Zalai Múzeum 16. In memoriam Kerecsényi Edit 1927-2006. (Zalaegerszeg, 2007)

Horváth László: Gyerekjáték vagy attribútum? Kelta leletek Magyarszentmiklósról (Zala megye)

Gyerekjáték vagy attribútum? Kelta leletek Magyarszentmiklósról (Zala megye) 43 excavated earlier the Celtic and Roman cemetery of Magyarszerdahely. The Celtic burials there mostly belonged to the same period as the two burials from Magyarszentmiklós (HORVÁTH 1979). We have to date the Celtic settlement and the farmstead from Magyarszentmiklós, to more recent times than the two burials. Their likely occupation period was in the La Tène Dl period (between the last decades of the 2

nd century ВС and the first half of the 1

st century ВС). According our opinion the features A/1 and A/2 dated to the first half of the La Tène Dl period and feature A/3 is something more recent, dated to the middle period of the La Tène Dl period (there were several finds supporting this dating: burnished ware, shreds of several double-handled vessels, a bowl with incurving rim and a hybrid bronze brooch). Of course it could happened by chance, that during the backfilling of the features more representative finds fell into one feature than the other. Among the finds there is an outstanding one: a clay hammer. Its only analogue so far has been known from Sárvár (Hungary) only, from the excavation of an Early Roman settlement. The first question has to be raised in connection with the clay hammer is: what was their function or what was the purpose of their production, what could we say about their usage? One of the answers could be that they were toys. However, in this case we have to consider that they were fragile, hence in practice it was impossible to use them in a game as the real ones; their usage could only imitate motions of a blacksmith, for example. The walls of the clay hammers are so thin that they would break off just from a small hit. But if the clay hammers were not used as a dynamic object, then what was the area of their usage? I hope it is not too risky to suppose that clay hammers, made from an inorganic material could be attached to some kind of figure, for example to a statue. The figures could be made from wood, straw or from some other organic material. Hence only the inorganic clay hammers preserved for the posterity. They could be a kind of attributes. If our assumption is right, than to what kind of figures were the clay hammers attached? The first possibility is that they were attributes of a smith-god. The smith-god was greatly honoured among the Celts. The blacksmith could thank his standing to his craft, which was in connection with nearly every area of the contemporary society either in war or in peace. On the other hand, the blacksmith was valued because of the close connection with the magical qualities of the iron. We do not know the Gaelic name of the smith-god, but several idioms refer in the living Celtic/Gaelic tradition to a 'divine blacksmith', whose healing power is still trusted in the present (MAC CANNA 1968, 34-37). The second possibility is that they were a part of a Sucellus-statue. Sucellus, the 'good hammering god' usually depicted with timber hammer. Sometimes he is depicted with a barrel or a drinking vessel and often he is followed by a dog. The timber hammer and the dog, with some other attributes are interpreted as attributes of an underworld god; while the barrel and the drinking vessel were signs of fertility (the goddess Nantosvelta had the same attributes, as well) (MAC CANNA 1968, 41). In the western Gaelic areas the cult of the Celtic Sucellus continued in the cult of the Roman Silvanus, who incorporated aspects of fertility and attributes of an underworld god (HATT 2005, 12 ffi). In the province of Pannónia it is likely that the figure of Sucellus was associated with fertility rather than with the underworld. The underworld attributes were associated with other gods, as Miklós Szabó wrote 'the different areas of the authority of the Celtic deity had been separated and became attributes of different Roman gods' (SZABÓ 2005, 99-100) in the translation of Zsolt Magyar. The Celts were characterised by their polytheistic religion. A particular god could have diverse competency. The tribal separation and identity just made the colourful religious palette even richer. If our assumption is right, then these clay hammers are very rare material evidence of the Celtic religion in the Transdanubia. The first clay hammer from Magyarszentmiklós could be dated to the Late Celtic period (the first part of the first century ВС) and the second one from Sárvár (Hungary) is more recent, could be connected with the Celtic inhabitants of the Roman times (first or second century AD). The reason of writing this paper was that from the south-west Transdanubia only a few Late Celtic finds had been published yet. The outstanding 'hybrid' bronze brooch and the clay hammer - which probably connected to religion - are curiosities, hence they are important addition to Late Celtic finds from the region. Translated by: Zsolt Magyar