A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 49. (Nyíregyháza, 2007)

Régészet - Dan Pop: The Copper Axe from Corni

The Copper Axe from Corni Marks and ornaments (Fig. 7-9) A considerable part of the Székely-Nádudvar type axes

21 have on both sides or only on one side, one or several signs or "marks" (circular, semi-circular, circle with central point etc.) placed differently around the shaft-hole and seldom on the entire body. These signs have been interpreted in various manners: attempts of piercing, ornaments, producer or workshop marks, ornaments of a magical, religious character. No agreement has been reached on their functionality. It is also difficult to establish whether these signs were made after casting when cold, or the "marks" were carved in the negatives of patterns and obtained by casting (SCHUBERT 1965. 286-295, pi. 3, VULPE 1973. 233, VULPE 1975. 17-18, PATAY 1984. 14-18, pi. 60: A-B, 61: A). What could we observe in relation to the "marks" on the Székely- Nádudvar type axes? Our considerations can be outlined as follows: 1. We were not able to distinguish groups on the basis of mapping the presence/absence (Fig. 8).

22 2. The inner part is preferred. From 64 marked pieces 43 ones have marks on the inner part, 11 pieces on the outer part, 7 pieces on both sides, and for 3 axes we have no information (Fig. 9). 3. Even if the number of placements of "marks" is extremely varied, we can observe that the more frequent is (17 cases) when the "mark" is placed on the both sides of the object, below and above the hole.

23 100% =134 Fig. 8 Székely-Nádudvar type hammer-axes with "marks" and without "marks" a: with "marks", b: without "marks", c: no information 8. kép Székely-Nádudvar típusú balták Jelöléssel" és anélkül a: Jelölt" darabok, b: Jelöletlen" darabok, c: nincs adat 21 There are marks on other hammer-axe types (Crestur, Szendrő, Mezőkeresztes and Agnita) and also on cross-armed axe types (Jászladány and Kladari). 22 Here we have to take into account the fact that a part of the pieces cannot be mapped, because we do not know their provenance: from 64 axes with marks we do not know the provenance of about 27 ones. 23 Beta - PI. I: 1, Budakalász - PL VII: 5, Cachtice - PI. XV: 7, Celldömölk - Pl. X: 4, Dorog - Pl. V: 1, Győr - Pl. VI: 3, Lelei - Pl. II: 1, Lucenec - Pl. XV: 8, Medisa - Pl. II: 3, Nádudvar - Pl. XII: 4, Nagyhalász - Pl. IX: 1, Pocsaj - Pl. XIII: 1, Sälacea - Pl. III: 1, Székely Pl. IV: 1, Tiszaszentimre - Pl. XII: 3, Hungary, Vámospércs - Pl. IV: 4. Fig. 9 "Marks" position on the Székely-Nádudvar hammer-axe type a: outside, b: both sides, c: without information, d: inside 9. kép A Jelölések" helye a Székely-Nádudvar típusú rézbaltákon a: a külső oldalon, b: mindkét oldalon, c: nincs adat, d: a belső oldalon 57