A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve, 1978/79-1. (Szeged, 1980)

Hegedűs, Katalin: Two New Enthroned Idols from Szegvár-Tűzköves

A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve 1978—79/1 TWO NEW ENTHRONED IDOLS FROM SZEGVÁR-TÜZKÖVES KATALIN HEGEDŰS 1. The well known Neolithic settlement of Szegvár—Tűzköves (County Csongrád, SE Hungary) covering an area of 11 hectares is located at the shore of the former Kontra lake.

1 According to observation, the houses of the Neolithic settlement were built along the rim of this particular elevation encompassing the Kontra lake. The first settlers were in full knowledge of the favourable position offered by this site; that is, they took advantage of two adjacent environmental regions; the marshy areas, rich in flora and fauna, of the former lake shore to their west, and the previously mentioned elevation, on which cultivation and animal husbandry could be practised, to their east. Although the site was known since 1892

2 the first systematic excavation of this site was only carried out in 1955, a rather late date.

3 This rescue dig was followed by subsequent excavations in 1956, 1957, 1963 and 1964 respectively, conducted by J. Csalog. In 1970 J. Korek undertook the difficult task of resuming the excavation of Szegvár—Tűzköves, a site already in the „lime light" of archaelogical interest. The specific aim of the fresh excavation was to determine the extension of the settlement.

4 The results of these digs showed that the Szegvár—Tűzköves settlement was in fact a tell, the thickness of its cultural deposits varied from 180 to 250 cm. These deposits could be divided into two main habitation levels each subdivided into several building layers. Between the two main habitation levels a 40 cm thick sterile humus layer was observed. A characteristic feature of the site is the groupings of houses relatively distant from one another (8—20 m). In addition, the houses were renewed on the same spot, sometimes five-six times, thus creating thick cultural deposits in a short span of time. 1 Unfortunately the site report was not published and the articles about Tűzköves deal mainly with individual site features especially with cultic artifacts. These are the following (published by J. Csalog): Újkőkori idoljaink arcformájának kérdéséről. ArchÉrt 1957, 207—211; Short report on the first dig; Arch Ért 85 (1958) 83. 201—202; Das Wohnhaus „E" von Szegvár—Tűzköves... Acta ArchHung IX. (1959) 95—114; Die Anthropomorphen Gefässe und Indolplastiken von Szegvár— Tűzköves. ActaArchHung XI (1959) 7—38; Die Krummschwert des Idols von Szegvár—Tűzköves Acta Arch Hung XII (1960) 57—68; Tűzfúró és fúró az őskorban. MFMÉ (1963) 3—19; A legújabb kökénydombi fonatlenyomat tanulságai MFMÉ (1964—1965) 17—45; Thronendes Frauenidol von Szegvár—Tűzköves. Prähistorische Idolkunst (1973) München. 20—23; A cernavodai idolok és a beszélő maszk. ArchÉrt. (103) 1976. a Farkas S., A szegvári kőkori leletekről Arch Ért. (1982) 69—70. 8 Csalog J., Arch Ért 1957/1. 84. See also Archives of MNM (Hungarian Hational Museum); Inv. number: 453. Sz. VII. 4 Korek J., Arch Ért (1971) 268. See also; Korek J., A tiszai kultúra. (1973) Manuscript. 1 am grateful to J. Korek for allowing me to study his unpublished dissertation on the Tisza culture which proved to be the only summarized source of the first five years of excavation. 287