Folia archeologica 23.

Tibor Kovács: Askoi, Bird-Shaped Vessels, Bird-Shaped Rattles in Bronze Age Hungary

ASKOI, BIRD-SIIAPED VESSELS 15 on vessels from Igar-Vámpuszta and MendeLeányvár), these can be dated with certainty to the later phase of the Vatya and Füzesabony cultures, representing a newly emerging style in art.

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0 On the ground of this—although still conditionally

— we can fix the date of the Tiszafüred askos as falling within the last phase of the Middle Bronze Age.

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1 By way of summarizing, we can state of the chronology and spreading of askoi in Hungary ( Fig. 2b) the following. In Hungary, we can find among the relics of peoples arriving in to the Carpathian basin from the South-east the first askoi (Zók culture) in the Early Bronze Age. Their general use in the Early Bronze Age, can, nevertheless, supposed, in spite of the fact that they emerged in comparatively small numbers and in different shapes. Yet they were not known in the material of contemporary cultures and groups (Pitvaros group, Gyula group).

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2 From the Tószeg piece (Nagyrév culture) one may suppose that the askos and different beliefs attached to it may be traced back through many centuries. On the ground of existing data, however, there can be no doubt that the function of the askos arose mainly in the late Hatvan culture, when according to Nándor Kalicz's researches a new impulse came to the region in question from South-Eastern Europe. A direct impact of the latter affecting more distant regions can be seen most strikingly in the Kecskéd askos. On the other hand, the Felsőörs askos, bearing an individual character, proves for certain, the Tiszafüred one only conditionally that the use of the askos has not ceased even in the later phases of the Middle Bronze Age. If we take into consideration the classification of types, we must admit that there are comparatively few bird-sbaped vessels from the Bronze Age in our region (Fig. 2a). From those which exist one in Vuledol

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3 and one in Kolisca next to Ig differ structurally from other representatives of the basic type. By this I mean that the bird-shaped vessel at Vucedol has a small opening on the top of the bird's head. R. R. Schmidt referred to the South-east-European connections of this conception. The vessel from Kolisca, on the other hand, may be considered as an individual shape, called by J. Korosec

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4 anthropomorphic. I believe that the cylindrical neck with the straight rim symbolizes the bird's neck, the beak being unmistakenly indicated by a knob. The body is referred to by stylized wings, emphasized by a surface ornamentation filled in with laim.

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U I shall discuss the anthroporphic shapes of the Bronze Age in Hungary in a special pape

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1 We have deliberately left out from our list the askos of Öcsöd [Banner

, /., A gyulai Erkel Ferenc Múzeum jubileumi évkönyve. (Gyula i960) 16 ff.]. We think that it stands nearer to the askoi of the Gumelnifa and Salcuta cultures than to the Hungarian Bronze Age pieces. Cf. Bercin, D., Romania, before Burebista. Ancient Peoples and Places 57. (London 1967) 58-59. 4

2 Cf. Bóna, /., Alba Regia 1965. 17fr. 4

3 Schmidt, R. R., Die Burg Vucedol. (Zagreb 1945) 106-107., Pl- L. nos. ia-b. 4

4 Korosec, J

., Nekaj primerov zgodnje predzgodovinske plastike v Slavoniji. Arh.Vestnik 1

(1950) 29., Fig. Ii.; Korosec, J., Oris predzgodovine Ljubjane. In: Geologija in arheologija. (Ljubljana 1955) 302., Pl. II. no. 3. 4

5 For a relationship between "Pfahlbaukultur" to which the finds beside Ig also belong and the so-called "Slavonic" pottery, see Korosec, /., Oris . . . 302.