Agria 39. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2003)
Domboróczki László: Radiokarbon adatok Heves megye újkőkori régészeti lelőhelyeiről
of a type which can also be found on the walls of one of the shrines at Çatal Hiiyiik, 139 for example, although quite clearly taking abstraction to new levels. We believe that A. Whittle is correct when he says that the phallic-steatopyg statues in the Körös Culture can also be counted amongst the male-female fertility statues, albeit at a different level of abstraction. 140 The centaurs probably signify bulls. It may be the case that the triangular head signifies the same kind of stylised bull's head as the log head seen at Szanda, Szajol, Óbesenyő and Szentpéterszeg. Taking this idea one step further, looking at the similarities with the other ALP idols it is possible that the other idol heads can be interpreted as being bull's heads, making the idols bull-headed figures rather than symbols of ancestors. 141 Thus it is that they also symbolise fertility or some related aspect of it. 142 The four-legged altars also show some kind of continuity between the Körös Culture and the Szatmár Group. 143 The altars are also certainly cultic objects, perhaps used for the presentation of some kind of fertility sacrifice. The above-mentioned examples lead one to suspect that that the people of the Szatmár Group came from a similar cultural background, with the same religious views and beliefs as the Körös peoples. There is no reason therefore why they should not have been descended from them. Although the archaeological finds are not exactly the same, one should bear in mind that changes in the level of abstraction was capable of changing over a short period of time. Nevertheless, although appearances do differ to some extent, the basic intention would appear to have remained the same. At this point one should also add that thus far we have no religious objects dating from the Mezolithic period. 144 As it was the formal and decorative similarities in the pottery which formed the basis of the definition of the Szatmár Group, as well as the transition between the Körös and the ALP Cultures, there is no need to discuss pottery in connection with the transitional period. 145 As we have already seen, scientific datings have added much to the field of archaeological theory. On the basis of the radiocarbon datings the Szatmár Group finds now fall somewhere between the end of the Körös Culture and the beginning of the classical ALP period. The Szatmár Group's mastery of pottery can therefore be traced back to the Körös Culture. Indeed, the Szatmár Group occasionally surpasses the Körös Culture in its use of new types of ornamentation and form, whilst taking them into entirely new geographical areas. Indeed the question of Körös-Szatmár ethnic continuity needs to be settled as the appearance of new forms in new territories could be associated either with an acculturating or partially assimulating local indigenous Mezolithic population. Of course, this possibility would also need to be proved. However, we currently don't have the conditions necessary to decide either for or against. We need much greater accuracy before 139 OATES, David-OATES, Joan 1993. 91. ill. 98. 140 WHITTLE, Alasdair 1998. 140. 141 WHITTLE, Alasdair 1996. 66. 142 Although we haven't been able to work this idea through completely, a short summary has been published (DOMBORÓCZKI László 2000c. - unfortunately allusions to this had to be deleted from the article). 143 The Gubakut pieces (DOMBORÓCZKI László 1997a. 164., ill. 50-51.) can be compared with the Körös Culture examples (KUTZIÁN Ida 1944. fig. XXXV.). 144 There are, however, references to carved wooden animal-headed "idols" from the late Paleolithic period (ELIADE, Mircea 1995. 34), although there are problems in claiming that they were the antecedents of Neolithic equivalents. 145 KALICZ Nándor-MAKKAY János 1966. KALICZ Nándor-MAKKAY János 1970. 38
