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
Tamás Kes%i: Cinerary urns from the Nagyrév Culture ornamented with symbolic representations found at the Kisapostag - Dunai-dűlő site decoration cannot be clearly interpreted for the time being. This is perhaps confirmed by the ornamented house found at level 2 of the Tiszaug - Kéménytető tell, in whose structure and furniture archaeologists did not find any noticeable particularities that would have implied its special purpose or that it was inhabited by a special person.69 Knowledge of the myths that were widespread throughout the Nagyrév Culture was probably not limited to some selected ones; their depiction was presumably not only allowed for a tiny fraction of the population, and therefore we have to consider other possibilities when explaining the rarity of such representations. The question of relationships The Nagyrév, Százhalombatta, Iváncsa and Kisapostag motives, however, indicate the nature of communication between the communities that created the Nagyréve pottery style: it was not limited to short distance relationships between neighbouring communities — which in itself could serve as an explanation for the creation and maintenance of a single ceramics style —, but also directly linked the settlements of the two key areas of this culture along the Danube and the Tisza Rivers. At least this is implied by the similar iconography on artefacts unearthed along the two rivers; no relevant data have been recorded in the intermediate areas. How could these relationship function? Several options are conceivable: flow of information among the people who created the vessels, mobility of the people who created the vessels, mobility of the vessels themselves, as well as various combinations of the foregoing. Assuming that the vessels were typically prepared by women in the Nagyrév Culture as well, the question of exogamy arises, and the distance from which the members of individual communities brought their wives.70 It seems certain that there were ‘weak ties’ between communities living along the Danube and the Tisza Rivers, which converted the network that had created and maintained die Nagyrév pottery style into a ‘small world’.71 For the time being, it cannot be determined whether the motif on the Dunaújváros and Kisapostag jugs/urns is a special local one. Currendy, it seems to be a mythological figure(s?) whose specific iconographie representation only developed in the areas along the Danube River. The frequency of occurrence of group A suggests that, also in this case, the motif was transferred from the Danube Region to the Tisza Region. Position of urns in the graves Finally, the position of the two urns in the graves must be discussed, since it cannot be ruled out that a similar orientation existed in the case of urn burials as that observed in the case of the burial of corpses or the scattering of cremated remains. Urn No. 38 was placed in the pit so that the central motif with the two creatures was oriented to the north-northeast (Fig. 11, No. 3), while in the case of urn No. 100, the horned creature was turned so that it faced north almost perfeedy (Fig. 11, No. 4). Mythological creatures, in both cases, faced the ‘darkest’ cardinal direction. The central motif on the urn found in grave No. 61 in Rákóczifalva faced east.72 Due to the small amount of data available and the fact that such data are somewhat different, for the time being, it cannot be established whether or not this can be conceived as intentional orientation, and whether it has several regional and/or chronological etc. versions.73 The Budapest - Pannonhalmi út vessel The Kisapostag urns can modify earlier interpretations of similar representations in two respects: a) the figures who seem to be headless people actually have a head, b) representations of horned creatures possibly existed in the Early Bronze Age as well. This may affect the interpretation of the central figures of the Budapest - Pannonhalmi út vessel.74 Alternative interpretation of the central figures According to Rózsa Schreiber, these are also headless creatures, but between their raised arms there is a staple-shaped motif not direedy connected to the body, which can be interpreted as horns (Fig. 11, No. 5 with explanatory colouring). In the opinion of Rózsa Schreiber, it is a part of the body, more precisely of the arms, which is constituted by three lines each. The hypothesis that the central figure has horns is in accordance with Rózsa Schreiber’s concept that this is some sort of supernatural creature.75 In the Middle East, horns were an attribute of the gods, and people only had them as an indication of their divine nature.76 This concept either became widespread in Europe as well, or a similar concept 69 CSÁNYI - STANCZIK 1982a; 1982b; 1983; 1984; 1992,118-119. 70 ROGERS 1995,12. 71 GRANOVETTER 1973; WATTS - STROGATZ 1998; BARABÁSI 2002; BRUGHMANS 2013. 72 CSÁNY1 1983, 34. 73 The Szigetszentmiklós cup is likely to have fallen over when the grave was buried; its original position cannot be determined — PATAY 2009, Figure 2. This object anyway had other function, so its position in the grave is not necessarily comparable to that of urns. "4 SCHREIBER 1984a, 14,16, Fig. 2-4. 75 SCHREIBER 1984a, 16. 76 BOEHMER 1972-1975, 431-432. 27
