Original scientific paper

Zadubravlje – Cult Objects in the Starčevo Culture Settlement

Kornelija Minichreiter

Abstract

Certain clay objects discovered in the inventory of the pit houses and open areas of the early Starčevo Culture settlement in Zadubravlje testify to the rich spirituality of the oldest agrarian populations of the southern Pannonian zone, who best personified their mythic world and reverence of their deities in figural art. The 25 remaining cult objects include: altars/censers, sacrificial vessels, rhytons and anthropomorphic and zoomorphic sculptures. Although this type of archaeological material is abundant, its interpretation is in many ways still ambiguous. Each new discovery of cult objects in early Neolithic settlements constitutes a valuable contribution to the knowledge of the first beliefs of humans that natural phenomena could be placed under their control within the limits of their own power, even though nature could not be completely comprehended. By imagining beings that control nature, and by prayer and sacrifice, man attempted to interpret the world in which he lived and to survive.

Keywords

Neolithic; early Starčevo Culture; Linear A; altars; censers; idols; Zadubravlje; Sava river valley; Croatia

Hrčak ID:

689

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/689

Publication date:

15.9.2005.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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