A drawing on the pottery shards from Repovac near Štitar (županja)

Abstract

Two fragments of a ceramic vessel bearing a drawing of geometric motifs and anthropomorphic figures (figs 3-6) are found by chance at the archaeological site of Repovac near Štitar in Posavina region, near Županja (Figs 1-2). According lo technological features, colour, structure and drawing technique, the fragments probably belong to the same vessel shaped as an urn or a pot. The drawing was made in two basic techniques - incising and carving. At the conceptual level, the oldest artistic parallels to the anthropomorphic figures from Repovac can be found in: orant figures depicted on Neolithic pottery fragments from Sarvaš near Osijek, Vinkovci and Moragy-Tuzkodomb (Fig. 7) in South-East Transdanubia, an anthropomorphic figure associated with two circles depicted on a Lasinja culture ceramics from Paljevine near Đakovo (Fig. 8'), an orant figure depicted on a Vučedol culture vessel from Vučedol near Vukovar (Fig. 20), and on a drawing depicted on an Early Bronze Age vessel from Mokrin in Vojvodina. Furthermore, similar artistic compositions are present on vessels of Dalj-Bijelo Brdo culture of incrusted ceramics from Bijelo Brdo near Osijek (Fig. 12), then, on vessels of Vatin-Vršac culture from Starčevo near Pančevo (Fig. 9), of Vatin culture of Slavonia and Srijem from Dalj near Osijek and from Gunja near Županja (Figs 10- 11), on vessels of Belegiš II culture from Dalj, as well as on several late Umfield culture vessels from Trešćerovac necropolis. Some findings of Bosut culture and cultural complex of Bassarabi ornamentation are also similar, according to their production techniques and, partly, to their motifs. Remarkable artistic and compositional closeness display Late Bronze Age findings, such as a drawing on the widest part of an urn from grave 127 in garden of SAZU in Ljubljana (Fig. 13), a drawing on a fragment of a vessel from Novigrad na Savi near Slavonski Brod (Fig. 14), and a drawing on a fibula from Gajina pećina near Drežnik (Fig. 15). Anthropomorphic drawings and images on the Early Iron Age vessels of western Pannonia and eastern Alps regions are also very similar in both composition and artistic style (NoveKošariska, Sopron, Kleinklein, Rrennach, Schandorf, Maiersch, Rabensburg, etc.). In the broadest sense, anthropomorphic figures on the drawing from Repovac show similarities with the anthropomorphic pendants of Prozor type of sixth and fifth centuries, as well (Figs 16-17). Figural representations on the urn from grave 127 from garden of SAZU in Ljubljana (Fig. 13), a drawing on the Golinjevo-type fibula from Gajina pećina near Drežnik (Fig. 15), and, partly, a drawing on a vessel from Novigrad near Slavonski Brod (Fig. 14), belong to the first group of finds determining the drawing from Repovac. Drawings from Ljubljana, Gajina pećina, Novigrad and Repovac, make a group of the Umfield culture finds, which is most certainly based upon the earlier, Bronze Age patterns of decorative arts of the south- Pannonian area, primarily upon drawings of Dalj - Bijelo Brdo group of incrusted pottery (Fig. 12), and on patterns of both Vatin - Vršac culture (Fig. 9) and Vatin culture of Slavonia and Srijem (Figs 10-11). There is no doubt that they were the conceptual core. The aforementioned examples make it possible to follow transformation of triangular motif from the pure geometrised and abstract form of the Middle Bronze Age into a simple anthropomorphic figure, still notably geometrised on a drawing from Ljubljana, which would later become more elaborate and lively, as was the case on drawings from Gajina pećina or Repovac. The urn from Bijelo Brdo is particularly exemplificative (Fig. 12). It has a representation of the “funeral carriage” on its round shoulder and a drawing placed on its widest part that could represent - similar to the drawings from Repovac or Ljubljana - participants to a feast organised for the deceased. Second group of finds with characteristic examples of schematisation of anthropomorphic figures is also important for the cultural and historical context of the finding from Repovac. It contains drawings and graffiti painted scenes on vessels of the Advanced Iron Age of the territories of eastern Alps and western Pannonia, Solbe Valley and Kaldenberg culture, where a more magnificent decorative style developed during Ha Cl and Ha C2 phases. It is fair to say that, except for the functional side, the connection of this group of finds with the examples containing simple gravures, from Repovac and Novigrad, Gajina pećina or Ljubljana, is not that obvious at first sight. However, there are common elements recognisable in very similar concept of ornamentation of alternately combining schematised anthropomorphic (zoomorphic, astral) and geometric motifs, then, in narrative nature and in contents of figural representations, as well as in distinct