Tálas László szerk.: The late neolithic of the Tisza region (1987)

Öcsöd-Kováshalom (P. Raczky)

ÖCSÖD-KOVASHALOM Fragments of anthropomorphic vessels with incised geometric decoration. Classical Tisza culture. H: 6.2 cm, 6.9 cm, 6.7 cm [33-34-35] figurines with triangular mask-like face betray the influence of the Vinca culture. Anthropomorphic representations often occur on household pottery; however, the exact function of these vessels still eludes interpretation. They perhaps reflect the blending of everyday and sacral spheres, or the use of motifs with wellcircumscribed meaning and connotation as simple decorative elements, suggesting a tendency leading to the emergence of an ornamental art using motifs whose former symbolic implications were more-or-less lost in the process. The detailed analysis of the finds will undoubtedly provide an answer to these questions. Animal figurines are relatively scarce and neither is their function known, although there is a general consensus that these too had belonged to the sacred sphere. The above would suggest that the domestic variant of sacred rituals was practised and, moreover, that this was restricted to individual households of the Öcsöd community. The different types of small sculptures imply a highly complex activity; however, their exact function and meaning still defies interpretation, and neither is it known whether these depicted a transcendent being in anthropomorphic form, a former ancestor, or an abstract concept, a supernatural power or force translated into anthropomorphic form. Neither is it clear which Fragment of a schematized anthropomorphic figurine with one breast and showing an incised comb-like decoration on its back side. Early Tisza culture. H: 3.9 cm [36] Lower part of a female figurine with a hole for suspension. Early Tisza culture. H: 3.9 cm [37] 79