Museum of: Budapest
    Name of the artefact: Fragment of faced pot
   
Representation of Human face on the lip of a vessel from Neolithic
                                 
 
WHERE IS IT AND MAIN CHARACTERISTICS
  
STATE
Department:
Prehistoric Department
Preservation:
 Very good
Inventory number:
GY/520
Restauration:
 Restored
Name of the artefact:
Fragment of faced pot
Completeness:
 Incomplete
Object type:
Vessel/Anphora
  
Material:
Clay
Methof of manufacture:
Hand made<<
Decoration type:
Incision
Distinctive mark:
Incised "M" -shaped line framing the face
DIMENSIONS
  
PERIOD OF USE
Length (mm):
80 mm
Epoque:
Neolithic
Heigth (mm):
-
Culture:
Transdanubian Linear Pottery Culture
Diameter (mm):
-
Period:
Middle<<
Width (mm):
67 mm
Face:
Zselíz
Thickness (mm):
3 mm
Absolute chronology:
4700-4600 BC
Weight (g):
-
DISCOVERY
Date:
2003
Country:
Pest
District:
-
Town hall affiliation:
Budapest
Village:
Biatorbágy
Discovery findspot:
Biatorbágy, Hosszúrétek
Condition of discovery:
Archaeological excavation
Discovery type:
Pit
 
ANALYSES – DETERMINATIONS
 
FILLED IN BY
Type:
-
Name:
László András Horváth
Laboratory:
-
Institution:
Budapest History Museum
No./Code:
-
Date:
21/01/2006
 
DEEPENINGS

Morphology of the object:
The fragment of a vessel of a slightly outverted neck with the representation of a human face.

Decoration:
The vessel was decorated with bunches of densely incised, usually thin lines. The spaces between the lines were partly polished and partly painted with red or yellow pigment. The face depicted with plastic and incised lines is closed with an M-shaped pattern at the bottom, which is filled in with densely incised zigzag patterns. Another similar ornament starts in the height of the eyes, the design of which cannot be observed on the small fragment.

Inscription:
-

Analogies:
Biatorbágy-Tyúkberek 36. gödör (M. Virág Zsuzsa 1998, Abb. 7, 1); Törökbálint-Dulácska 157. gödör (M. Virág Zsuzsa 1998, Abb. 2-4); Mužla-Čenkov (Kuzma, I.: Plastika Želiežovskej skupiny z Mužle-Čenkova (Plastik der Želiezovce-Gruppe aus Mužla Čenkov). Slovenska Archaeologica 38(1990) 429-452., Obr. 3; Obr. 4. 3-5; Obr. 5.)

Interpretation:
It is difficult to tell from the fragment if it came from a face-pot or a vessel representing a seated man. Its function, however, is the same in either case. These vessels could be cult paraphernalia, most probably of the crop cult. They contained the crop with which the fertility magic was performed next year before the start of the agricultural work.
Bibliography:
Virág 1998: Zs. M. Virág: Neuere anthropomorphe Darstellungen der Linienbandkeramik aus der Umgebung von Budapest. In: (F. Drasovean, ed.): The Late Neolithic of the Middle Danube Region. International Symposium on the Problems of the Transition from Middle to Late Neolithic in the Middle Danube Region. June 1997, Timisoara, Romania. Timisoara 1998.