Szőllősy Csilla - Pokrovenszki Krisztián (szerk.): Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis - Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei. C. sorozat 45. (Székesfehérvár, 2017)
Tanulmányok/közlemények - Régészet - Keszi Tamás: A nagyrévi kultúra szimbolikus ábrázolásokkal díszített urnái Kiapostag - Dunai-dűlő lelőhelyről. Alternatív javaslat a Budapest - Pannonhalmi úti edény ábrázolásának értelmezésére
Alba Regia 45. (2017) 9-50. Keszi Tamás Cinerary urns from the Nagyrév Culture ornamented with symbolic representations found at the Kisapostag - Dunai-dűlő site Alternative proposal as to the interpretation of the representations of the Budapest -Pannonhalmi út vessel Introduction1 In her paper of 1984, Rózsa Schreiber describes vessels from the Nagyrév Culture (Early Bronze Age dating to the late 3rd millennium BC), which are adorned with symbolic decorations. In interpreting these motifs, she concluded that they can be classified into three major categories:2 1) simpler motifs that seem to be ornamentations and are components of the more complex second group as well, 2) stylised human and bird figures, or complex symbols or symbolic systems composed of simpler motifs, 3) depictions of stories and rimai scenes. Regarding some of the motifs, she concluded that their antecedents could be traced back right to the Neolithic and even to the Palaeolithic, and subsequently she deemed that there was an answer to the question ‘To which extent are these representations the manifestations of foreign religious ideas (perhaps coming from the South)?’3 The cautious posing of this question is likely to have been inspired by the Budapest — Pannonhalmi út vessel. Rózsa Schreiber associated the scene represented on this vessel with the creation of the world. Since myths describing the separation of earth from the waters and the creation of man from clay were earliest developed and recorded in the canonised literary tradition in the Middle East, it is justified to reflect on a possible southern origin of this scene, which it is still unique in the Carpathian Basin. In 1992, Marietta Csányi associated the symmetrical arrangement of motifs with the beliefs of the peoples of the Nagyrév Culture.4 In 1998, Erzsébet Marton and Tünde Horváth made an attempt to a novel interpretation of a group of representations.5 In 2009, Magdolna Vicze deepened our knowledge of the subject not only by processing new finds relating to this subject, but also by expanding the investigations to the question of use of these decorated vessels and their role in social communication.6 The number of representations classified to Groups 2 and 3 has increased slowly over the past few decades, and therefore any artefact that may advance the research is of great significance. In 2004, during the excavations made prior to the construction of Pentele Bridge, two cinerary urns were unearthed in Kisapostag, whose representations are a parallel of the motifs classified into Group 2 by Rózsa Schreiber. Hereinafter these urns will be described and their ornamentation interpreted. Graves found in Kisapostag - Dunai-dűlő Dunai-dűlő (Fig. 1, No. 1), the area affected by the construction, in the south is bordered by Zsellér-dűlő, which has long been known to researchers of the Bronze Age for its cemetery from the Late Nagyrév/Kisapostag/Vatya cultures.7 8 Nearly 100 graves have been excavated in the cemetery (Fig. 1, No. 2a—b)} 1 Here, too, I would like to say thank you to Restorers Rita Késmárky (drawings of graves, restoration) and Gabriella Haraszti (restoration, drawings of engraved motifs). Special thanks to the reviewers of this paper, namely Gábor Szabó, Viktória Kiss and Vajk Szeverényi for their useful advice. 2 SCHREIBER 1984a, 18, 20. 3 SCHREIBER 1984a, 26. 4 CSÁNYI 1992, 86. 5 HORVÁTH - MARTON 1998; 2002. 6 VICZE 2009. POLGÁR 1934; BÁLINT 1935; MOZSOLICS 1942; PÁSZTOR 1997. 8 The age of the trench system surrounding the cemetery and its relation to the cemetery could not be determined either based on the finds or its stratigraphic situation. 9
