Folia archeologica 24.

Tibor Kovács: Representations of Weapons on Bronze Age Pottery

16 T. KOVÁCS roughly the whole 14th century B.C. In this period, shortly outlined as the result of an amalgamation of different ethnic groups, a population lived in the northern part of the territory between the Danube and the Tisza, in the western part of Northern Hungary, resp. in the eastern areas of South-West Slovakia. The settlements and cemeteries of this area, consisting of parts of the original territory of the "classical" Vatya, Füzesabony, resp. Magyarád cultures, yielded a find material, related in many points. In this regard the fact that the ceramic material of MendeLeányvár and Tószeg-Laposhalom (Strata a-e)

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9 are closely connected, having even identical features in form and decoration, has a special importance. This encourages us, accordingly, to assume that the Mende representations and the face jar of Tószeg are fairly contemporaneous, most likely relics of the same people.

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0 - The representation of the hand on the Izsák jar is to be dated, in all certainty, to the Koszider period. In the cemetery of the late period of the Vatya culture we find graves of the Szeremle group, being on the way of development at this time. The fact that the incised representations of the hand is incrusted with lime, binds our piece presumedly to the Szeremle group. On the basis of the already mentioned chronological data we can fix the Mende, Tószeg and Izsák items to the Koszider period, i.e. to the 14th century B.C. The other pieces in question (the Dunaújváros, Igar and Pákozd representations) are, by reason of a similar style, to be dated roughly to this period. For fixing the place of our group of relics in the Bronze Age arts of Hungary, we have to sum up the main lines of the changes human representations underwent in this period.

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1 Anthropomorphic figures of summarized forms, merely indicating the human shape, so characteristic for the Early Bronze Age in Hungary, are représentants of a style spread over large areas. These figures with faceless heads and stumpy arms, rather resembling violins, represent an artistic style attached to the same contents, characteristic of Early Bronze Age agricultural cultures, thrieving on the territories of Asia Minor, the Aegean and the Balkans.

22 Within the framework of this great unity, characteristics of the developing local Bronze Age arts manifest themselves in the first line on figures of the Zók culture, later on those of the Hatvan culture, with a trend towards abstraction.

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3 Relics of the Hungarian Middle Bronze Age arts differ from these in many ways, being characterized by a combined employment of abstract and realistic features. The latter traits get a growing dominance, leading towards the evolvement of a new way of expression in the 15-14th century B.C. Instead of the previous artistic interpretation of human forms - that of stylized figures - new forms come into 1

9 Mozsolics, A., Acta Arch.Hung. 3(1952) 38-41, Pl. I-V. 2

0 In the present state of research it would be audacious to presume on the area, topographically but roughly encircled, a homogenous population which could be given a separate name. Further investigations on authentical find complexes may corroborate a similar hypothesis but as for the present we cannot maintain more than the assumption that a local movement tending to different directions resulted a major ethnic amalgamation on the territory in question. 2

1 For a more detailed account v. Kovács, T., A bronzkor etc. 2

2 Summarized in: Goldmann, В., Typology of Mother-Goddess figurines. IPEK 20(1960-63) 8-15. 2

3 Ka/icz, N., Die Frühbronzezeit in Nordost-Ungarn. AH 45. (Bp. 1968) 98, 159.