symbolism. Such a level of com- monship could have occurred primarily due to the similar substratum basis within the Umfield culture circle. However, compositions from Nove Košariska (Figs 18-19), Sopron or Rabensburg, contain elements of an even earlier tradition that are, in fact, Eneolithic survivals. Examples of schematisations of anthropomorphic figures, in a synthesis with the solar disc, from Vučedol (Fig. 18) and Nove Košariska (Fig. 19), show that in a particularly illustrative way. Representations on vessels from Nove Košariska, Sopron or Rabensburg also depict images of funerary rituals and ceremonies, which, in addition, were interpreted as either masked processions or scenes belonging to the framework of the Great Goddess / Cybele cult. A group of findings made of bronze also contribute, relatively speaking, to the analysis of the drawing from Repovac. Fibula with a drawing of an anthropomorphic figure from Gajina pećina (Fig. 15) has undoubtedly rather pectoral than practical features that were customary for this kind of artefacts. The fibula could have also been a symbolic sign (insignia) of participants (or of the leader) of the funeral ritual, that is, of participants like the anthropomorphic figures in a drawing from Repovac (Figs 3-4), or like the central anthropomorphic figure from Nove Košariska (Figs 18-19). In addition, figures in the drawing from Repovac show similarities, in a broad sense, with the anthropomorphic pendants of the Prozor type of sixth and fifth centuries, particularly regarding the position of arms. Some examples stand out having the arms shaped up and often metamorphosed into birds protome, as is the case with illustrative findings from Smiljan (Fig. 16) and Cairan (Fig. 17). Although the aquatic birds stand as solar symbols and symbols of the soul travelling, they probably belong to the funeral cult when in synthesis with the anthropomorphic figures. Although the drawing from Repovac, together with contemporary findings (Novigrad, Gajina pećina, Ljubljana), originated from an autonomous development and on the substratum of the south-Pannonian Bronze Age decorative arts, noticeable iconographic and compositional similarities with the anthropomorphic figures (ranging from orant from Vučedol to representations from Nove Košariska), do not exclude a common cult and religious form belonging to the sphere of believing in the afterlife, which, being the dominant form of beliefs or of a particular cult of the prehistoric period in the Panonian and eastern Alps territories, might have been preserved throughout centuries or millennia in a numerous variety of artistic representations. If Neolithic orant figures, on the one hand, and the Prozor type pendants, on the other hand, can serve just as circumstantial evidence in that regard, examples of orant figures from Vučedol and Nove Košariska confirm in a particular manner the survival of figural representations containing anthropomorphic schematisations (or of the cult they belonged to) from the Eneolithic to the Advanced Iron Age with no major changes in iconographic and symbolic sense. In connection to the drawing from Repovac, compositions from Vučedol and Nove Košariska should be primarily observed as a parallel or very close phenomenon. In any case, the real meaning of the drawing from Repovac is difficult to determine with certainty and undoubtedly; it is hard to give answers on its contents, meaning or messages, particularly because the finding belongs to the realm of the spiritual culture. Although the insight into the religious life in prehistory rests mostly on circumstantial evidence, fragments and symbols, belief in the afterlife and worshipping the Sun can be identified as dominant features of both Bronze and Iron Ages. Masked processions, Great Goddess / Cybele cult and Atis’s feasts, as well as worshipping Orion and Sun, all of which may serve as possible frame for the drawing from Repovac, were dominant cults synthesising those two prevailing beliefs. Actually, these are the cults with distinct elements of dualism, in which the belief in the afterlife is a reflex of the cyclic change of natural phenomena. The question, whether the drawing from Repovac made part of all of the aforementioned cults, just one of them or of some yet unknown cult, remains unanswered, though, at the end, it can be concluded that it primarily belonged to the manifestations of funeral cult. Belief in the afterlife is the most widespread form of religious belief since the prehistory up to now, so it is very probable that the drawing from Repovac represented precisely a metaphor of some festivity organised for the deceased (feast, sacrifice, games?), or, on the other hand, a metaphor for the “last voyage”. The drawing from Repovac (Figs 3-6) most probably dates from the eighth or the seventh century belonging to the circle of the Late Urnfield culture and its late variant or the Dalj group.