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.

at other sites of the Lengyel culture too.

26 Though there is some relation between the structures of such handles and the objects of the Bicske type, we may state that the two have nothing in common functionally. This statement is not valid for an extremely important parallel find from the Yougoslavian site Tecic (Fig. 4, 5), the interpretation and explanation of which is also extremely difficult.

27 Were we not informed on the age of the find and its place in the Starcevo-Körös culture, should enlist in into the Bicske type "C" without hesitation. There is an extreme similitude in form, with the difference that the Tecic specimen is five-pointed. Two of the branches are thicker and more solid, making the body of the object, the remaining three are partitioned evidently symmetrically, sideways. The object is perforated too, nay it seems that the branch falling nearer to the onlooker is pierced vertically. The piece is regarded as an amulet by R. G a 1 о v i c.

28 It is doubtless that the archaeological material of the Starcevo-Körös period does not embrace such an object as far. There are several considerations which bar its attaching to the finds of the Bicske type, mainly the reason of their derivation, the origin of the type. The most important of these considerations is the large chronological distance and the imperfect analogy of form. Nevertheless, we may imagine that in an earlier period the Tecic" specimen fulfilled the same destination and played the same role as the earthen objects of the Bicske type, having an altered shape by then, in the much later Vinca В period and even afterwards, in the Lengyel culture. Thus we cannot discard the possibility that the T e с i ó specimen had an identical purpose with the other finds of the Vinca В period. All that has been said above, all our parallels lead us to the doubtless statement: our finds of the Bicske types belong either to the basic material of the Vinca culture directly, to the rather late "B" period of this culture (Vinca, Gombos — Bogojeva, Temeskubin, Potporanj, Csóka, Jablanica, Verse c, Bátka —

Perlas z, Gomo1 a v a, P a r á с, L u b с о v a), or to a closely related Butmir group (Donji Klahar), or one under the strong impact of the Vinca (and Butmir) culture, respectively (Bicske), or finally, to the Lengyel culture (Zengővárkony, Lengyel), the close connections of which with the period of the Vinca culture, determining the origins of the Lengyel culture genetically in all probability, are just recently revealed by the prehistorical research in this area.

29 Especially the form of the Zengővárkony pieces is so close to the Bicske type "C" that we are induced to assume very connections between the two peoples or two 26 By the friendly oral communication of Nándor Kalicz. г' R. GALOVIC: 43-44 BRGK 1962-63. 8, PI. 11, 5. 28 Ibid. 2» M. GRBIC: Arheoloski Radovi i Rasprave 1 (Zagreb 1959) 128-129. - A. TOCIK - J. LICHARDUS: PA 1966. 1. - M. ZÁPOTOCKA: AR 19 (1967) 1, with further literature. groups, producing these objects, in spite of the chronological distance between them. At the same time our survey bears out the conclusion that the specimens of the three groups mentioned above are just those which harmonize with the ground type(s) or show but unimportant divergences from it. The remaining specimens, falling farther from these basic forms, do not belong to the Vinca culture or any culture showing a strong influence of the same. On the other hand, two Csóka finds (Fig. 5, 12—13) and the Tordos specimens belong to the Bicske types presented here; in these cases the differences in form are due to the fact that they (mainly the Tordos ones) are earlier than the remaining pieces. At the same time we have to reckon with the presence of the Vinca culture in this form or the other at both of these sites. Thus we regard these objects as the specific finds of the Vinca culture, not occurring in the material of other cultures independently, having a special destination in all probability. We ought to try to define this destination more exactly, but there are several difficulties in our way. First of all, we do not know the circumstances of uncovering in the case of a single find; then we were unable to investigate any original object, except for the Bicske specimens and the Temeskubin one. Nevertheless, we may state that the most extended, so to say basic form seems to be the Bicske type "C" with its parallels. The edges of the holes of almost all Bicske specimens which are pierced through show the traces of wear and tear, produced by the cord. So we may imagine these finds as amulets, suspended on a cord. In this case the specimens which show but the marks of a perforation, could have been such amulets which could be worn without stringing and suspension. Some clay figurines of same size and similar shape to a certain extent from Bikovo, Banjata, and Kapitän Dimitrijevo, Bulgaria, are probably bird- or Hitter-mouse representations (P. Deter, Godisnik Plovdiv 2. 1950. 13-15., figs 24. and 29., and 3. 1954. 185., fig. 73. We may also imagine the pieces of the type "C" as parts of a necklace which consisted of, or contained clay beads. In our judgment, the remaining possibilities of interpretation, put forward in literature so far, fall out by themselves, such as the toy, the weight and the whorl; the reason is that objects of such character could not be used in everyday practice, except for the necklace. Summing up, we may state that these finds enrich the orbit of the very manifold, colourful earthen (mainly idol) plastic art of the Vinca culture even further. They furnish important data for the research of the extension of the Vinca culture to the North, and of the relations of Late Neolithic cultures. The collections of several museums may preserve such or similar unpublished finds yet. We hope that the knowledge of these will enable us to make the picture outlined above more precise, mainly in defining the destination of the objects. /. Makkay 20