THE ENIGMATIC ROLE OF AVIAN ANTHROPOMORPHIC VESSELS IN THE BRONZE AGE CARPATHIAN BASIN
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-09-30

Based on the available archaeological evidence, animals, especially birds appear to have played an important role in the activities and worldview of Bronze Age people in Europe. The earliest ornitho-anthropomorphic artefact from the Carpathian Basin was discovered in a Late Neolithic cemetery of the Lengyel culture (5th millennium BCE). However, the representation of birds is more characteristic of the Bronze Age rather than of earlier periods. Rich diversity of bird-shaped artefacts bears testimony to increased interest during that time. Represented within the archaeological record are clay vessels, askoi, rattles and figurines more or less visualizing different kinds of birds and there are depictions of birds on bronze or gold objects. The theriomorph vessels appeared again during the last period of the Middle Bronze Age (late 15th and early 14th centuries) in the Carpathian Basin. They often represent birds with human heads or feet or even birdswith female breasts.The presentation investigates the different aspects the mixed ornitho-anthropomorphic artefacts could have serviced in mental control over the social and natural environment.



Author(s): Pasztor, Emilia (Türr Istvan Museum)


References
Pasztor, E. 2017. Comments on bird symbolism of the Bronze Age Carpathian Basin and its possible relationship with shamanism. In
Dragos Gheorghiu, Emilia Pasztor, Herman Bender, and George Nash (eds.) Archaeological Approaches to Shamanism: Mind-Body,
Nature, and Culture. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Moreman, C. M. 2014. On the Relationship between Birds and Spirits of the Dead, Society & Animals: 1-22.
Vasić, V. and Vasić, R. 2000. The origins of some ‘waterfowl cultures’ on the Balkan peninsula. SEHUMED 16: 131-38.