Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 13 (1968) (Pécs, 1971)

Régészet - Makkay, János: The Chalcolithic Male Relief from Villánykövesd and the Earliest Male Figurines in South-Eastern Europa

THE CHALCOLITHIC MALE RELIEF FROM VILLÁNYKÖVESD AND THE EARLIEST MALE FIGURINES IN SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE J. MAKKAY The Villánykövesd (County Baranya) settlement, excavated by J. Dombay and published only in a preliminary report,

1 belongs to the circle of the Lengyel culture. The assemblage contains a most important fragment of a vessel, unpublished at that time. Now the friendliness of G. Bandi has enabled us to publish the find and to discuss the problems connected with it. The fragment of the vessel has come to light in excavation area No. 2, section VIII, pit 122 of Villánykövesd. Doubtlessly the finds of the pit form a close unit, belonging to the Lengyel culture.

2 Our object is the fragment of the side of a vessel. Its heigth is 10,5 cm, the wall is 0,5 cm thick in average. Its colour is light brown. There was no ornament or painting, the surface is polished. The fragment is derived from the belly and the side of the vessel above the bulge, having a horizontally pierced small handle below, on the edge of the bulge. The original shape of the vessel may be defined approximately. We may identify it with the shape of the highnecked jar, found in the grave 352 of the Zengővárkony cemetery. In this the body of the vessel is convex above the bulge, then it goes over to an arched concave line towards the top. It had horizontally pierced handles on the edge of the bulge as well.

3 Its height is 29 cm. On the outside of the Villánykövesd fragment one may see a male relief. Its master has formed a figure turned towards the onlooker, lying on the back or standing (Plate I, 1—2 and fig. 1), in a rather simplified fashion. The figure bends its feet and stretches them in drawnup position, whereas its hands are raised and the elbows bent. Its face is wholly rough-andready, like a knob, the only conspicuous feature is the imitation of the eyes, as they are marked by a long and deep horizontal groove each. 1 J. Dombay, Próbaásatás a villánykövesdi kőrézkori lakótelepen. (Probegrabung an der aeneolithischen Ansiedlung bei Villánykövesd.) JPMÉ 1959 (Pécs, 1960.) pp. 55—75. 2 A kindly oral communation of G. Bandi. 3 J. Dombay, Die Siedlung und das Gräberfeld in Zengővárkony. АН 37 (Budapest, 1960.) p. 150, Pl. LXXX no. 11; Id., JPMÉ 1959 (Pécs, 1960.) Pl. XX no. 5. Fig. 1. Villánykövesd, Hungary. The fingers and toes are strongly emphasized. Today the find is broken to two but pasted together, preserved in the collection of the Janus Pannonius Museum at Pécs.

4 We begin the detailed investigation of the fragment with a survey of its connections with the relief-like male portraits, rather frequently appearing on the sides of Neolithic and Aeneolithic potteries. The reason is that the find is by no means isolated from the male figurines and reliefs of the age, so we have to know the precedents if we are to understand the problems connected with it better. 4 Inv. no. 60.179.1.