Garam Éva szerk.: Between East and West - History of the peoples living in hungarian lands (Guide to the Archaeological Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum; Budapest, 2005)

HALL 2 - The Neolithic and the Copper Age (6000-2800 B.C.) (Nándor Kalicz, Pál Raczky)

Boot shaped vessel from Tiszaluc. Copper Age, 3800-3500 B.C. and charcoal, sealed with a clean layer of clay, and the finds recovered from them reflect their non-daily use (Lánycsók, Szolnok-Szanda). Wells can similarly be assigned to this category, for in addition to providing water for the community which dug them, they also served as sacrificial places after some time. A well of this type was recently excavated at Polgár-Csőszhalom; it yielded some one hundred carefully modelled and finely decorated vessels. In the Copper Age, a circular structure was often erected over the deep well shafts - these can be regarded as the forerunners of sanctuaries in which sacrifices were presented (Pusztaszikszó, Szarvas). The colourful heritage of the Neolithic and Copper Age cultures spanning three thousand years in the Carpathian Basin reflect a unique local development in this region, which also functioned as a cultural mediator between the Balkans and Central Europe. The flourishing Copper Age cultures came to an abrupt end in the early 3rd millennium B.C. and were succeeded by new communities representing an entirely different type of cultural development in the Danube and Tisza region during the centuries of the Bronze Age.