Museum of: Budapest
    Name of the artefact: Boot-shaped vessel
   
-
                                 
 
WHERE IS IT AND MAIN CHARACTERISTICS
  
STATE
 
Department:
Department of Prehistoric and Migration Period
Preservation:
 Very good
Inventory number:
BTM 64.46.156.
Restauration:
 Restored
Name of the artefact:
Boot-shaped vessel
Completeness:
 Complete
Object type:
Human figurine
  
Material:
Clay with bronze
Methof of manufacture:
Hand made
Decoration type:
Plastic
Distinctive mark:
Bronze studs
DIMENSIONS
  
PERIOD OF USE
Length (mm):
110 (at base)
Epoque:
Bronze Age
Heigth (mm):
110
Culture:
Urnfield culture
Diameter (mm):
-
Period:
Late Bronze Age
Width (mm):
95 (at rim)
Face:
Late
Thickness (mm):
-
Absolute chronology:
1250-800 BC
Weight (g):
-
DISCOVERY
Date:
1962
Country:
Hungary
District:
Budapest, III
Town hall affiliation:
-
Village:
-
Discovery findspot:
Királyok útja (Vöröshadsereg útja)
Condition of discovery:
Archaeological excavation
Discovery type:
Grave
 
ANALYSES – DETERMINATIONS
 
FILLED IN BY
Type:
-
Name:
Gábor Szilas
Laboratory:
-
Institution:
Budapest History Museum
No./Code:
-
Date:
20/10/2005
 
DEEPENINGS

Morphology of the object:
Pottery in the shape of a boot with polished surface, an outward-turning rim, a slightly curving and funnel-like leg, ending in a slender foot form.

Decoration:
The rim of the vessel is polished, drilled at 6 parts with holes grouped in threes. The foot has longitudinally channelled ornamentation, while the meeting point of the foot and the leg parts is decorated with transversal incisions. The ankle-bone and the foot is studded with bronze nails, the toe of the boot is perforated.

Inscription:
-

Analogies:
-

Interpretation:
This is an extraordinary object that connects strongly to the local cults. More than twenty are known of its kind from the Békásmegyer cemetery, most of which are right-footed. Presumably the original boots were made of reed and leather serving as models for these clay vessels, which symbolically portrayed the lacing on several parts of the objects with incised line-bands, and the ankle-bone with tiny knobs. On the toe of the foot-part usually a small hole can be found, which might have served as an opening to pour liquid from, either as drink or some form of ritual difficult to reconstruct, in relation to a possible health preserving role of these artefacts.
Bibliography:
Kalicz-Schreiber, Rózsa – Kalicz Nándor: Die Stiefelgefäße des spätbronzezeitlichen Gräberfeldes von Budapest-Békásmegyer. In: Festschrift für Bernhard Hänsel. Berlin, 1997. 353-371. 335. Abb. 5,1.