Pásztor Emília (szerk.): Sámánizmus és természethit régen és ma - Bajai dolgozatok 23. (Baja, 2019)

Peter Toth: Rituális tevékenység Szlovákiában a neolitikum és rézkor idején

Ritual practices in the Neolithic and Eneolithic in Slovakia

Fig. 28. Sacrifice pit from Bajc-Vlkanovo, dated to the Epilengyel (after Pazinová - Bistáková 2013, Abb. 6).

28. kép. Áldozati gödör, Bajc-Vlkanovo. Epilengyel időszak.

certain ceremonies (Pavúk 1994b, 97).

Specific features of the early Lengyel culture are monumental earthworks - rondels - which usually appear in the center of the settlements. Generally, they have a circular ground plan and consist of ditches, palisades (sometimes walls) and their combination. Their inner area is usually unbuilt, but sometimes a building can be found there, which could have been resided by a spiritual leader of the community (fig. 27). Interpretation of the rondels is still not clear. It seems they may have represented communal-ceremonial facilities or calendar observatories (see P. Barna 2017; Tóth 2017 for further literature). Unusual situation was observed in Ruzindol-Borová. The construction of a double rondel was not finished, because palisades have not yet been erected and the outer ditch was only 70-90 cm deep. However, striking are human bones (complete skeletons or their parts) in the infill of the ditch (altogether 130 individuals are estimated). According to anthropological analysis traces of violence were observed on the bones which might be related to ritual act or warfare (Némejcová-Pavúková 1997).

A content of the settlement pit from Vysné nad Hronom is dated to the Epilengyel and was interpreted as a human sacrifice. Its filling consisted of four individuals (three adults and