the scabbard slide, was in widespread use in China by 2nd c. BC, but we do not find it outside of China until later. Likewise, the scabbard slide is not found west of China before the 1st c. AD, so the plaque cannot date to earlier than that time period.

This sounds a lot like the chicken and the egg. Of course the Orlat plaque could be proof that shows that these swords and scabbard slide occurred west of China before the 1st century, but reasoning like that is equally impossible as the opposite. The Orlat plaque cannot be used to prove an earlier date for the spread of sword and slide, nor can the hypothesis about this spread be used to date the plaque.