The vessel thoroughly imitates the form of the human body.

Morphology of the object:

The vessel thoroughly imitates the form of the human body. The head and the body could be reconstructed from the fragments, the lower part of the object was reconstructed based on analogies. The head has a spherical segment shape, slightly narrowing towards the neck; the body is cylindrical. Behind the ears modelled in relief a curved and raised rim could represent some sort of headdress. The breasts, shoulders, arms and the clasped hands are all shown in relief, the fingers are marked by incisions. Below the hands the joins of the forward pointing thighs can be seen, which makes it evident that the vessel portrays a figure in a sitting posture, „enthroned”. As the lower part of the pottery is missing, the reconstruction of the legs and the seat is problematic. Below the starting point of the thighs a horizontal plastered surface can be detected, thus a stool connected to the vessel would be the most obvious mode of construction. The form of this cannot be restored based on the fragments found.

The face is framed by an „M”-like incised line with outward pointing stems. Below the stems of the „M” the space is filled by thickly incised zigzag bunches of lines running parallel to one another with faint traces of red painting still discernable. The eyes and mouth are represented by deeply incised horizontal lines, the nose and ears are shown in relief. The back of the head and the diadem is undecorated. The neck is emphasized by double bunches of lines divided by notches, below, around the breasts and the stomach, the surface was left undecorated. On both wrists one, while on both the upper arms two deep grooves represent bangles made of presumably Spondylus. The rear side of the figure was similarly decorated as the section above the breasts; the pattern of horizontally running parallel double bunches of lines are divided into two parts by the vertical motif running down the middle of the rear side. The vessel portrays the generally used motifs from the early Zselíz phase, thus the pattern can be regarded as the appropriate decorational style for that age. Nontheless, the symmetrical location of the motifs could represent the pattern-book of the figure’s garments, or even tattoos on the body. It is undecided whether the portrayal of uncovered breasts can be seen as a general way of dressing up, or if this representation only had significance in the case of cult objects.

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Facial vessels with unified decorational rules for the facial representation appear in the younger phases of the Transdanubian Linear Pottery culture in the Transdanubian region. The particularly characteristic „M”-like incised line framing the face was similarly employed from the southern Carpathian Basin to the middle and western regions of Germany. Beside the stylized bottle or spherical segment shaped facial vessels, the pottery resembling human figures is unique at the moment in the Transdanubian region, with the examples of a female figure on a throne coming to light at Törökbálint (Hungary). In the younger phase of the Central European linear pottery seated female figurines or similarly positioned anthropomorphic vessels also appear. The closest parallel to the vessels from Törökbálint is the much published vessel from Erfurt.

The vessel forming an enthroned sitting female figure can be connected to cults that warrant fertility. The portrayal of uncovered breasts must have had something to do with the emphasis of the female sexual characteristics and fertility. The fragments of the pottery were found in an excavated pit near a dwelling of the settlement, being 3 metres deep and portraying burnt remains, where another almost identical vessel’s broken pieces were also found with several unusual fragments. Originally placed in a domestic „sanctuary” in the cult corner and serving special functions, the human-figured vessels must have had an active part in the sacrificial rites of fertility, while also acting as containers of crop or food and drink offerings, that symbolically embodied the outcome of the rituals. Specific pieces of the human-figured vessels, that were used once or more than once, were ritually buried in the vicinity of the house encompanied by other similarly functioning objects. Fragments of facial vessels are frequently found in refuse-pits excavated near dwellings. As a part of the facial decorations, the „M”-like incised line was widely used in a similar style and has been interpreted in various ways. Some scholars believe that the sign is a rather extremely stylized human figure, which thus duplicated was intended as an emphasis of the anthropomorphic characteristics more or less inherent in the form of the vessel itself. Other opinions simply regard the „M”-like line framing the face as an element used to accentuate the face and neck more.

Kalicz, Nándor: Figürliche Kunst und bemalte Keramik aus dem Neolithikum Westungarns. Budapest, 1998. -Raczky, Pál – Anders, Alexandra: The internal relations of the Alföld Linear Pottery culture in Hungary and the characteristics of human representation. In: Jerem, E. – Raczky, P. (Hrsg.) Morgenrot der Kulturen. Frühe Etappen der Menscengeschichte in Mittel- und Südosteuropa. (Festschrift für Nándor Kalicz zum 75. Geburtstag) Budapest, 2003. 155-183. -M. Virág, Zsuzsanna: Neuere anthropomorphe Darstellungen der Linienbandkeramik aus der Umgebung von Budapest. In: Fl. Drasovean (ed.), The Late Neolithic of the Middle Danube Region. Timisoara, 1998. 67-89. -M. Virág, Zsuzsanna: Anthropomorphic Vessels of Transdanubian Linear Pottery Culture. In: St. Hiller-V. Nikolov (Hrsg.), Karanovo Band III. Beitrage zum Neolithikum in Südosteuropa. Wien, 2000. 389-405.