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 3-4 - The Bronze Age (2800-800 B.C.) (Ildikó Szathmári)
based on extended families. In the early phase of the cemetery, the ashes were placed in an urn; a smaller bowl was placed into the mouth of the um and a small cup was set among the ashes or beside the urn. In the later phase, a fourth vessel, a large bowl was used for covering the urn. Bronze articles, usually pins and jewellery made from sheet metal, were deposited beside or inside the urn, or in a suspension vessel. 10-11. BELIEFS Countless remarkable objects, many of which are outstanding artistic creations in their own right, offer a glimpse into the rich imager)' and mind-set of Bronze Age communities and the world of their beliefs. The first unusual vessels covered with elaborate designs appeared in the Danube-Tisza region during the Early Bronze Age. The ornamental motifs on these vessels range from stylised depictions of birds, trees, the Sun and the Moon to human figures, such as the ones with upheld arms on the lovely suspension vessel from Nagyrév. Upheld arms have symbolised thanksgiving and prayer from prehistory to the present. The most superb relics of Bronze Age beliefs are the figurai depictions attesting the exceptional powers of observation of their creators. The earliest, highly simplified human depictions are the schematic "faceless" clay statuettes of South-East European ancestry. From the mid-2nd millennium B.C., the style of anthropomorphic depictions changed: figurines were more carefully modelled and a wealth of tiny details was added, as evidenced by the human head found at Tószeg. The "bell-skirted" figurines depicting the accessories of female clothing (headdress adornments, jewellery, dress) were made in the southerly areas of the Carpathian Basin and in the Lower Danube region and date from a slightly later period. Anthropomorphic vessels modelled on the human body too made their appearance in the mid-2nd millennium B.C. One early specimen is the suspension vessel set on human feet from Iváncsa (Fig. 36); a similar, slightly later piece comes from the burial ground at Zagyvapálfalva. Several Bronze Age vessel fragments are decorated with various parts of the human body (face, eyes, hands, female characteristics). A remarkable, undoubtedly male portrait can be seen on a vessel fragment from Tószeg. The dagger depiction on the vessel from Mende was undoubtedly a male symbol. Although the spread of bronze metallurgy wrought fundamental changes in the style and imagery of Bronze Age art from the 12th century B.C., many communities continued to express elements of their beliefs in clay too, even if to a lesser extent. The latter include the boot shaped vessels used for storing food and liquids and the hand shaped clay amulets for warding off evil powers. The first realistically modelled clay animal figurines appeared on settlements from the first third of the 2nd millennium B.C. These statuettes are so life-like that the species of the depicted animal can be determined even at a cursory glance. Most of these figurines portrayed domestic animals (horse, pig, sheep, dog), but they include wild animals too (bear, boar). These figurines perhaps played a role in the rituals performed to ensure the animals' fertility and successful hunting expeditions. Bird depictions became widely popular in the eastern half of the Carpathian Basin during one particular period of the Bronze Age (18th— 15th centuries B.C.). The most abstract type is represented by bird shaped vessels, the so-called askoi, which were most likely used as containers for sacrificial beverages during various rituals. This vessel type had a long South-East European ancestry; the locally made Bronze Age specimens were made according to the taste and beliefs of a particular community. The new artistic style unfolding during the 15th-14th centuries B.C. in the Carpathian Basin is attested by the appearance of depictions combining human and animal features,
