Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 14. 1973 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1975)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Jovanović, B.: The Scordisci and their art. XIV, 1973. p. 167–176.

understandable that these influences are not equally manifest in all art objects from Scordisci territory. Furthermore, most of the jewelry and weapons un­doubtedly represent typical forms of La Tène art of the Carpathian Basin and thus their origin is not limited to Scordisci territory. It is important to reemphasize the generally known attribution of the Gundestrup cauldron to the Eas­tern Celts on the basis of its stylistic features and technique of manufacture : the Scordisci are thus pro­bably its creators( 6 ). It is precisely the Gundestrup cauldron's stylistic features, encompassing late La Tène artistic expressions of the Balkan Danube Ba­sin, which more closely define the issue of Scordisci art. In short, one must investigate those cases in which the usual themes of Celtic art are expressed in a manner which reveals the influence of the in­digenous surroundings, the more so because the indi­genous art has its own proper traditions. If one commences with articles in daily use such as pottery, tools, or weapons, it is the ornamentation of the La Tène long swords which is immediately striking. In this respect what is certainly very inte­resting is the location of the sculptural shaping of the mask on the handle of the sword from Kupinovo (Srem): its markings would date it in the middle La Tène period (fig. I). The rough modeling, the sculp­tural emphasis of each detail of the eye and brows, and the completely stylized face, here represent suf­ficiently clearly the distinctive features of n id La Tène art( 7 ). But this method of sword decorction is not the usual one. In mid La Tène, sword decorationes usually tendril designs, were engraved (not modelled) on the scabbard. Engraved specimens from Vojvo­dina and Slavonia illustrate the evolution of these motifs from the lyre or „dragon" of early La Tène to elaborated, complex, plant like, curvilinear de­signs^). A similar unusual example is the zoomorphic design on the blade of the Kupinovo sword where the representation of a wild boar perhaps has a ma­gical, apotropaic significance and is not simply crafts­man's mark (fig. 2). Although it is in miniature, this representation was rendered in clear stylization, un­doubtedly derived from late Greek archaic art( 9 ). Various other sword markings have generally been in­terpreted as desingating particular workshops, which presume the existence of a number of weapon-pro­ducing centers in the Yugoslav Danube basin. This would correspond to the military power of the Scor­disci^ 0 ). Finally we mention one of the rare figurai representations: the partially preserved bronze sta­(6) S. PIGUOTT, о. c, 22(i. (7) IST. MAJNARKVPANDZTC, Keltsko-latenska kultúra и Slavoniji iSrijemu. Vinkovci, 1970, 29, PI. XVIII,3. (8) K. VINSKI-GASPARINT, Keltski ratnicki grob iz Batine. Arh. rad. i raspr. I, 1959, 285-287', fig. 18-27. (7) iN. MAJNARIC-PANDZIC, O. C, 29, PI. XVIII, 1. (10) J. TODOROVIC, о. c, (57, PL XXXVII, 6-9. tuette of a warrior from Kladovo which is attributed to the Scordisci( n ). The markings and decorative motifs on painled pottery from fortified La Tène settlements in Voj­vodina accords completaly with late La Tène styles in central and southeastern Europe( 12 ). The anthro­pomorphic representation is particularly worthy of attention. This design, worked in separate frames on the frieze or the neck of a burnished earthenware amphora, is a component part of a geometric, orna­mental design (fig. 3). The human figure is simpli­fied to the utmost into a purely geometrical design, and has one hand raised, holding a torch or a sheaf of grain (wheat?). This discovery is from Gomolava (Srem) and according to the stratification daie3 from the late period of the Scordisci settlement in that area, that is, between 50 ВС and 50 AD( 13 ). A very similar anthropomorphic representation was found in Tokod (Hungary) again on the neck of an ampho­ra, in an identical pose. One might think this is a spe­cific ritual scene common to the Celtic tribes of the late La Tène in the Pannonian plain( 14 ). The artistic inheritance acquired from the older settlers — The Tllyrians, Pannonians, Thracians and Scythians — was preserved in the Balkan Danube areas by the Scordisci in jewelry making or pottery ornamentation. In certain instances there was a di­rect acquisition of decorated objects of local origin such as the bronze astragal belts found in early La Tène graves in Slavonia or northern Serbia( 15 ). But the original design persisted and did not influence the form or ornamentation of the later La Tène iron or bronze belts. Bracelets consisting of one or more spiral twists, with simply finished terminals, also belong to the jewelry forms surviving from the early Iron Age, hut variations of these may be encountered at the end of the second century ВС and even the beginning of the first century BC( 16 ). Decorated buckles set on broad leather belts used by the Scordisci right up to the middle of the second century ВС were orna­mented with hammered geometric desings on bronze sheeting. Their local origin is attested by findings in the Illyrian-Pannonian regions( I? ). That the use of ornamental techniques was highly developed in the previous period is evident in the (11) M. GARASANIN, Figura keltskog ratnika iz Kiadóra. Zborn. Nar. muz., IV, 1964, 79-83, fig. 1. (12) B. JOVANOVIC, Naselje Skordiska na Gomolavi. Rad Vojvodj. muz., XX, 1971, 132, PI. IV, 1 -4. (13) Ibid., 132, Pl. IV, 5. (14) E. BONIS, Die spätkeltische Siedlung Gellérthegy­Tabán in Budapest. Budapest, 1969, 216, fig. 105,5. (15) J. TODOROVIC':, Praistorijska Karaburma. Beograd 1972, 68, PI. VI, 2; ID., Kelti и jugoistocnoj Evropi. Beograd, 1968, 61, Pl. XXV, 5-6; Pl. XIX, 12. (Ki) D. GARASANIN, Katalog metala. Beograd, 1954, 67, Pl. LIX, 3-4. (17) S. NADJ, Zastitno iskopavanje na Gomolavi kod Hrtkovaca. Rad Vojvodj. muz., IX, 1960, 128, Pl. XI, 9; J. BRUNSMTD, Prehistoriski predmeti sremske zupanije. VHAD, VI, 1902, 84. 168

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