Zalai Múzeum 14. Müller Róbert 60 éves (Zalaegerszeg, 2005)

P. Barna Judit: Sormás–Török-földek településtörténeti áttekintése. A középső neolitikum

28 P. Barna Judit corations (Pic. 6). Further importance of the finds is that painted sherds were also found. There are two examples of painting, one of which is red (Pic. 7, 4 a-b) while the other is pink (Pic. 7, 3 a-b). The deep and wide smoothed lines on the vessels are also characteristic for the Keszthely group. Painted vessels from the Transdanubian Linear Pottery Culture have also been found recently at other settlements such as Balatonszárszó-Kis-erdei dűlő (MARTON 2004, 85-86), Becsehely-Bükkaljai-dűlő and Becsehely-Homokos. An important find is a fragment of a figurine from feature 76 (Pic. 7, 1-2). The figurine is red and fire clouded. The clay paste was tempered with sand and crushed pebble. Only the upper part of the figurine came to light and the arms and lower parts are missing. The figurine is asexual and the features of the remaining body do not shed light on the gender of the figurine. The upper part and the head were formed crudely and the face has characteristic exaggerated asymmetrical features. The eyes and the mouth are represented by angled, deep incisions and the nostrils by two stabbed holes. The distinction between the head and the shoulder is unarticulated and the neck is represented only by a circular incision. It is considered that this incision represents a necklace or cultic paraphernalia. On the two sides of the head stabbed holes represent the ears. Despite the asexual features of the figurine it is considered to be probably a woman because of the headdress: The headdress is flattened at the front and arched over the forehead. Her hair is apparently tied in a bun and an incised circle emphasises the protrusion of hair through the back opening (see Pic. 7, 1-2). On the back of the figurine there is an incised square in which there is a thin incised branch of pine. The space between the incision around the neck and the pine branch is decorated with a hatched triangle pointing towards the pine branch. To the writer's knowledge a close analogy of the figurine is not known but it is considered to belong to the Transdanubian Linear Pottery Culture because some details of the figurine, such as the headdress, incision around the neck, and the pine branch motif are characteristic for the culture. In the case of Malo Korenovo, closed features of the culture were not present and finds belonging to the Malo Korenovo appeared in the same contexts as Transdanubian Linear Pottery Culture. For this reason the autonomic presence of the Malo Korenovo culture cannot be assumed (Pic. 1,2). The material finds of the Malo Korenovo culture were found in seven features (Pic. 8, 1-7), all of which are considered to be refuse pits. The occupational area of the Malo Korenovo culture lies in Croatia. Even though there were only a small number of finds belonging to the Malo Korenovo culture at Sormás, they are important because they help to refine the relative chronology and the appearance of the Malo Korenovo in south-west Hungary. Previously, the complex relationship between Neolithic cultures in Hungary and the Malo Korenovo cultuture has been interpreted in a number of ways. Initially finds were considered as belonging to a so-called Sopot-Malo Korenovo hybrid (KALICZ 1984; KALICZ 1988), then they were linked with the Sopot culture alone (HORVÁTH-KALICZ 2003; TOKAI 2003). Their chronological position was also assigned to the period preceding the Sopot culture (HORVÁTH 1996; REGÉNYE 1998). Nándor Kalicz (KALICZ 2001, 10) considered that Malo Korenovo finds appeared together with finds of the Keszthely group. He further considered that the Sopot, Malo Korenovo cultures and the Keszthely group were coexistent but he did not rule out the possibility that they were mixed in the subsequent period. The spatial distribution of material finds of the Malo Korenovo culture suggests that the first appearance of the Malo Korenovo is contemporary with the Keszthely group, while the second wave of the culture is coincident with the Sopot culture. The material remains of the Malo Korenovo from the settlements of Sormás-Mántai-dűlő and Sormás-Törökföldek do not make possible refinement of a more detailed chronology of the appearance of the Malo Korenovo. The settlement of Becsehely (II)-Homokos was occupied mainly during the earlier phase of the Transdanubian Linear Pottery Culture and to some extent during the time of the Keszthely group. In Becsehely (II)-Homokos, material remains of the Malo Korenovo were not found. For this reason the end of the earlier phase of the Transdanubian Linear Pottery Culture is a terminus post quern. Thus the Malo Korenovo culture would have appeared in south-west Transdanubia after this period. Translated by Eszter Kreiter