Folia archeologica 23.

Tibor Kovács: Askoi, Bird-Shaped Vessels, Bird-Shaped Rattles in Bronze Age Hungary

IO T. KOVÁCS István Bóna, while studying the bird-shaped rattles, stated that this type of cultic object developed in the pottery art of people of incrusted pottery. Bóna considers the Vucedol and Starcevo birds as antecedents to the rattles with inscrusted decoration.

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7 Before deciding on this question, we shall have to discuss certain problems which arise from the study of various types of bird-figures in Hungary. X. Do the different uses of bird-figures (askos, bird-shaped vessel, bird-shaped rattle) make it impossible that they should occur together in a specific period or culture ? As far as the periodic occurrence is concerned, it is true that the Early Bronze Age is characterized by a wide range of askoi. The birdshaped vessels of the Vucedol culture (Vucedol, Vukovar) prove the fact that in the vicinity of the region bird-shaped vessels had existed in the Early Bronze Age. In the Hungarian Middle Bronze Age, the three different shapes had existed in the Carpathian basin. An essential change, however, can be observed in the Late Bronze Age, when no objective evidence occurs for the existence either of the askos or the bird-shaped rattle in the region. At the same time, a considerable number of bronze statuettes had been made after the West- and Central-European archetype.

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8 Observing the occurrence of each type according to cultures as distinguished by present research, the result will produce a very motley picture. On the large territory possessed by Zók (Vucedol) culture;

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9 we can find, side by side with the askos, the occurrence of the bird-shaped vessel. J. Korosec, in his article dealing with pottery retrieved from the moor near Ljubjana, stated that many clay rattles existed among the Bronze Age objects. Most of them were anthropomorphic, but there were many among them, imitating birds.

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0 The 13-14 askoi and 3 birdshaped vessels or their fragments found in the settlements of Hatvan culture corroborate that the two types are characteristic forms of this culture.

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1 In the Wietenberg culture both the askos and the bird-shaped vessel, in the Otomani and Perjámos cultures only the askos was known. It is noteworthy that in the great "tellcultures" (Füzesabony, Gyulavarsánd cultures) of the Tisza-region in the authentic collection no askoi or bird-shaped vessels exist. Basing our supposition on the above indirect data, we believe that the askoi of Nagyrév and Tiszafüred are the local products of the Füzesabony 6

7 Bóna, I., A középső bronzkor . . . 453-454. 6

8 For a specific rhyton-like emergence of askoi in Italy, see: Hencken, H., op. cit. 527 ff. 6

9 S. Dimitrievic speaks of an incomplate bird-shaped vessel which can conditionally listed with the Vucedol culture: Ein Beitrag zur weiteren Kenntnis der Vucedoler Kultur. Opuscula Arch. 1(1956) 51., Pl. VI. no. 37. 7

0 Korosec, J., Nekáj primerov . . . 29-30. -The summary of the study written in English contains no plate reference and there are no periods stated within the Bronze Age. 7

1 The bird-shaped rattles listed by N. Kalicz among the finds of the Hatvan culture emerged from the settlements of Male Kosihy (Kiskeszi), Szécsény-Kerekdomb, Füzesabony (cf. Die Frühbronzezeit . . . Pl. CXV. nos. 2-3,5.), where the finds of the Magyarád and Füzesabony culture are also represented. Besides, their direct connection with similar products of the Transdanubian region is evident, whether we consider them as imported objects or as copies.