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.

(Vinca С) period dominated the finds from Liubcova and Sälbägelu Vechi (Draçovean 1996, PI. 24.1, PI. 25.1-7, 10-11), as well as Jupa Sud (Lazarovici-Draçovean 1991, 163, Cat. 53). One of the realistically modelled bull heads from Zorlentu Mare was perforated and its eyes were indicated with short stabs (Draçovean 1996, PI. 29. 4).

10 Another had a schematic human depiction incised on its body (Lazarovici 2004, Tab. 4. 15)." The other finds are more simply modelled (Draçovean 1996, Pl. 29.5-6, Pl. 30.1). The bull heads found at Baciu (Roska 1939, 26-27) and Rast are probably relics of a „bucranium cult" (Dumitrescu 1980; Lazarovici 1989, 152), similarly to the specimens from Valea Nandmlui (Nándorválya, Romania) and Balta Säräta (Lazarovici 1972, 16, Figs. 9-11, Fig. 12; Lazarovici-Dra§ovean-Maxim 2001, 276-280; Lazâr 1974-1975, 16-18; Kalmar-Maxim 1991, 125, Fig. 36. 4, Cat. nos 21, 153,210). The Tordos site yielded various zoomorphic depictions, although in most cases the species of the portrayed animal cannot be determined. The finds included a few schematic horn-like knobs and handles (Roska 1941, Taf. 117. 17-19), recalling the finds from earlier Neolithic cultures (primarily the western Linear Pottery), as well as appliqué ornaments modelled in the form of schematic, longish, triangular animal heads, some of which were perforated (Roska 1941, Taf. 121. 11-18; Taf. 144. 1-4), which also appear on the pottery of the Lengyel culture. Two Y shaped conical amulets, popular in the late Vinca period, have been published from Tordos (Roska 1941, Taf. 137. 1-2). Another noteworthy find is a triangular animal head decorated with rows of punctates and upward curving, pointed bull horns, on which the eyes and the 10 „At Parta, a pair of consecration horns modelled from clay was also found. Another such piece was found in a Vinca context at Zorlentu Mare" (Lazarovici-Drasovean-Maxim 2001,405). 11 The ornamental motifs on the clay ladles and their fragments from Wetzleinsdorf, Anzenberg and Falkenstein-Schanzboden (lozenges, spirals and meanders) have been discussed by Eva Ruttkay in her overview of the Central and South-East European distribution and possible meaning of these motifs, which she regarded as sacred symbols (Ruttkay 1997, 55-57, Abb. 1. 1, Abb. 1. 2; 1999, 273, Abb. 2. 1-3). She based her analysis on Marija Gimbutas' works (and theories) concerning the symbols which could perhaps be associated with the deities of the Neolithic (Gimbutas 1976b). Eva Ruttkay has correctly pointed out that the Starcevo, earlier and later Linear Pottery, Precucuteni, Cucuteni-Tripolye, Gumelni^a, Tisza, earlier Vinca and the classical Lengyel cultures used a more or less shared set of symbols intelligible to all. These symbols appeared during the Early Neolithic, but their genuine florescence fell into the Middle Neolithic (Ruttkay 1999,288). Cer-' tain motifs and groups of motifs of the Wetzleinsdorf design (Ruttkay 1999, Abb. 2. 1) resemble the fertility and bull head designs from Haçilar I and Kuruçay 12-11 (Schubert 1999, Taf. 153. 1, 3, 8, Taf. 162), and the painted motifs (meander set in a framed panel) on the shoulder of the anthropomorphic vessel from Gradesnica (Nikolov 1974, Obr. 14). Comparable motifs can be quoted from the earlier sites of Lepenski Vir and Schela Cladovei, as well as from sites of the Starcevo culture (Protostarcevo I) (Schubert 1999, Taf. 84). Obviously, no meaningful conclusions can be drawn on the basis of a few arbitrary examples; full analyses of the pottery wares are needed before attempting an evaluation along these lines. mouth are depicted with shorts stabs (Roska 1941, Taf. 102. 8). Other portrayals include zoomorphic vessels and their fragments (Roska 1941, Taf. 143. 13-14) and fourfooted figurines with horns, although it is often more difficult to determine whether these can be associated with the cattle or the bull cult than in the case of other finds (Roska 1941, Taf. 143. 1, 3, 4, 6, 11). Special mention must be made of the in situ bucrania found on several Vinca sites (Vinőa, Plocnik, JakovoKormandin, Gomolava, Banijca, Sabac-Jela; cp. Chapman 1981, Fig, 93, with the relevant literature). A clay bull head measuring 44 cm by 31 cm, broken into several pieces, lay at a depth of 2.89 m at the eponymous site of Vinca (Plate X, Fig. 16; Vasic 1936, II, 50, Tab. 36. SI. 85a-b, Tab. 37. SI. 85c). Another bucranium was found in a four-roomed house lying at a depth of 3.6 m (Vasic 1936, I, 13, SI. 17-20; Tasic 1973, 78, T. 41, SI. 153). The buildings (sanctuaries) and bucrania uncovered at Kormandin (Plate XI, Fig. 17. 3-4; Jovanovic-Glisic 1960, SI. 37) have their best parallels at Parta (Lazarovici 1989, 152). Boris Jovanovic noted that the latter were cattle skulls hung on the walls of sacral buildings (Jovanovic 1991, 120-123). Cattle skulls plastered with clay are known to have adorned the walls of a few houses at Gomolava (Plate XI, Fig. 17. 1-2) in Layer lb, dating from the Vinca Dl period, which are thus coeval with similar finds from Ostrovul Corbului and the eponymous site (Berciu 1953, 640; Brukner 1988, 25-27, Taf. 3.7-8; Chapman 1981, Fig. 93). The Late Neolithic bucranium brought to light at Dikili Tash must also be mentioned (Darcque-Treuil 1997; Treuil-Tsirtsoni 2000, fig. 2; Marangou2001, 143). The Lengyel culture was part of the South-East European Late Neolithic Painted Pottery complex; on the testimony of the finds, it would appear that the cattle cult was practiced by the other cultures of this complex too (Cucuteni-Tripolye, Petre§ti, Erősd).

12 Zoomorphic figurines are not known from the early Petre§ti culture of Transylvania; horned animals - mostly cattle and bulls occur quite frequently among the figurines from the culture's later period, as shown by the clay animals with schematic, triangular head and horns from Cilnic, Caçolt and Pianul de Jos (Paul 1992, PI. 50. 8-10). A bull skull with intact horns and a figurine portraying a woman in a sitting posture was deposited in a pit at the Sabatinovka II site, a settlement of the Precucuteni culture in Moldavia (Makkay 1978, 14). A large moulded ornament terminating in a bull horn from Larga Jijia can be assigned to the Precucuteni II culture (Marinescu-Bîlcu 1974, Fig. 84. 5). The bull heads set on vessels from Tru§e§ti (Cucuteni A and AB) include realistic portrayals with triangular or rounded heads and massive, wide horns 12 For an overview of the animal imagery and the bull horn reliefs of the Precucuteni, Cucuteni, Marica and Gumelnifa cultures, cp. Nifu 1972. 15