Folia archeologica 27.

István Ecsedy: Két neolitikus idol Kelet-Magyarországról

Two NEOLITHIC IDOLS 49 schematized stone figurines occur as well. The fact that they were found in every house unearthed of Stratum VI. points, according to Mellaart, to their essential, isolated function.

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0 The anthropomorphic vases and "effigy pots" of the different Linear Pottery groups, mentioned above, and the flat idols, occurring within the same circle, may express functional differences of similar character. We may draw the conclusion, based on above facts, that the production and use of our Neolithic anthropomorphic objects displayed here do not show any characteristical features, the origins of which would root in the preceramic period of Hungary. We find this idol type among the Early Neolithic material of Anatolia, the Balkans and the Carpathian Basin; the form occurs on the Balkans also in the Middle Neolithic and is frequent in the area of the Carpathian Basin. A Late Neolithic survival of the type Hódmezővásárhely-Gorzsa,

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7 Szegvár-Tűzköves,

48 Csóka

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J may be explained by the notion that the system of Neolithic religious rites preserved the peculiar function of this idol type. It is not possible to approach the spiritual life of the Neolithic Age exclusively by examining the idols, because we have no direct data as for their use. On the ground of the number of finds, of their connections and find circumstances the question is to be raised, whether these anthropomorphous representations are to be considered as statuettes of divinities at all, possessing a concrete role, or else they would represent an earlier period in religious evolution, a different system of religious imaginations. The possibility that the production of Neolithic statuettes might have been a commonplace thing, not belonging to any cult practices, is contradicted by the situation of the statuettes, found in sanctuaries, houses, granaries, sacrificial pits.

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0 It is a widely experienced fact that for nature people anthropomorphous forms and representations mean concrete persons which may imply cultic motives.

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1 On the ground of the remains of our Neolithic idol plastic we have to conclude to cultic rites, at the same time, however, we cannot help questioning, whether in the early and middle phase of Neolithic Age an anthropomorphic deity - Mother Earth, Corn Goddess, Fertility Goddess - standing in the centre of cult life, could have existed. The thesis of a cult of the Mother Goddess would postulate a deity, imagined in a personal form and represented in the female figurines.

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2 It is questionable whether we might count, as early as the early phases of Neolithic Age, on the probability of this deity occupying, at the time of the emergency of agriculture, a central part of cult life. The occurrence of female figurines, found often in large quantities, is, in our opinion, no proof for a similar notion and it would be extremely difficult to imagine the cultic life of the Early Neolithic in the Carpathian basin based on Mesopotamian or Egyptian agrarian 4

C Mellaart

, /., Excavations at Hacilar. I-IL (Edinburgh 1970) 176., Pl. CLXI-CLXIII. 4

7 Gazdapusztai, Gy., MFMÉ 1963. 34., Fig. 1. 4

8 Csalog, J., Arch.Ért. 84(1957) 207-210., Fig. 4. 4

9 Banner, J., Acta Arch.Hung. 12(1960) Pl. XXXII, XXXIII. 27. 5

0 See: Makkay, J., Acta Arch.Hung. 14(1962) 22. (With further literature.); Makkay, J., Arch.

Ért. 90(1963) 3-6.; Mellaart, J., Catal Hüyük. A Neolithic town in Anatolia. (London 1967) 67., Fig. 68. Cf. Ecsedy, I., SM К 1(1973) 279., notes 13-21. 5

1 For these see: Láng, /., Lélek és isten. A vallás alapvető fogalmainak kialakulása. (Bp. 1974) 203-213. (With further literature.) 5

2 Oberhuber, К., op. cit. 53. 4 Folia Archaeologica 1976