Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 8.-9. 1967-1968 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1968)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Makkay János: A Peculiar Clay Object of the Vinea Culture. – A Vinea Kultúra sajátos agyagtárgya. VIII–IX, 1967–68. p. 9–22. t. I–II.

TANULMÁNYOK — ABHANDLUNGEN A PECULIAR CLAY OBJECT OF THE VINCA CULTURE The Neolithic Clay Objects from Bicske The archaeological collection of the King Stephen Museum at Székesfehérvár embraces the eleven clay objects of extremely peculiar shape, unpublished so far, which will be dealt with below. Their site is the area of the Galagonyás vineyard in the village Bicske (Fejér county, Bicske district), well known in archaeological literature.

1 The objects may be dated by the material of the site to the second half of the Neolithic unequivocally. To put in exactly, they belong to an archaeological group of mixed material, inside the boundaries of the large area of the line-decorated pottery cultures ("Bandkeramik" or "Linienbandkeramik"). This means the period of the "Notenkopf'-pottery, datable to the central period of the development of the line-decorated pottery, showing some fluctuation towards the even younger Zseliz culture. The mixed character of the finds is best shown by the strong impact, even definite presence of the Vinca culture, manifested in many signs. Judged by these data, one may attach the Bicske site to the second half or the end of the development of the period Vinca В (according to Milojcic).

2 An additional proof is given by the fact that the site has yielded a typical fragment of the Tisza culture in course of the Bicske excavation in 1959. Proceeding in order, the following lines will give a short description of the objects found at Bicske in the first place, then they will survey all the conclusions which have been put forward in the publications of the past as regards the objects of such character. Finally we shall deal with the inferences, borne out by the peculiar shape and the equally characteristic range of these objects. Our finds uncovered at Bicske have only seemingly an identical shape, as a matter of fact. A detailed investigation may distinguish several types. Unfortunately no one of the eleven objects has been preserved in a perfect condition, but there are several the original shape of which can be defined with full certainty. i É. F. PETRES: Neolithic graves at Bicske. IKMK A/9 (1959). 2 J. MAKKAY: Die neolithischen Funde von Bicske. The materials of Symposion in Nitra 1967, on the problems of the Lengyel culture, in p ress

. A. As regards form, the first type is of a small size and solid. It reminds one of a miniature jar, from the side of which four flat, slightly arched, arm- or rather wing-shaped prolongations are starting upwards symmetrically. The rounded-off ends of the arms and the upper end (rim) of the body are partitioned by crosswise applied grooves (Cat. No. 6., PI. I, 6; Fig. 2, 4a

—b). One sees a hole at the top of the trunk and another at the bottom, but they do not meet, since the longitudinal perforation has been just begun or even marked. Type "A" embraces another piece. This one is larger and wider than the former one, nor has its rump the shape of a jar, it is rather reminiscent of an anchor, from the body of which, at the bottom, four symmetrically arranged (enclosing an angle of 90 degrees) and upwards arching branches are starting off.

4 The ends of the branches are decorated here too, but with one crosswise applied, i.e. vertical groove each (Cat. No. 3). The point of the erected, central prolongation is broken off. Also this piece shows the piercing in longitudinal, i.e. vertical direction, begun but unfinished, in the lower part of the body. (PI. I, 3; Fig. 2, 3a—b). B. This type embraces two pieces, being simple fivepointed stars, as a matter of fact. If we place the object on the only suitable surface, the longest of the five branches stands upright, the four remaining shorter ones, identical to each other, take up a horizontal position, symmetrically (at an angle of 90 degrees) with each other (Cat. No. 11., PL II, 2; Fig. 3, la—b). This type also has a vertical, i.e. longitudinal perforation, begun but unfinished. Here the two holes do not begin vertically but slantingly, from parts between two horizontally situated branches; the upper one starts crossways to the middle and downwards, aiming at the central part of the bottom, the lower one starts from here, almost opposite to the other. The two perforations do not meet, they are too 3 The lack of measurement in our catalogue means that the figure or sketch of the quoted original publication is presented in the proportion 1 : 1 in the present paper. * D. BERCIU: Dacia 6 (1962) 387-396. 9