A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 3. - 1960 (Nyíregyháza, 1963)

Makkay János: Strange Prehistoric Finds in the Jósa András Museum

and other places, the handle of which show the form of woman. According to a wellfounded supposition stood the liquids in every of these vessels under the protection of the goddes pictured on the handle.

57 The symbolical guarding of treasures and biuldings by a dragon is similary well-known.

58 If comparing the jars of Hungary belonging to the lids of animal figure

59 (from the copper-age Bodrogkeresztur-culture) with those of Mesopotamia there is a striking likeness perceptible.

61 These jugs of Mesopotamia together with the high-footed plates belonging to them were used for sacrificies. Also of the high-footed plates there are analogies from Hungary known.

62 The ritual use of the high-footed plates appears from other facts too. Consequently those jugs of the Copper Age from Hungary, which have pot lids with decoration of some animal figurine, must have had ritual purposes by all accounts. The animal figurine on the lid now, it was guarding the consecrated liquid (water, wine, oil, beer) in the vessel. * * * Unique analogy of our object 1., the divided-in-two plate with channels, is a similar find from Miskolc-Fűtőház.

63 Both plates belong to the culture of lineornamented pottery. As to the purpose of the plate from Rakamaz — it is very difficult to succeed in determining it. So much can be accepted without any doubt that it served for straining some kind of liquid. Was it used for curd-making so it let the whey leak-out. Was it, however, some kind of vessel of wine-press, so it caused the must to flow. According to the latest conception we are allowed to think that the man of line-ornamented pottery might have known wine and made wine.

70 For all that, we can still suppose that the plate of Rakamaz was a kind of altar for bloody sacrifice. The sacrificies through it might have been of type similar to that, which could be recontsructed for the offering altar and ,,bothros" of Beycesultan.

69 From other finds and occurences it may be assumed that the man of the neolithic age knew and used as the bloody as the bloodless sacrificies (for instance of the latter: the burning of the first fruits). Anyhow, as to the use of the plate of Rakamaz, one can't yet take a final point of view. The find 2. is neolithic, used for holding of red paint. The things 4. and 5. are negatives for vessel-decorating of Roman origine.

71 They belong to the Sarmatian material of the county. Analogies of the miniature clay axe 16. in Hungary we know from late neolithic (of the culture of Lengyel)

72-73

, copper age, 74

~

75 and bronze-age 75_77 finds. The origine of these clay copies of axe, however, goes back to the neolithic period of Jericho,

79 respectively, the al-Ubaid age of Mesopotamia. Earlier there were not made but copies of vague shape.

80 They are frequent, before all, among the finds of al-Ubaid age from Southern Mesopotamia.

81-85 We are discovering imitations of copper axes too.

87 Such finds of Europe and Mesopotamia, through the origine of painted pottery from the Near East, may have got a genetic relation with each other. The type of their copying was of voltive nature. The axes might have been to mythology — used the respective one as his favourite weapon, his revealing attribute, by its special form. E. g., EnliFs axe was the ,,pick-ax".

88 The clay horns under 14. belong to the group of the so-called „horns of consecration", containing bullheads and bull-horns. They similarly have got their origine in the Near East.

90 Our find, however, departs from the general type. The find 15. may have been a breast-plate, some analogy of the gold breastplate of Russe.

93 Otherhand, perhaps, nearer — analogies of it are already known among the neolithic finds of the Balkans,

93 further in the material of about 3000 from Tepe Hissar. J. Makkay 26