Kovács Tibor (szerk.): Neuere Daten zur Siedlungsgeschichte und Chronologie der Kupferzeit des Karpatenbeckens (Inventaria Praehistorica Hungariae 7; Budapest, 1995)

Nikola Tasic: Anthropomorphic sculpture of the Eneolithic in Serbia and Macedonia

have served for the insertion of the head that might have been made of some organic substance.

17 The form and ornamentation of these anthropomorphic figurines of the Baden culture, unique among the other contemporary or near-contemporary cultures, serve as good guidelines for a reassessment of the dating of a number of comparable figurines, mostly stray finds, that, in the lack of well-circumscribed find contexts, have been assigned to other cultures - such as Cotofem, Vucedol and other groups. These mostly include figurines from western Romania that had earlier been assigned to the Cotofeni culture (Sälacea-Dealul Vida) and a controversial find from Vucedol that had originally been correctly dated to the 'Fonyód horizon of the Baden culture' by S. Dimitrijevic.

18 In the Serbian areas of the Danube Basin anthropomorphic figurines of the Baden culture have only been found at Vinca and Dobanovci. Recent excavations at Vinca have brought to light one intact and three broken figurines (one each in the 1978 and 1983 campaign, and two in the 1981 campaign).

19 They were found together with distinctive early Baden pottery: one of these figurines came from a good stratigraphie context - a pit containing early Baden pottery. All four of the Vinca figurines are flat, with a stylized upper half, prominent hips and extremely short legs, but no arms (Fig. 2. 1-4). They all depict female figures, similarly to the other currently known Baden figurines. Their sexual characteristics include pronounced breasts and a clearly marked pubic triangle. In contrast to most of the other Baden figurines, the specimens found at Vinca are ornamented. Two of them bear an almost identical ornamentation of incised vertical zig-zag lines on either side of the body, and a band across the waist (Fig. 2. 3). The hole for the insertion of the head is quite deep on the large, slightly fragmented figurine (Fig. 2. 1), and smaller in the case of the two smaller figurines. The Baden settlement at Vinca yielding these figurines is one of the typical early Baden sites in the Danube Basin; other sites include Dobanovci, Lice near Erdevik, Perlez, as well as others.

20 In the chronological framework proposed by S. Dimitrijevic the Vinca site can be assigned to phase \ (with the A

} phase spanning the Boleráz-Cernavoda III period).

21 A similar date seems probable for the fragmentary figurine from Dobanovci: the upper part of a female figurine with emphatic breasts and a net-like ornamentation over its front and back side. This flat Baden figurine came to light from a pit (pit 1 in sounding 10) containing pottery comparable to wares from Vinca and other early Baden sites. The Baden idol from Vucedol

22 raises a number of important issues. It differs from the other Baden figurines found at Vinca and Dobanovci, as well from the specimens from Hungarian and Slovakian sites, in that it is not a 'headless' idol (Fig. 2. 2). The depiction of the breasts is comparable to the other Baden figurines, but the ornamentation of an incised band filled with impressed dots is unusual, having more in common with the ornamental motifs of Neolithic cultures (such as the Vinca culture). The find spot of the figurine "at a depth of 3.40 m, at the bottom of the Baden layer, in the southern section of Gradac"

23 supports its attribution to the early Baden phase that can be correlated with the Fonyód horizon in Dimitnjevic's chronological scheme.

24 A few analogies to the unusual typological features of this figurine can be quoted from other, primarily the Boleráz areas of the Baden distribution territory. The Dolná Streda site in southern Slovakia also yielded an atypical figurine that came to light "from a Boleráz settlement feature containing finds that correspond to the beginning of the Baden lb horizon."

25 The ornamentation of this figurine resembles that of the Vucedol idol: an incised band filled with impressed dots, an ornamental motif that is, again, unusual in the early Baden (Boleráz) phase. The origins and the chronology of the anthropomorphic figurines of the Baden culture are fairly clear, as is their position within the Baden sequence. In his study of the figurines of the Baden culture, B. Novotny assigned the flat idols to the early Baden phase, mainly on the basis of the stratified finds from Sarovce (Levice).

26 N. Kalicz also shares this view on the basis of the finds from Tököl he concluded that the flat, headless idols can be linked to the early horizon of the classical Baden phase and that they have close links with the Boleráz group,

27 for the Tököl site yielded an impressive amount of Boleráz-type pottery. The figurine from Dolná Streda too has been assigned to the Boleráz group.

28 Similarly, the Vinca and the Dobanovci figurines offer a reliable basis for dating the flat, headless idols from the Serbian areas of the Danube Basin: their first appearance can be dated to the end of the Boleráz-Cernavoda III horizon, the formative period of the classical Baden period. In V. Nemejcová-Pavúková's opinion the Baden idols from the Carpathian Basin can be assigned to the Baden lb phase, i.e. to the Boleráz-classical Baden transition.

29 The anthropomorphic figurines of the Baden culture drew their inspiration from the Boleráz-Cernavoda III models; this is hardly surprising since the Baden culture certainly has some of its roots in the Boleráz-Cernavoda III culture and this is why the Boleráz group is sometimes considered to be an early phase of the Baden culture.

30 One problem that still remains to be resolved is the origins of the headless idols of the Central and South-East European Eneolithic cultures. In the Kalicz (1977) 127. i\ Dimitrijevic (1979) 209f. P. Roman-I. Németi, Cultura Bade» in Romania [The Baden cul22 Schmidt (1945) PI. 29. 1. ture in Romania]. Bucuresti (1978) 28, Fig. 44. 3-4. 23 Ibid., 72. Tasic (1980-81) 27ff; N. Tasic. Vinca u bakarno i bronzano doba 24 Dimitrijevic (1979) 219. [Vinca in the Neolithic and the Bronze Age]. Vinca u praistorija i 23 Nemejcová-Pavúková (1981) 26 Iff, and Figs 3. XI and 4. X.2. srednjem veku. Edited by D. Srejovic. Beograd ( 1984) 69. 26 Novotny (1981) 136. N. Tasic. Praistorisko naselje kod Dobanovaca i prilog proucavanju 27 Kahcz(1977) 127. badenske grupe u Vojvodini [The prehistoric settlement at Doba28 Seenöte 25. novci and the Baden culture in the Voivodina]. Starinar 9-10 (195829 Nemejcová-Pavúková (1981)261. 1959) 227-241. 3ii Dimitrijevic (1979) 205.