Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. A Szent István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 34. 2004 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (2005)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Zalai-Gaál, István: New evidence for the Cattle cult in the Neolithic of Central Europe. XXXIV. p. 7–40. T. I–XVII.

ing the final period of the Neolithic in the Carpathian Basin, and reflects the contacts between and symbiosis of the Tisza, Herpály and Lengyel populations in the Upper Tisza region (Raczky et al. 1994, 233; 1997, 481^87; Raczky 2000, 93). Although the most important domestic species raised on the settlement was cattle, aurochs was only the third most frequently hunted game animal (Schwartz 1998, 511). The existence of the cattle cult is indicated by finds of vessel lid knobs in the shape of cattle, stylised animal figurines and horn depictions (Raczky et al. 1997, 172, Figs 67 and 68). One remarkable find from the settlement is an aurochs vertebra with a flintstone arrowhead embedded in the lower part of the articular surface, which also sheds light on how this species was hunted (Bökönyi 1974, 103-104, Fig. 4; Vörös 2003, 58-59, Fig. 24). The chronological position of the Cicarovce site (Csicserfalva, Slovakia) is as complicated as that of the Csőszhalom settlement.

8 Pit A/76, one of the many pits uncovered at this settlement, was a sacrificial pit: a female skull and the broken bones of a young person were found on the bottom of Layer AI („Lage") together with fourteen vessels and pottery sherds, a female figurine, a fish figure and forty-two obsidian and silex implements. The animal bones included cattle remains, as well as a dog skull, tortoise, fish and bird bones (Vízdal 1980; Lichardus-Lichardus-Itten 1996, 144-145); Layer A2 in the same pit yielded even more interesting finds. The skull and bones of a young man and the skull of another young individual were found together with thirteen vessels and a clay ladle, two human figurines, rattles, and stone and bone implements. In addition to deer antlers, dog, bird, fish and tortoise bones, the zoological remains comprised also cattle horns and cattle bones (Vízdal 1980; Lichardus-Lichardus-Itten 1996, 14). One of the vessel lid knobs apparently portrayed a bull (Vízdal 1980, 174, Tab. 20. 3). The next layer (A3) contained the skeletal remains of two individuals, thirteen clay vessels, bone and stone implements, and a harpoon carved from antler. The ritual nature of the assemblage is underlined by a broken female figurine, a clay disc with serrated edge and a vessel lid knob apparently modelled in the form of a bull (Vízdal 1980, 23, Obr. 9. 2 and Tab. 9. 4). Another lid is decorated with a simple bull horn symbol (Vízdal 1980, Obr. 9. 5 and Tab. 9. 1). The faunal assemblage from this layer included both cattle and aurochs bones in addition to the species found also in the other layers (LichardusLichardus-Itten 1996, 148). Dug into Layer A4 was Grave 3/76, a male burial containing several vessels, pottery sherds, three stone axes, silex and obsidian tools, a bone awl and cattle ribs (Lichardus-Lichardus-Itten 1996, 148). „Der Befund von Cicarovce dokumentiert durch seine Bestattungen und Siedlungsfunde einen außergewöhnlichen Komplex, der in die Periode Csöszhalom-Oborin I des ausklingenden karpatenländischen Spätneolithikums (SN lila) zu datieren ist" (Lichardus-LichardusItten 1996,213). The ceramic inventory from Ciöarovce comprised several V shaped appliqué ornaments, perhaps the stylised versions of bull horns, such as the ones from Feature B/76 (Vízdal 1980, 78, Obr. 35. 2) and the relief on a lid brought to light from Pit 1/1986 (Lichardus-LichardusItten 1996, Taf. 4. 5). According to the excavators, the features uncovered in 1976 lay in a separate, special area serving as the residential quarter and the burial ground of the community's elite (Lichardus-Lichardus-Itten 1996, 213). A cattle mandible lay above the skull in Grave 18 of the Late Neolithic burial ground at Iclod (Iclod B) in north-western Transylvania; another cattle mandible was deposited beside the feet in Grave 51 (Lichter 2001, 230). FINDS OF THE MIDDLE AND LATE NEOLITHIC IN SOUTH-EAST EUROPE The sanctuary and its finds, the sacrificial pits and the „monumental altars" uncovered in Parta (Parác, Romania) have been described and discussed in countless studies and monographs. The earliest occupation (and the sanctuary of Layer I of the tell settlement) dates from the Banat culture, which was co-eval with Vinca B1-B2 and the Szakáihát culture (Lazarovici 1972, 16, Figs 9-11, Figs 12; 1989, 149; Lazarovici-Kalmar-Maxim 1995, 7). The finds all came to light from cult buildings and community structures or the cult areas of family houses (Lazarovici 1998, 15). The earliest sanctuary, measuring 12.5 m by 7 m, was erected in the centre of the settlement (Lazarovici 1985, 35, Fig. 8. A I; Rus-Lazarovici 1991, Fig. 12, Fig. 17, Fig. 20). The next sanctuary, erected over the first one after its remains were levelled, was slightly smaller, covering an area of 11.6 m by 6 m (Lazarovici 1989, 149; Lazarovici-Kalmar-Maxim 1995, 7, Fig. 3. A II). One outstanding find was a monumental double statute from the eastern room of Sanctuary 2, which according to the excavator portrayed the „Great Goddess" and the „Bull God", probably the two chief deities worshipped in the sanctuary {Plate XII, Fig. 18; Lazarovici-Kalmar-Maxim 1995, 7, Fig. 2; Lazarovici 1998, 10, Kat. 1, Abb. 3).

9 Gheorghe Lazarovici discussed the astronomical aspects of the sanctuaries uncovered at Parta in a separate study (Lazarovici-Kalmar-Maxim 1995, 11-17). A „domestic shrine" was uncovered in House 126: a timber post reinforced with clay was set into a pit dug in the centre of the hearth. Set on top of this post was a bull head, of which only one of the ears and a broken horn One possible parallel to the bucrania from Parta is the stylised bull head from House 2 at Gorzsa, which had probably been a gable ornament (Horváth 1990, 45; MeierArendt 1991, 81). 13