Ilon Gábor: Százszorszépek. Emberábrázolás az őskori Nyugat-Magyrországon (Szombathely, 2007)

Kalicz Nándor: Az őskori agyagszobrászat kezdetei a Nyugat-Dunántúlon (Kr. e. 6000–Kr. e. 3000)

At Oladi plató the usual round ditch system was not found and it is perhaps situated outside the excavated area. There is, however, a large triangular-shaped shallow flatbottomed feature (Feature 1.) with rounded corners, which measures 38,7 x 28 metres. This feature contained fragments of more than 100 figurines, small altars and lids with human but more animal (goat) handles, large number of painted fine wares, unpainted coarse wares and masses of clay spoons. Apart from this feature there were other smaller and larger features with similar finds but not as much as was in feature 1. The question arises, however, that what are the proofs of the assumptions that the community of Sé moved to Oladi plató and whether the chronology of the two sites support this assumption. This assumption is based on the extensive similarities between the very rich material cultures of the two sites. The base of the assumption is that the similarities are present in many details of the rich material cultures and even when changes occurred the correlation between the finds are present. The shapes of the majority of the vessels are similar, but changes can be recognised. One main characteristic change is that pedestalled bowls with high cylindrical pedestals became common, which did not exist in the Sé period. In Sé there were only short legged pedestalled vessels. Even though vessel painting was still similarly common in Oladi plató and the red and yellow colours were similar to those used in Sé, a change is indicated by the appearance of different decorative motifs. In Sé the decorative motifs were strictly straight bands with different width executed in all directions. In very rare cases connected spiral motifs appeared. These decorations did not cover the whole surface of the vessels. However, on the Oladi plató vessels the areas between the red bands are painted in yellow. Occasionally the red base and the whole vessel surface are covered with densely situated yellow, small and oval "rain drops". Beside this other motifs, such as meanders, also appeared which were not characteristic to Sé. These decorative motifs in an identical or very similar design spread fast in Lower Austria and in south Moravia. The most proof that the population of Sé and Oladi plató were the same community is provided by the figurines. The number of figurines at Oladi plató is similarly high to Sé and they were concentrated within a restricted area. The difference between the two sites is that the figurine concentration in Sé was around the double ditch system, where as at the Oladi plató the figurines concentrated in a large pit where they were fragmented in a similar manner observed in Sé. The size of the figurines at Oladi plató is similar to those in Sé although miniature figurines were not found so far. Technological differences between the figurines from the two sites are apparent in terms of the type and amount of tempers. At Sé, with few exceptions, figurines were tempered with fine sand and the surfaces were carefully smoothed. At Oladi plató however, two types of tempering practices existed. One of them is similar to what was observed at Sé, the other is the common utilization of small pebbles. The majority of the figurines show small pebble tempering which gives a rough appearance to the surface. This appearance may have been caused by nature since it is often observed that the cores of the figurines were made from a rough raw material, which was covered with fine clay and then it was smoothed. This practice, that is covering the surface of the figurine with fine clay, was also very common in Sé even though in Sé the core of the figurines were not made from rough clay. The fine layer covered the coarse core and also provided a surface for the decorations and detailed body features. Perhaps, in many cases, the fine clay layer was worn off by soil erosion together with the details of hair, eyebrows, and eyes. In some cases the eroded surfaces of the figurines still show remains of incisions. At Oladi plató, similarly to Sé, the way of making the head of the figurines is most characteristic, although it is different from the Sé figurines in a small, but important detail. The rounded heads of the figurines so characteristic to Sé are not at all characteristic to Oladi plató where only a few roughly rounded figurine heads were found. Figurine heads at Oladi plató are most often strongly biconical and, very characteristically, the top of the head is flat. When, in spite of the erosion, the hairline representation that has survived is similar to what was observed in Sé: incised bent lines represent the hairline above and the sides of the tall forehead, although they are not as carefully executed as in Sé. In many cases the forehead occupies the majority of the upper part of the head and there is hardly any space for the eyebrows, eyes and nose which are actually similarly executed to the Sé figurines. The mouth is consistently missing from the figurines, which is probably not an accident. This is characteristic to all the figurines at Oladi plató. These characteristics also appear in a similar manner on similar biconical heads in distant lands in the west and northwest. A different way of forming a head also appears, when the globular head and the long nose protrude, which, to a certain extent gives the head an animal (mask?) character. In many cases a specific technique of attaching the head to the body is also observed. On the top of the body where the neck should be there is a shallow semi-circular depression which accommodates the long neck. A small stick could also be used to attach the parts together which decomposed during firing. On the upper body of the figurines of Oladi plató, apart from the breasts, in many cases a decoration appears composed of applied ribs or incised lines positioned similarly to the applied ribs. These representations often run to the middle of the back and may represent an unknown dress or stole or