Zalai Múzeum 15. Horváth László 60 éves (Zalaegerszeg, 2006)

Bondár Mária: Kultúraváltások a rézkori emberábrázolások tükrében (Dunántúl)

122 Bondár Mária Cultural changes in the light of human representations during the Copper Age (Transdanubia) In the different periods of history we meet several kinds of human representations: in rock carvings, on walls, on pottery, painted on ivory, incised into metal or roughly executed human forms and so on. They appear as individual statues, realistically shaped gods and goddesses, strongly stylistic symbolic or metaphorical representations and anthropomorphic vessels. It would be difficult to cite all the examples and in this paper, only the figurines are assessed. It is assumed that traditions changed slowly. Good examples are Celtic religious practices, which are present even today, or world religions and their canons, whose histories go back several thousand years and they are still evident. This paper examines how tradition is passed from one generation to another for centuries. Cultural changes can be demonstrated through ceramic typology and it is assessed whether conservative rites and paraphernalia of a belief system reflect cultural changes that can be recognised typologically. It must be emphasised that the reason for changes cannot be assessed by the means of archaeological techniques alone. For this reason hypotheses are put forward and analogies are drawn from ethnography, religious history and cultural anthropology in order to assess a group of objects that are few compared to the whole archaeological material of the examined period. In this overview, only figurines from Copper Age Transdanubia (4500-2800 ВС) are considered. It is assessed whether, by examining human representations, it is possible to show any crucial changes in the cultural groups, and ifit is possible to trace cultural changes in the subsequent periods. That is whether continuity or discontinuity of Copper Age cultural groups can be recognised through human representations. Late Lengyel culture (Lengyel III) From the archaeological finds at the turn of Neolithic and Copper Age no dramatic events can be recognised in Transdanubia. At the end of the Neolithic the population of the Lengyel culture lived its everyday life, while small groups of people (late Vinca culture) migrated from the Balkans and introduced new vessel types in the region. The late period of the Lengyel culture was distinguished three decades ago but sites of this period from the occupational area of the Lengyel culture in Hungary are little known. The finds of the late Lengyel culture seem to appear in the northern and western part of Transdanubia only. From the south-eastern region (Somogy, Tolna and Baranya counties) the Copper Age phase of the Lengyel culture is unknown even though there were systematic surveys and many large excavations recently. The material culture of the late Lengyel culture in south-west Transdanubia can be outlined more precisely as a result of rescue excavations in the Little Balaton (Balatonmagyaród) and microregional surveys in the Hahót region (Zalaszentbalázs). It is an advantage that excavations at the Hahót microregion also revealed figurines (Fig. 1.). Balaton-Lasinja culture In the last three decades the definition of BalatonLasinja culture has changed many times. The Balaton group which was earlier divided into three phases is today divided into three cultural groups: BalatonLasinja, Furchenstich and Protoboleráz. Researchers agree that these three groups have different cultural components and as a result they can be considered as three independent cultural groups. From the Middle Copper Age only a small number of human representations came to light. Considering the number of Middle Copper Age sherds in the whole occupational area of the Balaton-Lasinja culture the number of figurines is scarce. Until now approximately a dozen figurines represent the anthropomorphic category of the Balaton-Lasinja culture (Figs. 2-3.). In recent years there have been large excavations in Transdanubia (Little Balaton rescue excavations, large building projects, motorway constructions, by-roads etc.) yielding rich finds, which gave new direction to research. In spite of the improvement in terms of extensive excavations, no figurines were published from the Balaton-Lasinja culture from Hungary. Perhaps one unique piece can be dated to this period (Fig. 3. 1.), although its cultural affiliation is still debated. Researchers agree that it can probably be dated to the middle of the Copper Age. Furchenstich culture Changes in the definition of Balaton-Lasinja culture led in turn to changes in the definition of Furchenstich culture. From the extensive occupational area of Bajc-Retz-Gajár-Furchenstich cultural unit