Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. A Szent István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 34. 2004 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (2005)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Zalai-Gaál, István: New evidence for the Cattle cult in the Neolithic of Central Europe. XXXIV. p. 7–40. T. I–XVII.

tive of a house or any stratification in the pit's fill. It would appear that the finds represent the remains of one particular sacrifice, in which the aurochs trophy played a prominent role. 2. An aurochs horn-core lay at a depth of 234 cm from the surface on the floor of Pit a in Trench B/VIII together with Late Neolithic pottery sherds, animal bones, silex and bone implements, as well as the fragments of a human skull and the long bones. The skull bore traces of burning (Plate III, Fig. 5). The animal depictions from Mórágy too indicate that the occupants practiced some form of the cattle cult. One of the finds in question is a stray find: a light brown, smooth object with a V shaped upper part, which had most likely been an appliqué ornament {Plate IV, Fig. 6. /; Zalai-Gaál 1998b, 51, Abb. 10. 3a-b). Even though the horns had originally also been portrayed on the head of a fourfooted animal figurine (on which the ears are shown, the mouth is indicated with a wide, curved incision and the eyes and the nose are represented with oval and round impressions; Plate IV, Fig. 6. 3), the species determination of the depicted animal is uncertain (Zalai-Gaál 1998b, 51, Abb. 9.1a-b). The species identification of the zoomorphic figurines, lamps, small reliefs and moulded ornaments of the Lengyel culture recovered from southern Transdanubian sites is often impossible owing to the schematic portrayal; only in a few cases can it be tentatively assumed that the depicted creature was a bovine of the Bovidae family. The latter include the triangular, perforated animal heads with broken horns (or ears) set on vessels, such as the ones from Lengyel-Tok (Zalai-Gaál 1998b, Abb. 22. 1-2) and Várdomb-Újberekpuszta (Zalai-Gaál 1982, Abb. 8. 7; 1998b, Abb. 25), the animal head terminalled clay ladles from the ramparts at the Lengyel site (Zalai-Gaál 1998b, Abb. 19, Abb. 20), and the handle of a vessel lid from Mórágy (Zalai-Gaál 1998b, Abb. 17). The painted „running dog" pattern on the neck of a cup from the female burial in Grave 59 at Mórágy is accentuated with triangular, schematic animal heads set between the spiral motifs (Zalai-Gaál 1998b, Abb. 3. 1-2). The archaeozoological sample from Zengővárkony, the most extensively investigated Lengyel settlement, shows the absolute dominance of Bos taurus among domestic species (285 individuals); among the hunted animals, aurochs (132 individuals) closely follows red deer (140) (Bökönyi 1962, 100-101). Similar frequencies were noted at Pécsvárad: cattle was represent by 71 individuals, while pig, the second most frequent species, by 16 individuals, and hunted animals showed the primacy of red deer (33), followed by aurochs (29) (Bökönyi 1962, 101). The same proportions were observed at Villánykövesd, where cattle (56) again preceded pigs (8), although at this site aurochs was more frequent than roe deer and red deer among game animals (Bökönyi 1962, 102). Grave group 9 of the Zengővárkony cemetery stands out by the number of burials containing high numbers of animal bones. In most cases, these were food offerings. Three burials, however, differ from the others by their nature. Grave 92 was a male burial in which an adult man was deposited without the skull. Lying in the grave were seven clay vessels, a polished, shafthole stone adze, a stone axe and a grinding stone. The deposition of the latter can be regarded as a reflection of some sort of ritual activity (Makkay 1978). A pig mandible was set in the place of the skull, while the human lower jawbone lay in its anatomical place (Dombay 1960, 78-79). A broken aurochs horn-core with a part of the skull and the occipital bone from an adult aurochs bull was found beside the skeleton (Bökönyi 1961, 88-89), which was not mentioned by János Dombay. The deceased in Grave 128 was laid to rest in a position differing from those of the other deceased. The grave goods were made up of five vessels, a stone axe and a stone blade, as well as a dog (a rather unusual grave offering) and the horns of an aurochs calf. Other animal bones were placed in a pedestalled vessel (Dombay 1960, 91-92; Zalai-Gaál 1994b, 41). Grave 137 had a remarkably large grave pit. The human skull was missing from this burial too, although the jawbone lay in its anatomically correct position. The articles laid beside the deceased were the ones typical for male burials: a polished stone adze, two stone axes and a grinding stone, eight vessels, a stone blade, jewellery articles and many animal bones (Dombay 1960, 94-95), one of which was the left horn-core of an adult domestic cow {Bos taurus) (Bökönyi 1961, 89). Aurochs remains were also brought to light in various features of the settlement at Zengővárkony. These include a skull fragment with the frontal and occipital bone and two horn-cores from a young animal (Bökönyi 1961, 91, Fig. 1 ) and the left horn-core of an aurochs bull from Pit 1 in Trench 2 of Square I (Bökönyi 1961, Pl. 7. 3). A dorsal vertebra fragment, two broken ribs, a broken left proxima radius and a left metacarpus of an aurochs were found under the lower ash layer in Pit 2 of Trench 2 in Square I (Bökönyi 1961, 95-96). The pit's stratification is perhaps an indication of its sacrificial nature. The bones of an adult aurochs were recovered from Pits 11-12 in Trench 3 of Square I (Bökönyi 1961, 96). Pit 3 in Trench 4 of Square I yielded a broken femur (Bökönyi 1961, 97); Pit 16 of Trench 6 too contained aurochs bones (Bökönyi 1961, 99). A broken femur distal epiphysis was found above the pits in Trench I (Bökönyi 1961, 103). It seems likely that Pit 1 с in Trench 2 was a sacrificial pit since it contained the left horn-core with part of the skull from an adult aurochs bull (Bökönyi 1961, 104). A broken right horn-core with part of the skull, the left horn-core and two broken horn-cores were recovered from the level above the pits in Trench 3 (Bökönyi 1961, 105). Pit 1 in Trench 4 contained an atlas fragment (Bökönyi 1961, 106). The evaluation of the pottery from these pits is currently in progress; their detailed analysis will undoubtedly contribute to interpreting the nature of the finds from the pits. 9