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.

have a spiral, or meandrical incised ornament, respectively (Fig. 7,7a—b). The remaining three Jablanica specimens (Fig. 7, 8—10) have the likeness of four-pointed flat stars, one of them is entirely perforated. The first two pieces (Fig. 7, 8—9) are regarded as vase-shaped trinkets by V a s i t s, on the analogy of similar vesselshaped pendants, occurring in other cultures. The vessellike form of the objects is related to one of the Bicske types (Fig. 4a

—b). As regards the extension of the Bicske types, a related piece (or two pieces) uncovered at Donji Klahar (Hercegovina) has (or have) extraordinary significance. On the basis of the publications and the figure one cannot decide, whether in the two cases one is faced by one object or two. Anyway, their connection with the general Bicske type is obvious. Both pieces were pierced too, probably in the typical Bicske manner, slantingly (Cat. No. 38—39. Fig. 7, 5—6.). Closing the series of the Banatian finds, we mention two or, respectively, four analogous specimens from the Tűzköves at Csóka. The two pieces, analogous to the Bicske type "C" (Fig. 5, 10—11), are regarded by the author of the publication, J. Banner, as net weights}

1 He states that similar finds have been uncovered at Szerbkeresztur equally, but we could not find their trace in the source quoted by him. As to both Csóka finds, the publication does not enable us to decide, if they were perforated or not ; nor can we hope for a definite answer, since the objects are missing from their former repository, the Ferenc Móra Museum, Szeged. On the other hand, the collection of data in the Ferenc Móra Museum has preserved the sketches of two additional Csóka specimens. As to form, they are no close relatives of the Bicske type "C", but both are "star-shaped weights" with longitudinal perforations; the part corresponding to the trend of the piercing is longer and broader than the two arms, jutting out at the side (Fig. 5,12—13).

18 The preserved drawings do not reveal with certainty, whether these finds were four- or six-pointed stars. The first case is more probable. A further object, uncovered at Csóka — Tűzköves, an actually similar piece, having a longitudinally pierced body and two arms at the side, serves as a parallel to them; on this basis, the two pieces (Fig. 5, 12—13) may have been primitive portrayals of human beings (not in the same meaning, however, as it was imagined and suggested by F. Millek e r in connection with the Potporanj finds of the Bicske type

13

). This view is supported by the ornament incised on the front part of the last Csóka parallel,

19 a cross well known from the Neolithic (and especially frequent just in the second half of the Vinca culture) on idols, an ornament linking also this piece to the idols and through them to human portrayals.

20 This four-pointed Csóka type leads us to the Tordos finds. They stand relatively apart from the four Bicske types but they are close parallels of the second, four" J. BANNER: Acta Arch. Hung. 12 (1960) 50. 18 Published on the basis of F e r e n с M ó г a's sketches, by the kindness of Ottó Trogmayer. 19 Szeged, Ferenc Móra Museum, Csóka IV/17/910. no. 382: a cross-shaped earthen object 8 cm long, 7 cm wide. I am informed by the kind oral communication ofO. Trogmayer that the find does not exist in the museum by now, just the sketch by Ferenc Móra. 50 J. MAKKAY: Arch. Ért. (1963) 6-12. pointed Csóka specimen. They were regarded as "eartherr idols" or "prototypes" of such, respectively, by M. R о s к a.

21 Two of them have rather simple forms, (Fig. 7, 1—2), marking nothing but the "feet". The other two have the shape of an extended animal hide, bearing the marks of both arms and feet according to R о s к a (Fig. 7, 3—4). AU four pieces are perforated longitudinally. This phenomenon links the second Csóka type and the Tordos finds to the formally somewhat different Bicske objects after all, since it may hardly be believed that this Csóka—Tordos type could be enlisted in the group of the well-known headless idols.

22 Further finds have to be mentioned too, which are connected to the Bicske objects not because of their equally mysterious character but on the basis of their essential structure and idea. First of all, we adduce two objects from the surroundings of Esztergom (Cat, No. 12—13., PI. II. 3—4; Fig. 5, 7—8), differring from the Bicske type "C" in the fact that their two branches,, protruding in the same direction, are longer than the others and form the body of the object, as it were. The remaining four do not start from the centre of the body but from the upper two-thirds symmetrically in four directions. None of them is pierced. Judged by their material, they may belong to the Neolithic age and, since the probable site of discovery is not far from Bicske, they might well belong to the same culture as the finds of this site. A parallel object from Szabolcs county, uncovered at an unknown site, reminds us of the finds from the surroundings of Esztergom.

23 (Fig. 5, 9.) From the upper third of the long body five small arm-like protrusions start in horizontal direction, but from the front part of the body only; three of the are but rumps. The material attaches the piece to the Neolithic age, but we are unable to say more than this (Fig. 5, 9). The Tisza culture, coeval to the age of the finds of the Bicske type, was present in the territory of Szabolcs county doubtlessly. We go even farther from the Bicske type if we mention another object, unearthed at the site of T i s z a p oroszló — Aporhát (Heves county), reminding us of an earthen model of a cart wheel actually, bearing the traces of the spokes at the side (Fig. 4, 4).

24 The age of this object, however, together with its adequate attribution to any of the mentioned types, are open to doubt. The three analogous miniature objects from Sátoraljaújhely (Borsod county) belong to the late neolithic painted pottery, contemporaneus with the Bükk-culture (Cat. No. 45—46., Fig. 8, 1—3). In order to compare the full circle of parallels, we present a find from Zengővárkony, which used to be a dish-cover in all probability. It consists of a cylindrical body with four protrusions at the four sides of the upper part (Fig. 4, 3).

25 Such finds have been uncovered " M. ROSKA: A Torma Zsófia-gyűjtemény az Erdélyi Nemzeti Múzeumi Érem- és Régiségtárában (The Collection Sophie Torma in the Numismatical and Archaeological Section of the Transylvanian National Museum), (Kolozsvár 1941) 318. 22 J. MAKKAY: Acta Arch. Hung. 14 (1962) 1. 23 J. MAKKAY: Annals of the Museum of Nyíregyháza 3 (1963) 9. 24 J. SÖREGI: DMÉ (1930) 67-69, Fig. 1.. 2f> J. DOMBAY: op cit. 219, Pl. XC, 7. 2* 19