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.

Herkheim has survived (Dehn 1950, 1-5, Abb. 1-2; Müller-Karpe 1968, II. Taf. 123. 18; Kaufmann 1999, 336). Bull head depictions of the earlier Linear Pottery culture are known from Würzburg (Franken) and Wiesbaden-Biebrich (Wegner 1974, 111, Taf. 12; Mandera 1959, 1, Abb. 3, 8). The fragments of a small, four-footed vessel with a quite realistically modelled bull head decorated with grooving under the rim and with incised lines on the body from Hienheim was recovered from a pit (Modderman 1971, 5, Abb. 4; 1977, 57, Abb. 22; Kaufmann 1976c, Abb. Id; Uenze 1990, Abb. 3; Engelhardt 1992, 368, 371, Abb. 6; 1998, 23, Abb. 2. 3). Dieter Kaufamnn regarded the specimens from Stadlauingen and Mötzing-Haimbuch as unique bull depictions (Kaufmann 1999, 333, 335). A vessel fragment with an applied bull head ornament from Pouchov dates from the late Linear Pottery period; Vladimir Podborsky assigned this find to the Stroke Ornamented Pottery culture (Hoffmann 1942, 7, Taf. 1; Podborsky 1982, 21, Obr. 2. 1). The mouth is indicated with a barely visible perforation on the bull head fragment from Erfurt-Steiger in Thuringia (Kaufmann 1976b, 71, Abb. 6b). The few reconstructable zoomorphic vessels of the western Linear Pottery include the fragments of a decorated specimen from HalleTrotha, portraying a cattle with forward curving horns (Toepfer 1957, 219, Taf. 34b; Ankel-Meyer-Arendt 1965, 6; Podborsky 1982, 18, Obr. 1. 3; Kaufmann 1999, 336). The broken vessel from Duderstadt in Saxony is another cattle portrayal from the Linear Pottery realm (Kaufmann 1999, 336). Judging from the moulded eyes and the wide, incised mouth, the cattle head from Großörner probably comes from a zoomorphic vessel (Butschkow 1935, 105, Taf. 33. 7; Behrens 1973, Abb. 90. CI; Kaufmann 1976a, 71, Abb. 6d; Einicke 1994, 44, Taf. 7. 1). The horns on the cattle head found at Güntersleben were portrayed in an unusually realistic manner (Stegerwald-Stegerwald 1982, 336, Abb. 13. 2). Dieter Kaufmann has devoted several studies to the finds and settlement features, which can be associated with the bull cult excavated at the Eilsleben (Kaufmann 1991, 276, with further literature). Cult finds of the early Linear Pottery culture were recovered from the enclosure constructed during the late Linear Pottery period; the finds included the left horn-core of a domestic cow decorated with two rows of punctates, a unique, unparalleled find, whose function remains unknown (Kaufmann 1989, 123, Abb. 5; 2002, 195-197, Abb. 1-2). Dieter Kaufmann has suggested that the finds came from a refuse pit resembling the ones of the Stroke Ornamented Pottery culture uncovered at Zauschwitz and Deersheim, which also contained cattle horns and cattle skulls (Coblenz 1962, 74; Kaufmann 1976b, 88; 1989, 116). The pits excavated at the Barleben settlement, which contained no other finds but the bull trophies deposited on their floor, have also been assigned to the Linear Pottery culture (Lies 1965, 13; Veit 1996, 172). The Eilsleben pits, however, also yielded polished sandstone pieces and a broken cattle head carved from sandstone, supporting the ritual nature of the feature (Kaufmann 1979, Abb. 3; 1981, 133, Abb. 2. 1-2; 1989, 121, Abb. 3c; 2002, 128). The Eilsleben enclosure also yielded a complex - ritual and sacrificial - assemblage from the late Linear Pottery period, made up of a hearth and a stone packing comprising a grinding stone, seven grindstone fragments and fragments of a polishing stone. Lying under the stone packing was the skull of an aurochs cow deposited with the frontal bone upwards, on which traces of damage could be seen (Kaufmann 2002, 128, Taf. 1. 3, Abb. 1. 3). The skeleton of a young woman and five vessels lay underneath the aurochs skull at a depth of 137-150 cm. In Dieter Kaufmarm's interpretation, the assemblage represents the remains of a sacrifice performed on one specific occasion and the conscious deposition of its remains. The young woman was the „essence" of this sacrifice, while the aurochs skull can be associated with the bull and cattle cult, which was widespread in the Neolithic of Anatolia and Europe. The damage to the aurochs skull probably occurred when the animal was slaughtered for the sacrifice. „It is quite possible that bloody and bloodless sacrifices were somehow linked" (Kaufmann 1989, 124; 2002, 132). This view has been challenged by Robert Ganslmeier, who noted that only after the full evaluation and publication of the finds will it be clear whether the female skeleton can be associated with the burnt layer and the sacrificial remains (Ganslmeier 2001, 140). Zoomorphic motifs were quite popular in the imagery of the Stroke Ornamented Pottery culture as shown by the high number of horn shaped appliqué ornaments symbolising bull horns, which have until now exclusively been found on settlements (Höckmann 1965, 25-26; 1976a, 91).

28 Three pairs of horn ornaments were set on most vessels; one exception is a pot from Tröbsdorf, which only has two (Kaufmann 1976b, 79). The front part of a bull figurine with naturalistically modelled horns and feet was brought to light at Cerny Vûl in Bohemia (Schráníl 1928, 48, Taf. 5. 9); the same settlement site yielded a pottery fragment decorated with grooving and a schematic cattle head (Stocky 1929, Taf. 46. 5a-b; Podborsky 1982, 21, Obr. 2. 4). The small clay bull figurine from Rybniany, adorned with incised motifs, was a protome or a vessel lid handle (Schráníl 1928, 48, Taf. 4. 6). The horned bull head with eyes indicated by impressed dots from Litomëf ice had originally been part of a zoomorphic vessel (Ankel-Meier-Arendt 1965, 5; Podborsky 1982, 21, Obr. 2. 6a-b). Remains of bloody animal sacrifices are known from the Stroke Ornamented Pottery complex too: one of the houses uncovered at Postoloptry contained a chest of „Die hornartig gebogenen Hornzapfen an Gefäßen unterstreichen die besondere Verehrung des Stieres in Stufe II" (Kaufmann 1976b, 79, Taf. 53. 3, 6-12). 22