Agria 41. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2005)

Domboróczki László: A háromszögletű AVK-fejek szimbolikája

the Szatmár Group flat-bodied idol from Polgár (Table 3. ill. 2.) also provide additional support for such an argument,

12 as do the formal similarities in the zoomorphic types and the engraving technique used in the Körös Culture figure from Szolnok (Table 2. ills. 3-4.) and the ALP Culture figure from Füzesabony (Table 4. ill. 2.).

13 Although there are some formal similarities alongside the significant differences, one cannot really talk about a truly close relationship between the two cultures. The more substantial similarities, however, may lie not so much in the forms themselves as in what they intended to express and the ideas they represented. In order to clarify this, of course, one needs to understand what Neolithic man was trying to express with their plastic artefacts. When embarking on such an undertaking one is however entering uncertain territory where there are no fixed points of reference. It is for precisely this reason that many avoid trying to interpret the meaning of such finds altogether, stopping instead at formal and typological comparisons, and an exhaustive analysis of the circumstances in which they were uncovered.

14 While such considerations are of course extremely important, there comes a point, when, however detailed one's analysis happens to be, one cannot get any closer to the true understanding of the artefacts in question. We have long since known that on a formal basis the Körös and Szatmár artefacts must be distinguished.

15 It is quite evident that a stylistic change took place at the time, yet we have to understand satisfactorily how it came about. If one examines the objects on a purely typological basis, one tends only to notice the differences thereby looking for some kind of radical change, which may even be attributed to ethnical differences.

16 If we try instead to understand what once lay behind the different types of symbolism we may perhaps be able to get a clearer picture of why the similarities and differences exist. In the pages that follow we will be offering a possible, and we believe convincing, argument explaining the symbolism of the triangular heads found in the Szatmár Group and subsequently the ALP period as a whole. We believe that the relationship on a conceptual level between the plastic artefacts of the Szatmár Group and the Körös Culture can be sustained by this approach. In our opinion 12 Nándor Kalicz and János Makkay refer to this relationship in the study quoted above. See also Emese NAGY 1998. 84. 13 László DOMBORÓCZKI 2003. 37-39. 14 Eszter BÁNFFY 2001. 61. 15 Nándor KALICZ-János MAKKAY 1972. 80.; Nándor KALICZ-János MAKKAY 1976. 19. 16 In some Transdanubian ALP figurines it emerged, for example, that they may have been made by the local indigenous population: Eszter BÁNFFY 2003. 17-19. Here, some elements of the symbolic system used - for example the fir tree branch motif, which is apparently supposed to represent a skeleton - was also connected with the local indigenous population: Eszter BÁNFFY 2004. 296.; HÖCKMANN 2001. 79. footnote 8. 20