Folia archeologica 54.

Oravecz Hargita: Újkőkori arcos hombár töredékei Tiszaföldvárról

66 ORAVECZ HARGITA FRAGMENT OF A NEOLITHIC FACE POT FROM TISZAFÖLDVÁR Described and discussed here is a variant of Neolithic face depictions appearing on storage jars. The vessel in question was brought to light at Tiszaföldvár, a settlement of the Szakáihát culture. Andrea H. Vaday, the excavator of the settlement, found two fragments coming from a vessel neck: the two fragments quite certainly originate from the same vessel because their manufacturing technique, curve and ornamental style is virtually identical. Found together with the two fragments at roughly the same depth were burnt daub fragments and floor remains, suggesting the one-time presence of a surface-level house, as well as a scatter of animal bones and various other vessel fragments. The finds from the settlement can be dated to the Middle Neolithic, to the transitional period between the Alföld Linear Pottery (ALP) and the Szakáihát culture, characterised by pottery made and decorated in the so-called Furugy style. The striking differences between the two vessel fragments and the other face pots unearthed at the settlement were apparent immediately after they were lifted: the two fragments were made using a different technique and they were decorated in a different style. Comparable finds are not known from the neighbouring Szakáihát sites. Their rarity is reflected also by the unusual function of the vessel they had been part of. The two fragments are discussed separately from the other ceramic finds and set in the broader context of face vessels, about which very little is known. The form and decoration of the face pot can be more 01 less accurately reconstructed from the two neck fragments, both fragments are incurving: the larger one suggests a lower diameter of 29-30 cm and an upper diameter of 26-27 cm, indicating a slightly constricted neck (Figs 1-2). The length of the larger fragment is 13 cm and lacks a roughly 1.5-2 cm large piece, suggesting a total length of 14.5—15 cm. Nothing survived of the vessel belly except for a small portion on the neck fragment, whose curve indicates that the neck adjoined the belly without a break, the implication being that the vessel either had an elongated ovoid form or a more prominently rounded belly (Fig. 3). Whichever of the two, it is quite clear that the vessel with the slightly elongated, constricted neck represents a typical Szakáihát form, whose best analogies can be quoted from Szentes—

Ilonapart and the settlements in the Battonya area. The known dimensions and the morphological traits allow the reconstruction of a ca. 50-55 cm tall vessel (Fig. 3), considerably smaller than the jars used for storing cereals at Battonya and Vinca, many of which were as much as 140150 cm high. This vessel was medium-sized compared to the latter. The fragments are also unusual in terms of their manufacturing technique, reflecting a frequently employed, but rarely observable procedure. The wall thickness of the fragments is 1.5 cm on the average, their section is light brown with cream patches, while their surface bears a coating that is 0.4 cm thick on the average, much of which was either cracked or had chipped off. No tempering agent (chaff or crushed pottery) was used in their manufacture and neither were they fired, in consequence of which they survived in an extremely poor state of preservation; these traits also indicate that the vessel had simply been dried, similarly to the storage jars found on the Szakáihát settlements at Battonya and Mezőkovácsháza. The latter, however, had been conserved to some extent owing to secondary burning. Even though the pattern on the two fragments is not identical, the design can be more or less accurately reconstructed. The larger fragment comes from the front side of the jar bearing the face depiction, on which the areas corresponding to the forehead and the cheek-bones protrude slightly, making the depictions more naturalistic (Fig. 1). The face is painted mauvish-red and crimson on a red ground. The