Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 31/1. (2011)
Articles
54 S. Berecki-S. J. Sztáncsuj with everted margins, made of coarse paste, tempered with coarse sand and crushed potsherds (PI. 9/3); a fragment from the handle of a serving spoon (Pi. 5/11); a miniature vessel representing amiss a ‘fruit-bowl’ with high stem (PI. 6/6). The different types and variants of these vessels are met among the materials of almost all settlements of the Ariusd culture from eastern and south-eastern Transylvania.5 From the materials discovered one should notice the fragment of a middle-sized vessel (rim diameter approx. 10 cm), made of fine paste, reddish-brown with grey spots after firing, with cylindrical neck and a horizontally perforated wide handle on the rim. Albeit the fragment is too small for a precise typological classification, it must have belonged to a so called ‘milkpot’, characteristic for the Bodrogkeresztúr culture. Similar middle-sized vessels with cylindrical neck and two symmetrical handles on the rim appear in the funerary inventories in cemeteries like Polgár-Basatanya (Bognár-Kutzián 1963, pl. I/la-b, 6; V/3-4; XXIII/1; etc.), Kunszentmárton-Pusztaistvánháza (Hillebrand 1929, Taf. V/2; VI/2; VII/7), Paszab-Hordozódülő (Hillebrand 1929, Abb. 14/8, 11) or Tiszavalk-Tetes (Patay 1978, fig. 32/1, 10; 37/1) as well as settlements like Mezőzombor (Patay 2002, fig. 8). Even if in the classification of the variants of this type for different periods of the culture there are distinctions,6 the small fragment does not make possible a more accurate dating of the vessel. The pottery discovered in 2007 completes the repertory of the forms published by I. Kovács at the beginning of the 20th century. From the excavations undertaken in 1909-1910 several intact or restorable vessels were unearthed along with fragments belonging to the following types: cup made of fine paste, black coloured in the upper part because of the firing (Pi. 4/1), together with other fragments belonging to the same type (Kovács 1915, 236-237); a grayishblack shallow bowl with inverted rims (Pi. 4/4), a few fragments of cylindrical supports (Kovács 1915, fig. 4/4; 7/1) and spoons decorated with trichrome painting (Pi. 4/6-7). Based on their forms and ornaments they can be included in the Ariusd culture. The figurine from pit В belongs to the same cultural milieu. The artefact probably represents a feminine human silhouette in vertical position, the bust is flattened, the short arms are upraised, and the breasts are modelled by two rounded clay-chips applied on the bust (PI. 4/9). The object can be included in the category of anthropomorphic representations specific for the Cucuteni culture area. Analogies are known from Transylvania and from Moldavia.7 Among the elements specific to the Bodrogkeresztúr culture a deep bowl (PI. 4/2) discovered in pit C (Kovács 1915, fig. 3/13 profile; 16 image and 20-21 the reconstructed ornament of the vessel) excels. Modelled from fine paste and tempered with sand, the grey coloured vessel with evened and polished surface represents indeed one of most frequent forms from the Bodrogkeresztúr culture’s area. Similar vessels, usually without ornaments, with slightly cambered body and rounded bottom, having two band-handles close to the rim are met in cemeteries like Beba Veche (Patay 1961, pl. XXXIV/V), Ciumesti III (Luca 1999, fig. 29/1), Kiskőrös (Patay 1961, pl. XVI/2), Kunszentmárton-Pusztaistvánháza (Hillebrand 1929, Abb. 4/7; 11/5; Taf. 1/7) or 5 For analogies of the presented vessels, see: László 1911; 1927/2007 (Ariufd and Ölteni); Lazarovici EtAl. 1993 (Ciucsängeorgiu); Buzea-Lazarovici 2005 (Päuleni). 6 For the typology and chronology of these vessels, see: Bognár-Kutzián 1963, 276, pl. CXXXIV-CXXXV and more recently Patay 2008, 34-35. 7 See the similar pieces from Ariusd (Sztáncsuj 2009, fig. 2/1, 5-6; 5/2); Bod-Priesterhügel (Teutsch 1900, Abb. 117-119); Cernatul de Sus-Mihács-kert (Sztáncsuj 2009, fig. 6/4); Let -Várhegy (Sztáncsuj 2009, fig. 4/3; 6/2); Malna§ Bäi (RepCovasna, pl. IV/3). For the Cucuteni culture, see: Monah 1997.
