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.

survived. The finds found nearby include three clay vessels, a bone polisher and a bull horn (Lazarovici 1998, 14, Kat. 9, Abb. 8). House 8, another cult building, contained an idol with a bull's eye incised onto its chest (Lazarovici 1998, 12, Kat. 6, Abb. 5). A sculpted clay bull head (Lazarovici 1998, 15) and a clay bucranium can be dated to Phase II of the Banat culture (Lazarovici 1985, 53, PL 4. 3). Cultural impacts from the Vinca culture, which played a fundamental role in the development of the Neolithic in Central Europe, were transmitted to the early Lengyel territory by the Sopot culture, distributed between the Drava and Sava rivers. There is little evidence for direct contact between the Vinőa and the Lengyel cultures, and the few known import wares date from the Vinca-Plocnik period. Any discussion of the Lengyel finds from southern Transdanubia must take account of the fact that the contact zone between the two cultures lay in the narrow strip along the Danube from the mouth of the Sió to the mouth of the Drava (Kalicz 1985, 81). Countless Vinőa sites have yielded finds evidencing the practice of a bull cult: most of these are figurines and moulded ornaments, as well as a few bucrania, which can be associated with sanctuaries. Sándor Bökönyi's studies have revealed that the high proportion of cattle at Vinőa settlements is comparable to the frequencies of this domestic species on the Middle and Late Neolithic sites of the Carpathian Basin and, also, that there is ample evidence for the local domestication of cattle just like on the contemporaneous sites in the Carpathian Basin. In contrast, the number of aurochs bones is much lower than in the archaeozoological samples from the latter settlements (Bökönyi 1990,51-53). The portrayal of humans is more frequent than of animals in the culture's imagery. Mircea D. Lazär and Zoia Kalmar-Maxim agree that most of the animal depictions can be identified as cattle or, more precisely, bulls (Lazär 1974-1975, 16-18; Kalmar-Maxim 1991, 125). Fourteen objects from Miloje Vasic's excavations at Vinca can be associated with the cattle cult of the Neolithic. One of these is a realistically modelled four-footed animal figurine recovered from a depth of 8.5 m (Vasic 1936, II, 160, Tab. 88. SI. 333), which Vladimir Milojcic assigned to his Vinca A (Milojcic 1949) and Milutin Garasanin to his Vinőa-Tordos I phase (Garasanin 1958; 1994-1995), corresponding to Karanovo Illb-IVa on the Thracian Plain (Lichardus-Lichardus-Itten 2002, 116, Tab. 1). Six depictions can be assigned to the Vinca В

1 phase (VincaTordos II), coeval with Karanovo IVb. These depictions range from vessel lid knobs with a V shaped upper part and moulded ornaments to clay figurines (Vasic 1936, IV, 66, 95, Tab. 38 and 77, SI. 96a, Tab. 54. SI. 190), the back of what was probably a bull shaped lamp (Vasic 1936, II, 157, SI. 329e), a broken clay horn (Vasic 1936, II, SI. 329c) and a schematic protome with bulls or the fragment of a figurine (Vasic 1936, III, 137, Tab. 128. SI. 596a-v). Three finds from the Vinca site can be assigned to the Vinca B2 period (Gradac phase) (Garasanin 1994-1995), corresponding to the Karanovo IVc phase. One of these is a horn with pointed tips (Vasic 1936, II, 92, Tab. 52. SI. 177a-b), the other is a schematic figurine shown in a sitting posture (Vasic 1936, III, 141, Tab. 130. SI. 604a-b), the third is a clay lamp (altar) with a rather naturalistically portrayed head (Vasic 1936, II, 22, Tab. 20. SI. 41a-c), testifying to the practice of the cattle cult. Two depictions are known from the Vinőa С period (Vinőa-Ploőnik I/IIa), which can be equated with the Kodzadermen-Gumelnita-Karanovo VI period. One is the usual animal head protome with horns (Vasic 1936, III, 142, Tab. 130. SI. 605), the other is a clay figurine with horns shown in a posture typical for bulls (Vasic 1936, III, Tab. 129. SI. 601a-b). The depictions of the Vinőa D period (Vinőa-Ploőnik IIa) are restricted to the well known bull horn symbols with a V shaped upper part (Vasic 1936, III, 150, Tab. 136. SI. 640a-b; Tasic 1973, 78, SI. 154). The Y shaped, perforated objects found at Supska in a Vinőa-Ploőnik layer can also be assigned to the category of cattle/bull depictions (Garasanin-Garasanin 1979, 62, T. 12. 6; Chapman 1981, 394, Fig. 152. 2), as can the figurines from Jakovo-Kormandin (Dimitrijevic 1969, Taf. 9.6; Tasic 1973, T. 29. SI. 104-105). This site yielded bucrania set on an altar from a Vinőa С context (JovanovicGlisic 1960, 141, Figs 31, 32, 36, 37; Tasic 1973, 57-59). Y shaped amulets have been reported from Pit A at Gomolava (Chapman 1981, 233, Fig. 44. 8), Obrez-Beletinci (Brukner 1964, Tab. 7. 1, Tab. 14. 2), Orid-Utrine (Chapman 1981, 237, Fig. 47. 2) and Grivác (Gavela 1956-1957, SI. 31). The Y shaped figure from Medvednjak is decorated with an incised meander (Gimbutas 1974, Fig. 52; Winn 1981, 355, Fig. 50). A series of such figures is known from Banijca (Tasic 1973, T. 12. SI. 3842), one of which has a similar incised geometric pattern (Tasic 1973, 49, T. 11. SI. 37). One of the more remarkable depictions shows a realistic animal head, a bucranium (Tasic 1973, T. 11. SI. 33). John Chapman assigned the specimens from Drenovac to this type too (Chapman 1981, 394, Fig. 152. 3, 8): a Y shaped amulet found in one of the houses has a nicely modelled head on which the eyes are indicated with impressed dots (Chapman 1981, 211, Fig. 28. 7). A bowl from Layer IA of the Aradac settlement is decorated with four schematic bull heads portrayed with long, outward curving horns set opposite each other on the rim (Chapman 1981, 225, Fig. 39. 1). The four-footed altars from Rudna Glava decorated with the typical geometric designs of the Vinca culture had simple bull heads with the backward curving horns applied to the rim (Jovanovic 1982, Fig. 8, Fig. 27). Finds of this type have also been recovered from Vinca sites in the Banat. The highly stylised cattle depiction of the early period were the norm at Deva (Lazär 19741975, Fig. 1-2), while Y shaped amulets of the later 14